Bowl and Pitcher Reopened This Fall. The Loop Trail Didn't.

If you live in Audubon-Downriver and you walked into Bowl and Pitcher last weekend expecting your usual loop, you probably turned around at the swinging bridge. That's not a rumor. As of reporting from September 18, the trail system on the far side of that suspension bridge, the part that actually gets you to Liberty Falls, the cedar grove, and the basalt formations the park is known for, is still closed. The bridge itself reopened in late August. What's on the other side of it did not.

That distinction matters more than the headline "Riverside State Park reopens" suggests, and it's the piece nobody following this story from a distance seems to be making.

What Actually Came Back in August

The Old Trails and Autumn Lane fires tore through Riverside State Park in early August, burning an estimated 1,500 acres of park property and putting part of the park under a Level 3 evacuation notice, meaning fire was considered imminent. The park closed entirely while crews fought the fires and, once conditions allowed, started assessing hazard trees, damaged power infrastructure, and erosion risk.

Reopenings came in stages, not all at once. Plese Flats and most of the Nine Mile Recreation Area came back on August 21, though the pumphouse that fed Nine Mile's water system burned, so there's no potable water there and portable toilets are standing in until park officials can fix the system, which they hope to do over the winter. A week later, Bowl and Pitcher itself reopened, along with the equestrian campground and the stretch of the Centennial Trail running from the TJ Meenach Bridge to Equestrian Lane. Crews had spent the closure clearing hazard trees and replacing power poles damaged in the fire.

That's the good news, and it's real. It's also only half the story.

Where "Open" Stops

Here's the part that gets lost when a headline says a park "reopened." Bowl and Pitcher reopening meant the day-use area, the picnic shelters, the campground, and the walk out to the suspension bridge came back. It did not mean the loop trail came back. The trail system west of the bridge, the section that takes you past the cedar grove, up to Liberty Falls, and around to the basalt formations that give Bowl and Pitcher its name, remains closed. So does the Little Spokane Natural Area and the trails running north toward Seven Mile Road. The St. George's put-in, a regular launch point for paddlers and kayakers, is also still off-limits because of debris along the river.

If your Saturday routine involves crossing that bridge and doing the full loop, here's where things actually stand right now:

Open: the Bowl and Pitcher day-use area and picnic shelters, the equestrian campground, the swinging bridge itself, the Centennial Trail section between TJ Meenach Bridge and Equestrian Lane, Plese Flats, and most of Nine Mile Recreation Area (minus potable water).

Still closed: the loop trail west of the suspension bridge, the Little Spokane Natural Area, trails extending north to Seven Mile Road, the St. George's put-in, and the Centennial Trail section between McLellan Trailhead and the TJ Meenach Bridge.

None of this touches the Discover Pass requirement, which hasn't changed. Vehicle parking at the park entrances still runs $10 for the day or requires an annual pass, same as it always has. The fires changed what's behind the gate, not what it costs to get there.

This Week's Detour

There's a second wrinkle that's easy to miss if you're not checking the park's site directly. Aubrey L. White Parkway, the road that runs along the river and gets most people to Bowl and Pitcher in the first place, closes this Tuesday and Wednesday, September 22 and 23, between the Bowl and Pitcher entrance and Rifle Club Road while crews finish clearing tree debris along the roadway. Bowl and Pitcher stays open and accessible during that window, but you'll need to come in from the south via Downriver Drive instead of the parkway.

It's a two-day closure, not a season-ending one, but it's the kind of detail that only shows up if you're watching this recovery closely rather than reading the "park reopens" story once and moving on.

No Timeline Before Spring

State parks officials have been direct about the pace. Beyond hazard trees, they're dealing with erosion concerns around the Little Spokane River and worry that uneven ground combined with heavy equipment still working the site poses a real safety risk to visitors. As of the most recent reporting, the park does not expect to reopen any more major areas until spring 2027.

That's not a soft estimate meant to buy time. It's the working plan. If you're used to treating Bowl and Pitcher as your default fall and winter trail, the honest read is that the full loop is off the table for this season and likely into next spring.

The Neighborhood Doesn't Wait on the Park

None of this closes off Audubon-Downriver's daily life, and that's worth saying plainly. This is a neighborhood built around more than one park. The Audubon-Downriver Neighborhood Council lists Downriver Park, Audubon Park, Drumheller Springs Park, Shadle Park, and Webster Park as the neighborhood's own green spaces, all of them inside the boundary that runs from Wellesley Avenue on the north down to Fairview Avenue and TJ Meenach Drive on the south. None of them were touched by the fires, and none of them require a Discover Pass to walk into.

Downriver Golf Course, the neighborhood's namesake, is still running normal play along the river. If your version of a fall weekend was always more about a short walk than a five-mile loop, Audubon Park or Drumheller Springs covers that without any detour planning. And if you're the type who plans a morning around good bread, neighbors have been steering each other toward The Bread Basket for sourdough bagels, loaves, and scones, the kind of small, specific recommendation that tends to travel faster on a neighborhood app than any press release about a state park.

The point isn't that Riverside State Park doesn't matter to this neighborhood. It clearly does, enough that people are still showing up at the bridge checking to see how far they can get. The point is that "reopened" and "back to normal" are two different claims, and this fall in Audubon-Downriver, only one of them is true. Know where the line is before you plan your Saturday around it.

If you're weighing how a neighborhood's outdoor access, walkability, or everyday rhythm fits your own plans, whether you already live in Spokane or you're comparing it to somewhere else, that's the kind of on-the-ground read the Bill Richard Group builds into every conversation. If a move is somewhere on your horizon, our free home valuation is a low-pressure way to see where you stand, whenever you're ready.