Columbia Plateau State Park Trail

When I was writing the post last week on Fish Lake Trail I mentioned that it will eventually make it all the way to Fish Lake where it will connect with the Columbia Plateau State Park Trail. I hadn’t been on that trail yet, for no reason other than neglect, so this weekend we drove to Fish Lake to check it out. This trail is built on the former Spokane, Portland & Seattle right-of-way which is now owned by the State of Washington, and at 130 miles it is the state’s longest (although not largest) state park. Starting from Fish Lake, nearly four miles are paved, then the trail switches to crushed rock. It is still smooth and comfortable for either hiking or riding bikes.

Near the start of the Columbia Plateau State Park Trail.

As I mentioned in last week’s post, the current Fish Lake Trail ends at UP Junction about 0.8 miles from Fish Lake Regional Park and the start of the Columbia Plateau State Park Trail. Within this gap are UP junction and Lakeside junction, where UP’s Ayer subdivision, BNSF’s Spokane subdivision, and BNSF’s Lakeside subdivision all meet. Heading westbound from Spokane, UP breaks off from the BNSF onto their own tracks, and BNSF goes from double-track territory to single-track territory. The BNSF line heads to Pasco on the Columbia River, and the UP line heads to Ayer on the Snake River, then follows that river downstream to the Columbia.

The City of Spokane owns the former Union Pacific right-of-way in this 0.8 mile gap but finishing the trail so it is accessible will require crossing two active tracks. The challenge is securing enough funding to complete the paving, adding one or possibly two bridges for the trail, and possibly adding in fencing where the trail is very close to the tracks.

While the City of Spokane owns the former UP right-of-way in the 0.8 mile gap, the State of Washington owns the former SP&S right-of-way between UP junction and Fish Lake Regional Park. So technically the current UP line runs on state property, then crosses over City of Spokane property briefly in order to reach its own property. The city owned property is also being used today as an access road by BNSF. There is appropriate signage warning people not to cross the tracks or drive on the road and I understand that this is necessary for safety, but it does seem just a little bit absurd to see “do not enter” signs on public owned land where BNSF is using city property as a private access road and the UP track is on state property.

While looking at maps of this area I learned that immediately east of the City of Spokane owned right-of-way, Spokane County now owns just over 105 acres of land that sit in-between the UP and BNSF tracks. So there is plenty of land here if its necessary to divert the trail to make a safe crossing over the active lines. I don’t know what the long term plan is for this land, but if it were developed and a safe railroad crossing were built, it could more than double the area of Fish Lake Regional Park.

Looking north (track direction east) where the UP line crosses in to state owned property, formerly the SP&S right-of-way. And to the right of the equipment, the gravel road is the former UP line that is now owned by the City of Spokane and is used by BNSF as a private access road—this is the missing 0.8 mile gap in the Fish Lake Trail. The land to the right of the gravel road owned by the county. As I was standing by the tracks the signal light turned on, so I knew that a train would be coming soon!

Mile post 365 on the SP&S line is right next to the parking lot for the trailhead. This view is looking north where the SP&S tracks once ran. If you were to head down this road bed you'd run into the active UP line, which uses the former SP&S right-of-way up to the junction with BNSF.

To help visualize how everything in this post fits together, here's a photo of part of the map signage at the trailhead, which includes mileposts.

But let’s get back to the trail itself, which starts at milepost 365 near Fish Lake. The milepost numbers indicate the distance from Portland along the old SP&S line, and milepost signs along the trail have been preserved. Heading westbound, the roadbed is still on its climb up the hill from Spokane. For the first few miles of the trail, you’re traveling next to two active lines, both of which have bidirectional traffic. There are some great spots for watching trains pass, but not as many as I was expecting, as the trail is in a rather deep cut through the first couple miles, blocking views of the active lines. Eventually the roadbed levels out, the deep cuts disappear, and the trail is crossing mostly flat, rural terrain with relatively shallow fills and cuts. But by this point the active rail lines are a couple miles to the north so you can hear but no longer see passing trains.

After the trail crosses underneath Cheney-Spangle road just before milepost 361 the pavement ends. And then just past milepost 360 the trail passes underneath Cheney-Plaza road and you enter the Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge. Nearly all signs of human habitation disappear and are replaced with a magnificent stretch of ponderosa forest and lakes (some vernal, but most year-round). While the trail through the refuge is owned by the state, the land on either side is federally owned. We biked about halfway through the wildlife refuge before turning around. It is around this point—somewhere in Turnbull but I have a hard time figuring out exactly where—that the SP&S reached it’s highest point in between Spokane and Portland, having climbed about 430 feet from the old Union Station in downtown Spokane. While crossing through Turnbull, the railroad also crosses over from the Spokane river drainage basin into the Palouse river drainage basin which it will follow all the way to the Snake River.

Fish Lake

Near the start of the trail the two active lines are very close. Here we see the UP line next to the trail, and the BNSF line a little further up the hill.

A westbound train on the UP line.

The trail goes through a lot of beautiful cuts in basalt like this one. Given how dry it has been this summer, I was amazed by how much water was running along both sides of the track through here. In some spots you can springs where the water is seeping out of the rock. This long cut is essentially a permanent stream now. And the water level can be much higher at times. There has been trail repaving in several spots where the stream has washed out part of the road bed, like the dark patch in this photo in the foreground. 

UP track crossing over the trail.

There are a number of bridges over the trail—rail, highways, and small local roads.

Here an eastbound BNSF unit grain train (probably empties) crosses over the trail and over the UP track, which is just visible on the right side of the photo.

This is a closer view of the same bridge. The span over the trail is a drop girder bridge. The next span to the right crosses over the UP line and must have a higher clearance as the UP line is higher than the trail is here.

This was a fun sight. A basalt column has broken off the rock wall but fell straight down without breaking apart or falling over. 

The cuts still include various utility poles and other train hardware, such as a piece of track here and there.

By milepost 360 the trail has reach mostly flat land in a rural setting. No one here right now but us and the cows. From this point on the landscape is filled with lakes of various sizes. Many have water year-round, but others are vernal and are only filled with water in early spring. On the right is an example of a vernal lake which is now a field of green grass. The roadbed as well as the cows are up high enough to stay above water year round.

Concrete foundation right next to the trail for a former railroad structure, likely a water tower.

It was nice to see an osprey right by the trail. I was surprised at first given the surroundings, then realized we were only a few hundred feet away from open water.

This bridge carrying Cheney-Plaza road over the trail was built in 1936. Same construction technique and very similar in style to the Marshall Bridge I wrote about in my last blog post.  

Shhh! You are now entering the Turnbull Nationall Wildlife Refuge.

Aside from the former railroad bed an occasional decaying fence, there are no signs of human habitation once you're in the wildlife refuge. Just lakes and trees.

Another shallow roadcut while going through the refuge.

A small lake alongside the trail.