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Great day on the Water

The weather couldn't have been any better on today's outing. Not hot enough to make a swim look inviting to any of the children, but also not cold enough to ever cause teeth to chatter. all told we had 4 boats and 10 children afloat today. We almost lost one child sized paddle to the river but the sweep boat was skillfully piloted on a successful rescue mission and we returned with all the paddles we set out with.

The critter count on this river usually includes moose, deer, beavers, and often turkeys. Today we made a critter list that full of little amazing things like crawfish, snakes, turtles, and a great sighting and identification of a common merganser.(a fish-feeding duck) I really wish the weather could be like this for just a few more weeks. As we head into the "shoulder" season of fall it will be more enticing to pull on the gore-tex in search of fall foliage. Maybe we'll combine this idea with my longstanding hope to investigate the dam building beavers at Liberty Lake County Park.

Sunday Float down the Little Spokane River (10/2)

Come out and join a handful of different families who plan to paddle down the Little Spokane River Sunday Morning. Canoe's are recommended but some industrious parents might be able to make sit on top kayaks work. We will meet at the Take Out just off Hwy 291 at as close to 10:00 am as is humanly possible for parents. Be sure to pack and proudly display your Discover Pass for each car, one at the take out and one at the put in. We might decide to only float from the Indian Painted Rocks down to the take out, which is about 1.5 hours. Or we may take on the challenge of entertaining the children for the 3 hour paddle from St. George's down. Either way bring lots of food, beverages, toys that float, sunblock, and other worthy distractions.

Spokefest 2011

Photo found HERE

Sign up before September 1st and save some money. That means you only have a few days to register the family. This year the ride is on Sunday September 11. Don't forget to pack plenty of water and your bike helmet. It's required! This year the Sunflower Society will be trying to ride together. We plan to meet at the south side of the water fountain in Riverfront Park. Register Here

Great Hike @ Riverside

The weather was great and the turnout for saturday's hike was even better. We avoided all but a few of those 24 hour mountain bike racers, and no children or dogs fell into the Spokane River.
The bridge let us all get uncomfortably close to the raging waters of the Spokane River while also keeping us safe. Most everyone seemed to walk a bit quicker than normal while crossing the bridge, just bidding the time until their feet touched down on firm ground again.
We came across this mini fort left be what I believe were other children. We let most every kid have their turn sitting inside the fort before tearing it down.
While one child hunted for dinosaur bones, and two others were fascinated by flowers some of the boys seemed to be able to turn almost any stick into a machine gun or sword. Nothing is too firmed up yet, but there should be a few more hikes in the coming weeks. Stay tuned here and on Facebook for more news. Until next time...

Fishing Report

This year we signed up to be in the 8:00 am group at Clear Lake because my wife was graduating from graduate school later in the day. This allowed us to get the first crack at trying to catch one of those larger 5lb-10lb rainbow trouts. Old Lady Luck was not on our side so instead of three behemoths to clean and cook we caught three guppy sized rainbows.
Then began the time honored tradition of the father getting to clean the fish. I am pretty sure I have never cleaned a fish this small before, but my five year old son insisted we go through with it. I also learned that cleaning tiny fish will make your hands smell just as bad as if you had cleaned a record breaker.
The process was good for teaching about fish anatomy. As the picture above shows they were pretty eager to learn what goes on inside our aquatic friends. Even though my lecture about the science of how fish breath under water should have won an award, I am still pretty sure that my boys were not buying it. I should go pony up the $24 for my resident annual fishing license and take the boys out a few more times now that we have a fishing pole for each of them and only live three blocks from the Spokane River.

Let's Go Hiking (5/28)

This Saturday we are going on a group hike at 9:00 am. We will be meeting up at the parking lot just below the campground in Riverside State Park. We plan on taking a moderate to easy walk across the suspension bridge and head downstream a ways. The 24 hour bike race will be starting at noon on the north end of the park, so we want to be sure and stay out of the way of those athletes while still getting a good nature walk. The Spokane River is up at near flood stage with the spring melt so we will want to be extra careful to respect the cold and fast moving water. In just a few short months we will need a Discover Pass to go hiking in Riverside State Park. Who knows, maybe we will find a caterpillar on or two on our hike.

Pictures of the finished product

Dishmah Hills Ponds

Rich Landers recently wrote about the very loud frogs at the east and west ponds in Dishman Hills. So I went for a Sunday hike with my children and this is what we found. Enjoy.

Dishman Hills Service Day

Photos by Rika Ream, Ace Photographer

The Kids' Fish-In is a go! Register Now.

I just mailed in my son's registration yesterday. April 18 is the DEADLINE. Rich Landers did such a wonderful job describing the event and where to get the registration forms I am going to post a link here to his amazing outdoor blog. The cost has gone up from $5.00 to $10.00, but it is totally worth it to make fun fishing memories with your children. The child size Zebco fishing rod & reel are a great keepsake for every child who attends this event. I should mention that the t-shirt is pretty cool as well. I have high hopes my son will hook one of the few gigantic fish that are stocked in the fishing area this year and get to feel the thrill of landing a fish one-fifth of his weight.

Native Plant Garden Concept

Here is one of the first drafts for the new native plant garden being built at Dishman Hills this Saturday. It is not too late to sign up at REI.com website for this service project.

REI & DIshman Hills Natural Area Association Team Up for Service Project

Here are the long awaited for details of next month's service project.

The Sunflower Society is being called upon to help prepare the ground, plants, and general area for a new demonstration garden just outside the fence to Camp Caro at Dishman Hills. Demonstration gardens are great teaching tools that allow for many species of plants to be talked about without having to hike all around the forest to lay claim to seeing the myriad of plants that grow in a given area.

