About the Trail
Get to know the pathway through northeast Spokane, including current features and hopes for the future.
More
The Children of the Sun Trail is a paved trail running parallel to the North Spokane Corridor and connecting many facets of the city it bisects. Not just a vital transportation link for those on feet and wheels, the path is a hub to access and discover local neighborhoods and find cultural, ecological, and historical details about the community we share.
That isn’t the whole story, of course. Even the details below are just a taste of what the trail is and will become. This website is a prototype, and basic background information is provided here to give test users a sense of the experience.
History
The trail is rooted in the developing highway’s nearly 80 years of history. That’s how much researching, planning, surveying, and legislating went into the North Spokane Corridor’s free-flowing north/south route through Spokane (while the northern half is open — from Wellesley Avenue to US 395 — completion isn’t expected until 2030).
The Washington State Department of Transportation designed it to be multimodal, and the trail brings in alternative transportation options and opportunities to highlight special places in the surrounding neighborhoods. For years, people from those neighborhoods have worked with project planners to make the trail into something that tells their story.
A ribbon cutting was held June 21, 2024 at Wildhorse Park.
Name
After considering ideas from the public, a committee of local leaders and citizens chose “Children of the Sun” as the trail name.
The name pays homage to the Spokane Tribe of Indians, the Indigenous people who have inhabited the area along the Spokane River since time immemorial. The tribe was largely displaced from the upper river during white settlement. Fur trappers encountered a tribal chief named Ilm-wh S-pok-ah-ne (Sun Chief) and applied the Salish word for sun (sp’q’n’i, or Spukani collectively) to the three bands living along the river.
Many years later, white settlers applied “Children of the Sun” to the Spokane Tribe, and the tribe continues to have a complicated relationship with the name. Learn more about the tribe’s perspective.
The official emblem for the trail is a sun symbol that can be seen on concrete structures and wayfinding signs throughout the walking/riding path.
Details
There are six community connection points along the trail, each with unique design features that nod to the adjoining neighborhood and welcome exploration. This includes lighting, seating, kiosks, path connections, and artful walls that create a sense of place. Current locations:
- Market Street and Francis Avenue
- Market Street and Columbia Avenue
- Market Street and Queen Avenue
- Market Street and Wellesley Avenue
- Market Street and Garland Avenue
- Wildhorse Park
Now in a prototyping phase, Finding Our Way aims to engage trail users with QR codes on physical installations. Landing on this site in its fully built-out form, they will find ways to connect to where they are, ranging from learning native uses of plants in the Discovery Garden to visiting neighborhood attractions that speak to local culture.
Specs
- Length: 10.5 miles (so far)
- Width: 16 feet
- Surface: Pavement
- Neighborhoods covered upon project completion: 5 (Bemiss, Chief Garry Park, East Central, Hillyard, Minnehaha)
- City span: From North Spokane’s Wandermere Road south to Euclid Avenue (with plans to connect it to the Centennial Trail and Spokane Community College via a pedestrian bridge over the Spokane River)
Future
Children of the Sun Trail is unfinished. Ultimately, the path will continue across the river and down through the Chief Garry Park and East Central neighborhoods, linking to the Ben Burr Trail between Liberty and Underhill parks.
Upon its completion (likely coinciding with the timeline of the North Spokane Corridor), the trail will be a geographical throughline for diverse northeast neighborhoods.
