Exploring the American Wilderness and Other Adventures

Saltese Uplands Conservation Area, Spokane Valley, Washington

We do not have an official contract yet, or a forwarding address, but we are down to the 5-week-ish countdown to relocating from the Inland Northwest. I might stay behind for a couple of weeks. Who knows. Nearly all of our belongings that we are giving away and selling have been managed and just about everything else has been packed. We both want to work full time until we leave, so ideally we would have packed slowly. As anxiety goes, “slowly” meant all at once, and now we are living out of our bedroom and kitchen, which is actually probably more fun than you are imagining, and we recognize our privilege, but still want this part to be in the past.

I have mentioned before how Sam Dog and I walk/run a 4.5 mile path to work every day. It only recently hit me how beautiful it is. We walk through our forested neighborhood, and then along the river, on the beach, and then beside the lake before we are in the beautiful downtown. We pass other recreators who we routinely see – there is Shirtless/Tiny Shorts Man who raises the roof when he sees me every day, yelling “Fleet Feeeeeet!” and Rugged Running Man who is built like a tree, but somehow lumbers along daily and sometimes with Shirtless/Tiny Shorts Man, also calling me Fleet Feet, then Tiny Asian Woman Who is Afraid of My Dog, and Tom, who I used to teach with, who loves reminding me that Jesus is more powerful than cancer. It is like a Lifetime Movie Network scene every day and I have taken it for granted for a long time.

Saltese Uplands Conservation Area

Saltese Uplands is a place that I have loved for a long time, but perhaps have also taken it for granted. While I research my future adventuring sites, I think I may have to look for a long time to find a place like this – easily accessible, with wide open skies and minimal tree coverage but big, rolling hills and winding trails that give me as much or as little of a workout as I want. It is my favorite local place for a full moon hike or trail run because if we miraculously do not have cloud coverage, the view is amazing. Located in Spokane Valley and managed by the Inland Northwest Land Conservancy, the conservation area is over 600 acres of that shrub steppe habitat I love for hiking, trail running, mountain biking, and wildlife viewing. It is accessible all year, which is huge for this area because so many of our trailheads are not accessible during the winter.

I supposedly have a race in a few weeks, called the Walla Walla 6 Hour. It is a race for only women, consisting of a 5-mile loop that you run/hike for 6 hours. I am not too convinced I want to do it, but just in case, I used Saltese for one of my practices. My plan was to loop around the conservation area for four hours. I was so fortunate that Biking Queen joined me for half of it. The trails can tend to be muddy in the Spring and Autumn, and sometimes mountain bike tires kind of wreck them because of this, but because it is so hilly it drains quickly, it is never too muddy or grooved to be manageable.

It took me a lot of fails to finally find the friends I have who love to share time in this way and I am soaking up every moment I have with them. Biking Queen is such a beautiful, genuine woman who is always able to find the humor in the hard, even if the laughter is at her expense. She has taught me that there is immeasurable freedom in not just accepting our own limitations, but perhaps more importantly, the limitations of others. She does not ever expect me to be perfect. She treats me the same on my ugly days as she does on my brilliant days (“brilliant” is far too generous of a descriptor for my better days, ha ha).

So, we hiked these beautiful trails, not wasting one moment together. Stories about our children, making fun of ourselves, and sharing our plans for the future, while racing the threat of her plantar fasciitis pain flaring or rain disrupting our easy time.

Many sources on the internet will say that this is a seven mile hike, but there are so many loops and ways to make the distance much shorter or much longer that I think it is ridiculous to say it is seven miles. There are many routes to the “peak” of the hills, where the water tank is located, but overall, the elevation gained to get there is around 600-700′.

Saltese Flats Wetlands

Across the road from Saltese Uplands is Saltese Flats Wetlands, which is exactly what it sounds like – a wetlands recreation area. It has its own trailhead parking lot, with a bathroom and a map. The Spokane County Environmental Services is restoring this area for conservation and community education. There are flat trails around the wetlands with interpretive signs, as well as an education center. The wetlands area is home to countless birds. It is quite noisy. As we got further from the wetlands, beyond the visitor center, Sam Dog and I crossed the paths of two snakes. We were both far more curious of the snakes than they were of us and Sam Dog was crushed with disappointment. Or I was. Maybe we both were. Or I was.

This was probably my last time wandering around here. I am thankful for all the miles I have lived on these trails, for all of the full moons I have shared it with. I think this was where I met Biking Queen, now that I am thinking about this! What a special place.