SPOKANE, Wash. — Bowl and Pitcher, the equestrian campground, and a section of the Centennial Trail from the TJ Meenach Bridge to Equestrian Lane have reopened to the public. According to the Riverside State Park Foundation, park crews spent the closure period removing hazardous trees and replacing damaged power poles.
Some visitors say they were surprised that the park re-opened weeks after the fire. “The fact that it’s reopened so early is like… [I’m] super grateful for it,” said Lyric Rucker, a park visitor.
Another visitor, Jorja Silver, was also surprised. “Like it was such a big fire, I would have thought…it would have been closed for, like, 2 or 3 months,” she said.
As these popular areas welcome visitors, some damage still remains, like charred trees and burnt patches of vegetation.
“The amount of damage it did was extreme,” Rucker said. “To get back to the original state, it’s going to take tens of years. And that’s really bad. It’s a huge setback.”
Some park visitors drove by the Rifle Club neighborhood to get to the park today. They saw the damage there for the first time. “Very sad. I mean, you see the cars there and people, you know, they lost everything. They didn’t even have enough time to get their cars out or anything,” said Keith Cook, a park visitor.
According to the Riverside State Park Foundation, some parts of the park remain closed, including the Little Spokane Natural Area and trails extending north to Seven Mile Road. Park officials have not yet announced a timeline for reopening these additional areas.
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