On a map, the Little Spokane River looks like the doodles of a pre-schooler, all curves and curlicues. From the road, it can scarcely be seen, an occasional flash of water in lovely forested foothills. For kayakers, this is Spokane’s most popular waterway, and with good reason.
Some 35 miles long, the Little Spokane starts out in two places — just west of the Idaho/Washington border and Eloika Lake. The branches merge and the river empties into the larger Spokane River near Nine Mile Falls.
Put-in at St. George’s
This part of the Little Spokane is in Riverside State Park, which means a Discovery Pass is needed to park. It is open to kayaks, canoes, and rafts (no inner tubes or air mattresses). For the full seven-mile, three-hour journey, the put-in is off St. George’s School Road north of Spokane. At least once a year I make the journey, pumping up my inflatable kayak, tossing in the necessary gear (life vests required), easing onto the seat, and angling the paddle. Immediately, I’m in a world of free-flowing water, marshland and forest, looking up at ragged pine-dotted hillsides. Although the river is a mere half-hour from downtown, it has a wilderness feel, with scarcely any homes or other signs of human life along the way.
The most common of the grasses along the river is tule, which the Spokane Indians wove into baskets, roofs, and other essentials of daily life. Wildflowers provide ever-changing bursts of color. An introduced species known as water iris is especially common, its bright-yellow flowers seen in bunches along the banks. Feathery arcs of willow trees bow over water. The water and the forest provide habitat for a great variety of creatures. Fish can easily be spotted in the clear water, and families of ducks glide in zigzag fashion near the banks. Viewing other creatures — osprey, great blue herons, deer, otter, and moose — is a question of patience, a good eye, some knowledge, and luck.
Traveling the Little Spokane involves little skill and effort, but there are obstacles to be avoided. In places, you must figure out which side of the river will carry you along and which will ground you on a sand bar. Without quick paddling in other places, the water lures you into fallen logs and tree branches known as sweepers. Erosion, a major factor in changing the course of the river, can add a steeper curve to navigate.
Near the junction of the Little Spokane and Spokane rivers
Halfway along the journey is a second put-in/put-out known as Indian Painted Rocks for pictographs found nearby. At about this point, the kayakers who have been lolling along, enjoying the views, the solitude, and the placid water, realize they may need to pick up their pace to get to the take-out off Highway 291 in the estimated three hours. After rounding many curves, and passing a barn or two, a bridge, and a couple of riverfront homes, the take-out appears on the left, next to concrete remnants of an irrigation system. Just beyond, rapids bubble over some sort of drop, giving a sense of urgency to get the landing right the first time.
If you don’t have two cars or a partner who will drop you off at the put-in and wait for you at the end, there are two options. In the summer, the City of Spokane Parks and Recreation offers weekend shuttle service. Or you can paddle upriver back to your car. I have seen this done — kayakers in sleek crafts with sinewy arms and a no-nonsense concentration — but don’t recommend it.
For more information, visit the Riverside State Park website.
