Hikes in Washington: The Kepple Peninsula Interpretive Trail

Basic Information

• Name: Kepple Peninsula Interpretive Trail
• Where: Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge
• Distance: .5 mile
• Elevation Gain: 0
• Time: 30-45 minutes
• Difficulty: Easy
• More Information: US Fish & Wildlife Service

Google Earth Map of the Trail

Directions

To get to the Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge from Spokane, take I-90 West about 15 miles and then exit onto Highway 904 to the small city of Cheney.  Drive through downtown Cheney and on the south side of town take a left on to the Cheney-Plaza Road.  Follow this road for about 5 miles to the entrance of the Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge located on S. Smith Road.  Drive down this road to the self admission station where vehicles stop to pay for entrance into the refuge.  Those with a National Park pass can enter for free.  After the entrance station continue to drive down the road and look for the signs for the auto tour route.  The trailhead for the Kepple Peninsula Trail is about halfway down the Auto Tour Loop.

Parking

There is a small parking lot with a restroom at the trailhead.  If the parking lot is full there is still plenty of room to park along the side of the dirt road to access the trailhead from.

Narrative

The Kepple Peninsula Interpretive Trail is one of the handful of short family friendly trails located in the Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge.  Most of the short trails are located off of the auto tour route that loops through the center of the refuge.  The Kepple Peninsula Trail is one of the shortest walks, but provides some of the nicest views of all the trails.  I took my two young kids here for an easy walk on a Spring day.  The well maintained trail begins from the parking lot and heads off into the trees:

From the trail we almost immediately began to have views of Kepple Lake through the trees:

The main trail leads to a gazebo that people interested in having a picnic here can use:

From the gazebo there is a view looking down towards Kepple Lake:

From the gazebo the trail becomes a dirt trail that took us to the shoreline of the lake:

The trail leads to a wildlife viewing blind:

This blind was built back in 2006 by volunteers from various organizations:

The trail next leads to a bench that provided my kids a place to take a break at:

Here is the view from the bench:

While taking a break I went and read the marker about the various waterfowl that live in Kepple Lake:

During the hike we could hear a lot of ducks, but only spotted a few of them:

From the bench we followed the sign directing us towards the last quarter mile of the loop trail:

The trail continued to follow the shoreline of the lake:

Along the way there was a spur trail we spotted that led up on to a bluff:

We decided to check it out and from the bluff we had our best views from the entire hike of Kepple Lake:

After spending a few minutes taking in the views from the bluff we then went back to the main trail to complete our hike:

Along the way we had some more nice views of Kepple Lake. This particular view of Kepple Lake is from the opposite side of the lake from the views I had from my prior hike on the Bluebird Trail:

Conclusion

The Kepple Peninsula Interpretive Trail is a very easy and short walk along the shore of one of the prettiest lakes in the Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge.  It is a very family friendly trail to bring young children to.  However, keep in mind to check your kids for ticks after hiking here during the warmer months.  The wildlife refuge is well known for having ticks.  Each of my kids had ticks on their clothes that I brushed off of them after this hike.  The ticks are why I recommend wearing pants when hiking in the refuge.  Don’t let the ticks stop you from hiking in the refuge though, it is really one of the prettiest areas in the Spokane region to go and explore.