Patty Houff Recognized for Dream Trail Contributions
Michael Hamilton, President and Jeff Lambert, Vice President of the Dishman Hills Natural Area Association met with Patty Houff and her family to honor her for years of devoted service to the Dishman Hills conservation efforts. As part of the Spokane Mountaineers Conservation Committee, she helped to initiate the Dream Trail concept in 2002. Along with Jeff Lambert she led the first Dream Trail Recon hike in 2002. Lorna Ream and Patty facilitated the Dream Trail Team from 2002 until 2010. Some of those were difficult years, but Patty made sure we kept meeting every month or two building the coalition and working on strategies for the Dream Trail Connecting People to Nature project.
Finally in 2009, the DHNAA acquired Big Rock, a key acquisition. We presented Patty with a photograph showing Patty and Lorna standing in front of the looming Big Rock shortly after it was acquired. In April 2012, the DHNAA 269-acre Dream Trail nomination was acquired.
We learned from Patty that persistence can overcome great obstacles.
You may send Patty a note at 2903 E 25th Ave. #632, Spokane, WA 99223.
Patty was unable to attend the May 17 event honoring her contributions but we were able to meet with her and her family for a private celebration. We were joined by Patty's daughter, Kathleen McTigue, niece Shannon Meagher; brother Michael Meagher; and husband Bill Houff (L to R) with Michael Hamilton standing in his red sweater behind.
The Dream Trail - Dishman Hills to Rocks of Sharon (Iller Creek)
has had a name change to Dishman Hills Alliance
Big Rock in the Rocks of Sharon is the largest of the number of monoliths that protrude from a ridge that runs east from Tower Mountain. This collection of scenic boulders got their name in the old days (before TV) when Spokanites ventured out of town for weekend picnics. The Sharon store, just south of Tower Mountain, was a stop on the electric railroad that ran from Spokane to Pullman, thus the name Rocks of Sharon. Adventurers would ride to that stop and hike up into the rocks for a day of sun and fresh air. While the store and the railroad are gone, the rocks and the name "Sharon" remain.
Their composition includes a Cretaceous (80 million-year-old) granite that had intruded into a much older (1,700 million-year-old) gneiss. Granite weathers slowly thus these occurrences have been left in high relief by erosion. The granite rose through the Earth's crust on what appears to be fault trends from southeast to northwest following the weak fracture planes of the fault. The granite was injected along the layers that make up the metamorphic gneiss in what geologists call "sills". Weathering of this combination of rock types has resulted in a variety of shapes and sizes that give the rock real character.
The Dishman Ridge Dream Trail Team is a group of individuals and organizations working to preserve an existing wildlife corridor that snakes between two preserves on each end of the Dishman Hills – the 530-acre Dishman Hills Natural Area to the north and the 796-acre Iller Creek Conservation Area to the south. The committee also hopes to establish the “Dishman Ridge Dream Trail,” a two to three mile public hiking trail in that corridor.
The committee includes members from Inland Northwest Land Trust, Dishman Hills Natural Area Association, Spokane Mountaineers, Back Country Horsemen, the Native Plant Society, and others.
The Dream Trail is part of a broader wildlife corridor that stretches from Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge, through the Dishman Hills, to Blossom Mountain and Mica Peak, and on to Cougar Bay on Lake Coeur d’Alene.
Recent acquisition is a step forward in making the Dream Trail possible.
For current information on the Big Rock acquisition or the Dream Trail see Dishman Hills Conservancy website or Spokane Mountaineers Website - Big Rock Acquired for ConservationAlso see:
Spokane Mountaineers Website - Dream Trail Proposal to the National Park Service .
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