Dennis's Blog

Hiking from Steven's Creek to the Rocks of Sharon

I went on a hike this beautiful Memorial Day weekend up to the Rocks of Sharon, a famous hiking destination in the Spokane area. Instead of starting from Iller Creek on the North face of the Dishman Hills, I opted to start at the Stevens Creek trailhead. It's closer for me, coming from the West of Spokane, and it's a shorter, albeit much steeper, hike up to the top.

The heat map of my hiker shows that, compared to walking out at the end, my pace was pretty reserved for the hike up. The trip was well worth it though, I had a fantastic time climbing up. I took a break halfway there to rehydrate and have snack, then picked the pace right back up.

I crossed two dozen hikers coming down or hiking to different destinations, and passed a handful of people on the way up. There was a crew of mountain climbers at "Big Rock", about half a dozen of them, scaling the rock face. At the top, several people were perched on different rocks, and after a few minutes, so was I.

Going up to the Rocks of Sharon is my favorite hike in the area. Sure, Palisades Park offers a better view of Spokane, as does Edwidge-Woldson Park, but getting up to the Rocks of Sharon provides a stunning view to the South Plains.

That, and access to both Isler Creek and Stevens Creek is drive in only, and the hike up is fairly demanding, so you're surrounded mostly by people who are serious about getting a good hike in for the day.

Stevens Creek trail leads you up a hill that is adjacent to "Tower Mountain". I talked to some bikers while resting, and they said they put in on the South Hill. I didn't ask them where, and I'm kicking myself because it would save me an extra 15 minutes of driving each way if there's a South Hill entrance to the Iller Creek / Stevens Creek area.

All in all, I killed two hours getting to the top, taking a good look around, hiking a bit of the ridge trail, and getting back down.

It's a solid hike for an afternoon, and can easily be made into a day trip just by continuing to hike more of the Iller Creek trails.