I've always wanted to check out the area up on the cliff just west of the Riverside State Park. From the Centennial Trail around RSP, you can see the homes up on the cliff overlooking the valley below. I found the road. There's a road up there called "Indians Bluff Road." I should've guessed. It's your typical run of McMansions on the hill. I saw your basic 4000 square foot monstrosities that are loosely based, architecturally speaking, on various styles: the Tuscan Turd, the Modern Box, the NW Rugged Getaway. No matter, since all of these sprawling homes are fortressed with various types of tall gates and walls that scream fear and paranoia far louder than the pseudo styles they attempt to emulate.
I'm pretty sure this poor dude was trapped; he was so listless. Or maybe he's their pet? Regardless, he wasn't acting very deer-like as I stood there and photo'd him. The maze of fences surrounding this house was incredible. And they were high.
Anyway, of course Indians Bluff Road is a dead end that terminates in a gated private community. The first house in here was a straw bale house going up. The sign out front said "Sustainable Building." Yeah.
Luckily, backing out of Indian Bluffs Road is downhill, so I made a conscious effort to flush the foul mood that these kind of neighborhoods always put me in.
I focused on this charmer at the cross roads of Euclid and Indian Bluffs Road.
As far as I can tell, it's still being operated as a school.
Euclid Road continues west to Heyford Road, which takes you to Airway Heights. Euclid has some nice dirt patches and there's likely some more dirt roads out here worth exploring. The West Plains is an area that I have not ridden much.
Coming back into town from Airway Heights, I took the Sunset Highway. The piece that comes into town from the junction of Highway 2/Sunset should really go on a road diet. We could have a great route to/from the airport if this section of Sunset Highway was turned into two lanes (instead of four) with a turn lane and big fat bike lane shoulders. All that space made sense when this road was the interstate back in the 50's, but now, with I-90, the traffic volume is just nothing.
4 comments:
There is also a way to get up there, just West of Indian Bluffs on trail from RSP, although it's not anything special. I just set my mind to exploring every piece of trail in and around RSP one summer when I was in high school.
On a slightly different note, do you know who the straw bale contractor is? I have long felt that Spokane is perfect for bale construction, right climate and perfect location for resources. I volunteered my assistance to the Spokane County Conservation District when they were trying to get straw construction off the ground in Spokane 8-9 years ago. Turns out they didn't want the input of anyone(not just me) who had actual experience and the houses went poorly(from a construction standpoint).
That is not just a school it is an entire school district- the Great Northern School District. My friend did all of his primary education there. Only one year did he have someone else in his grade. I once referred to it as a one room school house but he proudly pointed out that it had 4 classrooms.
Sean: I don't know the contractor. But the sign outside the construction said "Sustainable Building." It was hand written -- so, kind of hard to tell if it was the name of the company or just a sigh FYI.
David: I wondered about that. It day Great Northern School *District*. That rules. I assumed it was an old public school house bought out by a religious-private-school deal. Wow.
It looks like alot of fun.. I was can honestly say that we "stumbled" into that subdivson you talk about whith the moster homes.. its incredible how many are there n.. would love to go on a ride out there!
There are alot of dirt and unexplored roads out there!
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