Two key Beacon Hill recreation areas popular for climbing, mountain biking to receive upgrades

Apr. 29—Rock climbing, hiking, disc golf and, of course, mountain biking: The Beacon Hill recreation area has something for everyone.

"It really is kind of a multi-use area that serves all kinds of people," said Chris Conley, president of the Eastern Washington chapter of the Evergreen Mountain Biking Alliance.

But years of heavy use, rising popularity and recent property additions to the park have led to popular access points at Beacon Hill falling into disarray. The gravel parking lot at the Camp Sekani Park trailhead is littered with potholes, broken glass peppers the disc golf area, and there are few park activities accessible to people who have disabilities.

Many of those issues will be addressed this summer as Spokane County and the city of Spokane continue a yearslong effort to improve recreation at Beacon Hill by upgrading facilities at both John Shields and Camp Sekani parks. Paved, expanded parking lots will replace the decadesold gravel lots at both locales, adaptive trails and recreation areas will be added to Shields, and access to the Centennial Trail will be easier thanks to two new crosswalks.

"The city of Spokane did a ton of outreach on what our priorities should be for our parks system after work at Riverfront wrapped up," said Nick Hamad, park planning manager for the city. "This will be one of the biggest investments in one of those facilities to date, based on that community feedback."

Garrett Jones, Spokane parks and recreation director and interim city manager, said the improvements are the second phase of a joint effort between the county and the city nicknamed "Make Beacon Hill Public."

The first phase wrapped up in 2022 with a budget of $3.3 million and centered around the acquisition of nearly 250 acres of private land to help connect the various recreation areas of Beacon Hill, including Esmeralda Golf Course, Minnehaha Park and the aforementioned trailheads. According to the county's website, $1.5 million of the $3.3 million included funds from "RCO grants, Conservation Futures funding, and various donations of cash, property interest and professional services."

Converting the bulk of Beacon Hill into a public recreation area was first called for in the early 1900s, given its many recreational opportunities and proximity to the city. Jones said efforts to connect the various parks already established there help bring that vision to fruition, while also ensuring continual public access to the two-thirds of the 46-mile Beacon Hill trail system that was on formerly private land. The regional park now encompasses around 550 acres.

"We really try to look at Beacon Hill as one joint-owned public facility," Jones said. "That was land that probably would have been developed into homes, in a lot of cases."

Funding for both phases of the project comes from a combination of city, county and state grant allocations, with some community assistance from recreation and conservation organizations like the Eastern Chapter of the Evergreen Mountain Biking Alliance. The second phase is expected to cost $2.9 million, said Spokane Parks and Recreation spokeswoman Fianna Dickson.

Conley, whose organization oversees trail maintenance and other improvements for mountain bikers in the region, said Beacon Hill is one of the core areas they tend to focus on. It's been a hub for mountain biking for more than two decades, and it offers miles of trails with varying difficulties, meaning there's something for everyone.

Conley said the park has exploded in popularity, necessitating the improvements to important access areas like Camp Sekani. Evergreen East is seeking community support, combined with membership costs, to help secure $25,000 to donate toward the project.

"Every weekend, there's probably 100 cars in the Camp Sekani parking lot, and it doesn't fit that many," Conley said. "So they're spilling into Upriver Drive, nearby grassy areas, Shields Park and Esmeralda Golf Course."

Paving the lots at the parks is expected to double the capacity and reduce erosion occurring at both locations, Jones said. The gravel lots begin to fill around the time the workday is done, with the early birds seeking to avoid the crowds arriving in the early afternoons each workday.

Kenny Tynan said that's one of the reasons he arrived around 4 p.m. Monday to get in a ride. Tynan, who rides at Beacon Hill two or three times a week, looks forward to the added capacity, and said he's taken the growing popularity over the years as a good sign that area residents are making use of one of his favorite local parks.

"There's quality, really well-maintained trails that are easily accessible, and you kind of can ride any skill level," Tynan said. "There's stuff here that's straight up double-black, pro-line difficulty and then there's really easy stuff, like we ride here with my friend's 5-year-old kid. So it's all over the place."

Tynan agrees the parking lot is in need of paving, and said he looks forward to the other improvements at Camp Sekani, which will include the addition of lighting, new signage and fencing, and a signalized crosswalk across Upriver Drive that will connect the trailhead with the Centennial Trail.

"I actually lived up here in Spokane for a year, went away for a couple and now I'm back," Tynan said. "The first thing I did when I came back was come back to Beacon."

Over at John Shields Park, accessibility will be the focus, Jones said. The 26-acre park includes stretches of the trail system and hosts a popular rock climbing spot, the Minnehaha Rocks.

Part of the county's driving force behind purchasing the land that would become Shields Park in 1987 was to preserve access to the granite outcroppings, which have been frequented by Inland Northwest climbers since at least the 1940s, according to Spokesman-Review archives. Renowned Spokane climbers John Roskelley, Chris Kopczynski and Kim Momb all practiced their craft there.

The project will improve the surface of the trails going to the rock faces through the addition of compacted gravel, making access for adaptive climbers possible. There also will be a bouldering park, paid for by the Roskelley Foundation and similar to the one in Riverfront Park. Hikers, cyclists and evening strollers can look forward to a signalized crosswalk similar to the one proposed for Camp Sekani near the park's entrance.

The project has not gone out to bid yet, so start and stop dates for the work have not been established, Dickson said.

Crews will focus on only either Shields or Camp Sekani at any one time, Jones said, so access to the area will be possible through one or the other throughout the construction period. Additional parking also will be available at Minnehaha Park.

"It's great to see this type of investment happen for an outdoor regional hub," Hamad said. "I mean, you go less than 10 minutes out of town and you're at one of the premier mountain biking facilities in the state."