I hiked from Bowl and Pitcher north, or downstream on trail 25 to the Wilber Road Trailhead. Today, the trail was dry, unlike two weeks ago when large sections of it were under water. From there, I wandered west and uphill on trail 202 or perhaps an old road or some combination of the two until I reached the other side of the trail 25 loop. This part is not well marked. There is some sort of military in holding in the park, but the guys I saw in an army van driving the other way were friendly. I turned left or south on trail 25 and continued up and down the bluff, through an old burn, along an old railroad grade until just past the point where I could see the Morin Trailhead parking lot. From there, I hiked cross country to the Centennial Trail at about mile 30. I could see my car across the river and down a few hundred feet from this trailhead. I headed north on the Centennial Trail to the pit toilet at the junction with trail 210(?) which I took back to trail 25 and the bridge to the parking lot and my car.

My faithful Shadow and I headed out for our first foray of spring from the Carlson Road trailhead in Nine Mile Falls. We crossed the road from the parking lot and headed south on Trail 411. We continued uphill to the second junction with Trail 25 where we turned left and climbed some more on Trail 25. We met a meet up group with several hikers and three dogs as they descended. At some point, I took a turn to the left and downhill on Trail 410 rather than following Trail 25 along the bluff. This turned out to be a good thing, when I saw how much water was cascading down Deep Creek, because I would have ended up on the road to bypass the ford at the upper end of the creek had I taken the higher route. There were a couple of trees down across the trail, but nothing too difficult to navigate. At the lower junction of Trails 410 and 25. I turned right on Trail 25 continuing down into the canyon to find Deep Creek was flowing fast and furious. I could hear it well before I could see it. Even though I knew I would turn around rather than crossing the creek, I hiked down to see it, so I could take a few pictures. We retraced our steps up the trail and followed the last bit of Trail 410 to the Centennial trail. After crossing the bridge and climbing the hill, we turned right on the road to the Deep Creek overlook. After pausing for a photo or five, we turned left at the junction with Trail 25 just past the overlook to continue south. We crossed under the power lines, then found an unmarked trail to the left which took us to the Centennial Trail near the McLellan trailhead. Turning left to head north on the paved road which turned to paved trail at the parking lot, we returned to the car on the Centennial Trail, admiring the full flow in the Spokane River as we hiked.

Today's hike was an adventure. Spring runoff is filling and overfilling our local streams in Spokane, and our eponymous river is no exception. It is flowing fast and muddy today. We headed to Bowl and Pitcher to hike one of my favorite 3 mile loops. We crossed the river on the swinging CCC bridge, which was swinging in the wind, much to my dog's terror. We found spring runoff cascading down the crib steps on the far side, which we could work around by walking on the wood beams holding the steps together. As we turned right at the top of the steps we started on the ice which has formed on this well traveled trail. The ice continued beyond the junction with trail 211. We took trail 211 toward the Centennial Trail, walking on ice most of the way. The Centennial Trail was clear of ice, but watch out for dog leavings which have appeared now that the snow is gone. We continued about a half mile on the Centennial Trail until the point where it nears trail 25. We turned back on trail 25 which usually descends toward the river. Today, it descends right into the river. My last two pictures show where the river has flooded the trail for about 50 feet. It is possible to walk along the bank and keep your feet dry, which we did. The trail here is pretty rocky, so if you want to, you could just wade through. It was a bit too cold this evening for us to try that. Once we were past that point, we encountered more ice, with the ice increasing in frequency and quantity as we neared the trailhead. There was one tree down across the trail, which we easily stepped over. Spring is late this year, but the warm weather we are experiencing will melt these trails soon. Most of the snow is gone, and the remaining ice is in places where it has been compacted all winter and the sun does not reach it for many hours of the day. We saw at least 10 dogs on and off leash on a Thursday afternoon. We saw even more dog poop on the trail. Please remember that when the snow melts, what your dog left behind does not, and pick it up from the trail.