Thursday, January 8, 2009

ONGOING COVERAGE: SPOKANE RIVER RAFT & PADDLE EXPEDITION

Background: Reporter Becky Kramer is taking part in a seven-leg raft and paddle trip organized by the Spokane River Forum. Her stories from along the route recount her adventure and examine environmental, economic, recreational and cultural issues that encompass the river.

Interactive map • Explore the river's landmarks with our interactive Google map. Slideshows • Aerial photos: Jesse Tinsley takes you from the river's beginning to end. • Sketchbook: Participant Rick Hosmer illustrates sights along the journey. Audio: • Prairie Home Companion: Pauline Flett of the Spokane Tribe of Indians talks about the river (Real Audio). • FocusWest: The late Lawrence Aripa telling how "Coyote Creates Spokane Falls." Aripa, a Coeur d'Alene tribal elder, was a renowed story-teller. 2006 report: • Spokane River Dialogues: Conversations with experts.

Reflections at the end of the ride

7/24/2008 | A raucous crow woke me on the last day of our paddling trip. I rolled out of my sleeping bag and looked at my watch. It was 5:30, which gave me plenty of time to join several others for a short, pre-breakfast hike.

Hatchery program replenishing stocks

7/23/2008 | A feast of grilled salmon is an exceptional way to end a day spent kayaking on the Spokane River. For the Spokane Tribe of Indians, it's also a link to history.

Water quality remains issue

7/22/2008 | Getting tangled in water lilies is a hazard of kayaking at Long Lake. The reservoir's upper end sports a luxuriant growth, and as I paddled I periodically flung tendrils of vegetation at my kayak partner.

A work of beauty

7/21/2008 | Mike Aho refers to the stretch of the Spokane River below Upriver Dam as "urban wilderness." Thick screens of willows and cottonwoods shield paddlers from views of rendering plants, railroad yards and congested arterials, but there's no masking the ranker smells of the city's industrial core, or the rumble of overhead traffic as you pass beneath bridges.

Fish from river carry toxic risk

7/21/2008 | Armed with a clipboard and "How to Skin a Fish" handouts, Sean Hackett approached a woman and her baby daughter as they played on a sandy beach at Peoples Park.

White water in the city's heart

7/16/2008 | 'Listen," said our rafting guide, "that's the Devil's Toenail."The rapids were still out of sight, around a bend in the Spokane River. But we could hear the chaotic crash and churn of the water echoing from the canyon's walls.

Afloat over – and in – the aquifer

7/15/2008 | About 10,000 years ago, the Missoula Floods laid the bedrock for the region's water supply.An ice sheet crept across the Idaho Panhandle, damming the Clark Fork River and creating glacial Lake Missoula, which extended 200 miles to the east. The ice dam failed repeatedly, sending water, ice and house-size boulders roaring through the Columbia Basin.

Navigating change on the Spokane River

7/14/2008 | Ross Walkinshaw feels fortunate that his view hasn't changed since 1947, when his parents bought 80 acres on the south side of the Spokane River. From his boat dock, Walkinshaw still sees a wall of towering pine trees on the opposite bank.

Reflecting a new image

7/13/2008 | Don't go down to the river. Generations of local kids heard that warning. Parents didn't want their children playing on the Spokane River's polluted banks.

Making the journey - trip participants

7/13/2008 | Lyn Roberts
Age: 59Personal: Retired from Alpine Lumber Co., which she and a business partner sold last fall. Counts hiking and cycling among her hobbies.