A day for preservation
Volunteers gave back to a park Saturday that lets climbing enthusiasts and beginners grind on granite without trekking into the mountains.
About 50 people showed up at Q’emiln Riverside Park for the seventh annual effort to refurbish trails and clean the climbing rocks that overlook the Spokane River. The park is southeast of the Spokane Street bridge in Post Falls.
“This is preservation for future generations,” said Sara Schmelzer, a member of Spokane Mountaineers.
Crews built signs, split large cedar logs for trail preservation, and removed chalk and old anchor points from the rocks as part of a national effort called “Adopt-a-Crag.”
Saturday’s event was sponsored by several organizations, including Spokane Mountaineers, Kootenai Klimbers and North Idaho College Outdoor Pursuits.
“I climb here twice a week or more,” said Rich Bennett of Spokane Mountaineers. “It’s a great teaching area. We are not only preserving it for climbers; we are also preserving it for everyone else who comes out here.”
Q’emiln Park offers about 79 acres for river access, picnics and other activites. About 40 acres are dedicated to hiking trails in a partnership between the city and Avista Utilities, which owns a portion of the park, Bennett said.
Schmelzer, who was hired in 2005 as a recruitment specialist at NIC, got started with Spokane Mountaineers in 2003 after attending mountaineering school.
“It’s just a great community – people who love what I love, which is the outdoors,” Schmelzer said.
Mike Johnson, an intern for NIC’s Outdoor Pursuits, said it’s important that climbers “clean up after ourselves. It shows we are responsible stewards.”
Johnson is a senior at St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minn., and is majoring in recreational sports management.
“We want to maintain our access to the rock,” he said. “It’s so close to Spokane, Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene. It’s within an hour’s drive of a huge population.”
Ryan Crawford graduated from Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. Like Johnson, he worked as an intern this summer for NIC’s Outdoor Pursuits.
The event “is important because there really is not anybody else who comes out and maintains this area,” he said. “I’m pleased with the turnout and all the support we have received from sponsors.”