Hikes in Washington: The Cheney Wetlands Trail

Basic Information

• Name: The Cheney Wetlands Trail
• Where: Cheney, Washington
• Distance: 2.4 miles
• Max Elevation: 2,318 feet
• Elevation Gain: 121 feet
• Time: 1 hour
• Difficulty: Easy
• More Information: Mushroom Observer

Google Earth Map of the Cheney Wetlands Trail

Directions

This hike is located just outside of the small town of Cheney.  To reach the trailhead from Spokane, take I-90 West about 15 miles and then exit onto Highway 904 to Cheney.  Stay on the highway until you reach downtown Cheney.  Take a left onto the Cheney Spangle Road.  Follow this road for about a mile until it passes over a bridge.  Immediately after the bridge on the left is the entrance to the trailhead.

Parking

At the Cheney Trailhead for the Columbia Plateau Trail there is a large paved lot and even larger dirt lot for overflow parking.  There is also male and female restrooms, a map, signage, and picnic tables available as well.

Narrative

In the Eastern Washington city of Cheney, there is a nice trail that runs through the Channeled Scablands terrain that borders the east side of the city.  The trail is called the Cheney Wetlands Trail and this hike is only possible because the wetlands is where the processed waste water from the nearby Cheney Waterworks is released at.  Don’t worry though the water doesn’t smell and the fact that this is a mixture of manmade and natural ponds is not really even noticeable.  The Cheney Wetlands Trail begins at the Cheney Trailhead of the Columbia Plateau Trail.  From the trailhead follow the paved path for less than half a mile through the small, wooded gorge:

Next follow a dirt trail on the right that leads to a kiosk with trail map posted (see above).  From the kiosk this becomes a “choose your own adventure” hike as there are multiple trails that can be taken around the wetlands.  Trail runners can go on longer runs of up to 4 miles while walkers can take shorter ones.  I took my two young kids on a shorter 2.4 mile loop hike through the heart of the wetlands:

The Channeled Scablands was formed by the Ice Age Floods that carved out much of the landscape of Eastern Washington and left the many wetlands and lakes called coulees.  All of the rocky, forested wetlands to the east of Cheney to include the Cheney Wetlands Trail are a byproduct of these great floods.  A signboard at nearby Fish Lake does a good job of explaining the history of the Ice Age Floods:

The trail through the wetlands is wide and easy follow:

There are even trail markers that correspond to the trail map posted at the kiosk.  If you are wondering where you are at, you can take a picture of the trail map and easily find your location with the trail markers:

Since the Cheney Wetlands Trail is located near the Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge, it is not uncommon to see wildlife here, particularly deer:

The most common wildlife seen though is geese and other birds that live in the abundant wetlands:

Conclusion

The Cheney Wetlands Trail is a great option for people looking for an easy, family friendly hike with a high possibility of seeing wildlife.  It is a bit out of the way from Spokane since it is in Cheney, but the trailhead can still be reached in less than 30 minutes from most areas of Spokane.  If short and family friendly is they type of hike you are looking for, the Cheney Wetlands Trail is worth checking out.