Sprawling parks with nature’s own water features, pocket parks tucked off busy streets, parks for dogs to run free, parks for kids to learn the difference between a pine tree and a fir, parks to lose yourself in and parks to watch wildlife – there are over 100 tamed and untamed spaces celebrating nature within a 20-minute drive of city center. In 1907 Spokane’s parks board hired the Olmsted Brothers Landscape Architects to improve existing parks and build new ones. The two had stellar credentials as the sons of Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. who designed New York’s Central Park.

The Olmsteds’ premier project, Manito Park, showcases their imagination and skill. Located on the South Hill in a leafy neighborhood of Victorian, Craftsmen, Tudor Revival and American Foursquare homes, the 90-acre park includes themed sections that feature roses, lilacs, perennials, formal plantings, a greenhouse, Japanese garden and a duck pond.

Smack dab in the center of Spokane, 100-acre Riverfront Park boasts an antique carousel, children’s splash fountain, a giant red wagon play structure, public art displays, numerous trails and a dozen pedestrian and auto bridges crossing the Spokane River.

Only minutes from downtown and in sharp contrast to the beautifully landscaped city parks, nine hiking trails wind through 530-acre Dishman Hills Natural Area offering views of dramatic basalt ravines, pine and fir forests.

A ten-minute drive from downtown, ten-thousand acre Riverside State Park draws hikers, mountain bikers, horseback riders and birdwatchers to its freshwater marshes, rivers, trails, picnic and swimming areas. Massive basalt rock formations flank the pedestrian bridge across the Spokane River. And 20 minutes west, 18,217-acre Turnbull Wildlife Refuge shelters abundant wildlife in and around marshes, wetlands and lakes.

Liberty Lake’s Pavilion Park and Rocky Hill Park are havens for families, with skateboard ramps, a children’s splash fountain, picnic shelters and trails. Just south of the city, 3,000-acre Liberty Lake County Park boasts a public beach, boat launch and a forested hiking trail that leads to a year-round waterfall.

A half hour from Spokane, Coeur d’Alene City Park and Beach draws sun seekers to its wide, sandy beach while kids swarm the Fort Sherman Playground.

For your own park finder, go to:
www.spokaneparks.org
www.parks.wa.gov
www.spokanevalley.org/parks
www.cdaidparks.org
www.libertylakewa.gov
www.spokanecounty.org/parks





Greater Spokane Incorporated
801 West Riverside Avenue, Suite 100, Spokane, WA 99201

509.624.1393 | Fax: 509.747.0077
info@greaterspokane.org | www.greaterspokane.org