7/1: Spokane Valley Hike & Magical Manito Park

As Steven and I like to explore hiking paths when we visit a new city, we headed out from the town of Spokane Valley in easternmost Washington to hike along part of the 40-mile-long Spokane River Centennial Trail. The trail winds through urban centers, cultural heritage sites, and basalt canyons on its way to the state border with Idaho. We accessed the trail at Islands Trailhead to get out of the city. 

Like so many bridges overseas, the pedestrian bridge also had lovers' locks.

These rock outcroppings were, I believe, called Donkey Islands!

The beginning of July was the perfect time to take in the pretty wildflowers bordering both sides of the paved trail.

The Denny Ashlock Memorial Bridge honored a man whose "vision and fortitude" resulted in the construction of the Spokane River Centennial Trail.

Before continuing on to Kalispell, Montana, we returned to the city of Spokane to visit its Manito Park. I was impressed with the city's optimism when faced with Covid-19.

The aptly-named Mirror Pond:

The memorial honored a Boy Scout who sealed his Scout pledge of loyalty to his country by paying the ultimate price.

We'd hoped to find the park's large Iris Garden but came across the Rose Garden first so instead stopped there. Even though we'd visited one of the most famous rose gardens in the world just a few days earlier at Portland's International Rose Test Garden, we were always happy to see, and smell, more roses!

Impressionist Roses:

I read that Spokane's Rose Hill had been the state's Inland Empire's demonstration garden for modern roses since 1950 when it began as a joint venture between the Spokane Rose Society and the city's Parks Department in the late 1940s. Rose Hill was certainly no slouch compared to Portland's garden as it included about 1500 plants that represented over 165 varieties of roses. In the four-acre garden was the Old Fashion Rose Garden with historically important roses that were genetically linked to modern roses. There were also over 250 bushes of 80 varieties of miniature English and floribunda roses!

These were named after the French crooner Charles Aznavour.

Sheila: I thought of you when I saw these were called Sheila's Perfume! I wondered if you had visited Manito Park when you and Dean were living in the area?

As we wandered over to the Perennial Garden, I was drawn to these dazzling Globemasters or flowering onion plants surrounded by English lavender. The tall blooms would look so pretty in our yard in the summertime.

I bet that gardeners would recognize these Asters without having to look at tags!

As lovely as the Sea Holly was, I don't think they would be a good fit in our dry Denver climate.

I figured that Japanese blood grass must have earned its name from its red-tipped leaves. 

If the rose and perennial gardens weren't already special enough, Manito Park was also home to the Duncan Garden, a classical or formal garden. I read that, by definition, that meant "a long rectangular garden with a symmetrical layout punctuated with axes that featured major garden elements such as fountains and elegant sculptures." I learned that formal gardens were among the oldest of garden styles and originated in ancient Egypt, Persia, and Rome. 

Between 1912 and 1914, John Duncan, the City Parks Superintendent, developed this sunken garden based on European formal design principles. When he retired in 1942, the garden was named in his honor in recognition of his many years of professional and personal commitment to the horticultural profession and the city's Parks Department. 

In late May each year, about 70,000 annuals are planted in the acre of flowerbeds! The flowers and design layout are determined by the Manitou gardeners to reflect a color scheme and interest beyond color. I could see right away that the formal garden style of past centuries was a sharp contrast to the informal gardens we normally saw. 

The focal point of the Duncan Garden was the Davenport Fountain which was constructed of Mt. Airy granite. 

We used to have lots of cosmos flowers in our front garden by the street but no longer! I don't remember what happened to them.

Strolling through the magnificent Duncan Garden, I felt I should have been wearing a long dress and carrying a parasol instead of having donned a fairly short skort!

I had never seen such a profusion of chocolate brown plants before. They were a perfect complement to the other flowers planted nearby. 

How sad the porta-potty in the park had to be closed because people had stolen the sanitizer, according to a sign on the dor. Definitely, a sign of the times in the ear of Covid-19.

Steven and I were so happy that we hadn't missed Spokane's Manito Park and its many superb gardens. They would rate right up there against any city twice Spokane's size in my opinion.

Before leaving the park, we noticed a sign written in both English and Russian. I couldn't for the life of me understand why a sign in Spokane would include the latter language! We saw its English translation which said: "May Peace Prevail Upon Earth." That's certainly a sentiment we need especially now in light of recent tensions in this country.

We should have done our due diligence before then driving 25 miles out to the Little Spokane River Natural Area to check out the Indian Painted Rocks. 

The wildflowers on the short hike were attractive but we found the painted rocks to be rather underwhelming. I would have appreciated knowing something about the rocks, like which Native American tribe had painted them and when but there was, unfortunately, no information. It was a bummer going out all that way for just this but sometimes that happens when traveling.

Next post: On to Kalispell, Montana via the back roads!

Posted after a long hiatus on November 8th, 2020, from our home in Denver's suburbs. I was so engrossed with this week's elections and the ramifications for our country and beyond I just didn't have any energy left over to devote to compiling this post. With results now more settled and more positive in our opinion, I shall try to get back on track with the blog. Peace as always to you and yours.