Below is not the plan for the area we will be working in, but this graphic helps represent how cool a demonstration garden can be. And I am sure that when the West Valley Outdoor Learning Center come with their students to plant the garden they will make sure to plant some Oregon Sunflowers (aka. Arrow Leave Balsamroot) in honor of our group.

On Saturday April 9th meet at 9:30 at Camp Caro of Dishman Hills Natural Area (605 S. Sargent Rd, Spokane Valley WA) and we should wrap up our work at or before 1:00 pm. If you feel the need to leave earlier in order to maintain nap schedules, that is totally fine.

We have been asked to dress our families and ourselves in RED so that we will be easy to spot among the hundreds of other volunteers on site volunteering for the more laborious tasks of building fences and rerouting trails.

This event is being sponsored by the Spokane REI store, and therefore we ask you to sign up through their wonderful website hosted at: http://www.rei.com/event/19036/session/23488

The reasons for working in this area are many fold, but here are two great ones to reflect on. For years to come the children who walk by this demonstration garden will be able to learn from the plants labeled there. All the children who do have a hand in building the garden can take pride it visiting 'their' plants again and again. The second and more community wide goal emanating from this service project is that a committed group of volunteers would desperately like to see the wildlife habitat corridor from Camp Caro to Big Rock conserved. This land stretches for many miles over many geographic features and could create a sort of dream trail. If the three public lands areas of Dishman Hills, Iller Creek County Conservation Area, and Big Rock were all linked then the children and wild animals of Spokane Valley would have a bright future of roaming possibilities.

Save The Date *April 9th Service Project at Dishman Hills

Photo from Here (thanks to Josh Hess for the photo)

Saturday April 9th will mark the second annual REI service project at Dishman Hills Natural Area. February and March will speed by and it will be April before we know it. Right now it looks like there will be plenty for children and families to help out with at this great event, and the work party will run from 10:00 to 1:00. This will be our contribution to the greater efforts being organized as part of the nation wide Children & Nature Network to get outside and do community service in the month of April.

Kids Fish-In Looks Questionable

Photo from HERE

Last year Spokane played host to a great opportunity for promising young anglers in the form of Go Play Outsides's event called the Kid's Fish-In out at Clear Lake on the first Saturday in May. Due to budget shortcomings it does not look promising for this year that this event will be continued. It is just too bad because it was a super event. The cost was only 5.00 or 10.00 dollars and every child received a t-shirt, a new kid sized fishing pole and best of all they were assured to catch 3 rainbow trout from the 4,000 stocked in the nets along the shore. It was literally like shooting fish in a barrel. The excitement on shore of child after child landing another fish was amazing. I truly hope that a magic fairy arrives and fixes the budgetary woes this year so many more Spokane youth will have the opportunity to fish. I guess we will have to find something else to do the day before Bloomsday now.

Cross Country Ski Day

Monday, February 21st

Join the Sunflowers for a day of family fun cross country skiing on Mt Spokane. We will meet at the nordic center at 10 am. If you are new to xc skiing there is a great informational class being offered by REI on 1/20/11 (see below). Gear is also available for rent at REI with a discount to Sunflowers, additionally, Fitness Fanatics on Trent is a great place to rent or buy gear. Contact chrisbachman@comcast.net for details and a coupon. If need be and the numbers are great enough, we can arrange for lessons to be provided.

Please respond with interest to chrisbachman@comcast.net.

Snowshoe outing and Potluck dinner

Monday, January 17th.

Join the Sunflowers for an afternoon of snowshoeing on Mt Spokane. The day will be filled with fun. We will meet in the snowmobile parking lot on Mt Spokane, this is the parking area that you drive through to get to the nordic area. We will then hike into the Spokane Mountaineers Chalet to drop of items for the potluck that will follow. The Chalet is a great place to meet, get warm, socialize and a wonderful place for the kids to have time for free play in the snow. There is a great hill for sledding and lots and lots of snow for snowmen and snow-women.

Please reply to chrisbachman@comcast.net if you are interested in joining us.

Spokane REI — Cross-Country Skiing Basics

Adventure, Family, Winter

• Date: 1/20/2011
• Event Location: Spokane REI
• Event Fee: Free
• Time: 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. (PST)
• Leader: REI Specialist
• Group Size: 60

Description: Free your heels and your mind will follow!

Join REI for tips and information about getting into

cross-country skiing. We will discuss the fundamental

differences between backcountry, telemarking and

touring ski styles. In addition, we will cover proper

clothing and information on where and how to get

started in this fun winter activity. No experience

necessary!

This is a great opportunity for folks interested in

joining the Sunflowers for a day of xc skiing on

Mt Spokane, Monday February 21st. Check the

blog for details.

SNOWSHOE CLASS!

Are you new to the sport and interested in snowshoeing?

Spokane REI — Snowshoeing Basic

Adventure, Family, Kids, Winter

• Date: 1/13/2011
• Event Location: Spokane REI
• Event Fee: Free

• Time: 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. (PST)
• Leader: REI Specialist
• Group Size: 60

Description: Are you looking for a fun winter sport?

Join REI staff for a class on the basics of snowshoeing.

We will focus on selecting appropriate gear and

finding out where

to go snowshoeing

in your area.

If you've ever thought about getting into snowshoeing,

this is a great introduction to the sport!

This is a great intro for folks

interested in snowshoeing and

great preparation for the

the Sunflower's snowshoe

outing on Monday,

January 17th at Mt Spokane!