Volunteers to spruce up Fish Lake Trail

A neglected portion of the Fish Lake Trail is about to get some attention from a volunteer clean-up project organized by REI.

Dozens of volunteers are already signed up and more are needed on May 20 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. to pick up litter, pull weeds, prune vegetation and tidy the abandoned railway that runs roughly 10 miles from Spokane to Fish Lake.

REI is organizing the event to spiff up the route as well as to draw attention to what eventually could become one of the area’s premier recreation trails, said Joshua Hess, the REI staffer heading up the project.

“The city owns it but nobody’s running with it right now,” he said. “We want to make people more aware of what a great trail this can be for people commuting from the Cheney-Marshall area and for families who want to go out on a trail with no danger from cars.”

Taylor Bressler, city park operations manager, said he appreciates the attention REI is bringing to the route. Staff in various city departments are pursuing grants to improve the trail, he said, noting that the biggest hitch is dealing with ownership and liability issues in the stretch near Marshall where the trail runs between two live rail lines.

The city has acquired land at the start of the trail near Sunset Highway, “so we continue to move forward,” he said.

Meanwhile, much of the trail is used frequently by walkers and mountain bikers, including Dan Schaffer, a Spokane physician and active Fish Lake Trail advocate.

“It’s quite useable now, but eventually I hope to see it paved all the way from Cheney and into Spokane with a connection to the Centennial Trail,” he said.

Here’s a synopsis of the Fish Lake Trail in its current condition from Spokane through Cheney:

“From the Sunset Highway behind the Sunset Hill Baptist Church, the rail trail heads southeast and across three bridges that cross Interstate 90, the connector between I-90 and U.S. 195, and a city street. This section of the trail essentially is closed, since bridge surfaces need repair and proper safety railings aren’t in place on two bridges.

“Trail users can access the trail at the intersection of Lindeke and 13th, where limited parking is available behind the fire hydrant. A large slab of rock blocks a portion of the route between 16th and Thorpe, but mountain bikers can go around it without dismounting.

“The two miles from Lindeke and 13th to Marshall Road has a short section of soft gravel and a short boggy stretch.

“Marshall Road bisects trail, forcing fat-tire bikers to dismount, walk down the grade, cross the road, and push their bikes up to the trail again. But from there continuing southeast the riding is nice, and it gets even better.

“Through the town of Marshall and extending for three miles, the Fish Lake Trail is paved, giving riders a taste for what the entire route could eventually be like.

“Continuing southeast beyond the pavement, the route is rough again and a short stretch is essentially closed until safety and ownership issues can be resolved where the trail twice crosses live rail lines.

“At Fish Lake, the rail-trail becomes the Columbia Plateau Trail, managed by the Washington State Parks and Recreation Department. The trail is paved and in excellent condition for more than three miles between the developed trailheads at Fish Lake and Cheney.

“The route from Cheney running 19 miles through the Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge past Downs Lake to Martin Road has a crushed rock surface that’s sweet on a wide-tired bicycle.

The cleanup work will start at the trailhead near the Sunset Hill Baptist Church at 2815 W. Sunset Boulevard.

The trail is for the most part still a rough abandoned railway as it heads south, paralleling U.S. Highway 195 for a way before bearing southeast toward Cheney.

“We need to get more people interested in the city’s portion of the trail,” Hess said, noting that the trailhead is only a few blocks away from High Bridge Park, the proposed whitewater park on the Spokane River, and the Sandifur Bridge and Centennial Trail.

“This is a new project REI will take on for at least two years, and I’m excited about getting involved with something that’s this cool but still in its infancy,” Hess said.