Hikes in Washington: The Mt. Spokane Burping Brook Loop Trail

Basic Information

• Name: The Burping Brook Loop Trail
• Where: Mt. Spokane State Park
• Distance: 3.6 miles
• Elevation Gain: 689 feet
• Max Elevation: 4,281 feet
• Time: 1.5-2.5 hours
• Difficulty: Easy
• More Information: Day Hike! Spokane, Coeur d’Alene, and Sandpoint

Google Earth Map of the Trail

Directions

To get to Mt. Spokane State Park from downtown Spokane, take Division Street (Highway 2) North until it reaches the outskirts of town.  Eventually Highway 2 will reach an Intersection with Highway 206.  Make a right on to Highway 206 and follow it until it reaches Mt. Spokane State Park.  The trailhead is the second major parking lot reached when entering the park.

The parking lot is located between a sharp turn in the road.  The start point for the hike is located across the road.  Be very careful crossing the road since the road can get quite busy at times.

Parking

This parking lot is the start point for many popular hikes in Mt. Spokane State Park.  This means it can get filled quickly, especially on weekends and holidays.  Arrive early to ensure there is parking during peak times.

Since this is a Washington State Park a Discover Pass is required to park:

The trailhead for the hike is located across the street from the parking lot at the Kit Carson Lower Loop Road Trailhead:

Narrative

My kids and I have been systematically completing the various hikes at Mt. Spokane State Park.  The latest hike we completed was the Burping Brook Loop Trail. The Kit Carson Lower Loop Road where we began the hike, is a wide dirt track that is popular for hiking and mountain biking during the summer and snowshoeing in the winter:

A short distance from the trailhead there is a nice picnic area right next to Burping Brook:

My kids spent a few minutes playing in the creek before we continued with the hike:

All along the Burping Brook Loop Trail there is lush forest to enjoy:

There are some pretty impressive trees to see all along the trail:

After the picnic area the dirt road comes to the intersection of Trail 110 that I had previously hiked up from the park entrance to the summit of Mt Spokane.  At this intersection there is another picnic area and a outhouse available:

From the trail intersection we continued down the dirt road through the beautiful forest:

We came to another area where my kids decided to stop and play in the creek again:

At about the 1.5 mile mark we came to Smith Gap:

This is another area with a picnic table for people to take a break at:

Smith Gap also has a nice restroom facility for hikers as well:

There is even a cabin there that we found out was locked:

The park service only opens the cabin for snowshoers and cross country skiers in the winter:

At Smith Gap we left the dirt road and followed Trail #100 further into the forest:

There were a few social trails running off in various directions, but Trail #100 was well marked with these blue arrows:

There was also signposts along the way to help keep hikers on the right trail as well:

Along the way we crossed over a small wooden bridge:

Here is a view of the creek flowing under it:

We next came to an intersection with Trail #100 and Trail #104.  We continued on Trail #100:

At this point the trail does a short ascent up the side of the mountain:

At the top of the ascent there is another bridge we had to cross:

We stopped here and took another break because my kids wanted to play in the water again:

While they played, I sat back and enjoyed the surrounding forest:

After my kids played for about another 30 minutes in the creek, we then continued down Trail #100 back towards the parking lot:

The last section of the trail was an easy descent:

We did cross over Burping Brook again on a wooden bridge, but by this time my kids had their fill of playing in the water and wanted to get back to the parking lot, which we did a short time later:

Conclusion

The Burping Brook Loop Trail is a really nice loop hike through a lush forest that provides some great opportunities for those with young kids to play in the water.  The distance and elevation gain my young kids had no issues with and they had a really great time out on the mountain.  A major negative of this hike is that there are no views since the trail stays in the forest the entire time. For people who like hikes that lead to a view, this hike may not be for you.