Out There Outdoors

For one evening each June, several miles of Spokane’s South Hill streets transform into a space for bikes, skates, running shoes, sidewalk chalk, live music, and whatever other human-powered fun people decide to bring along. Spokane Summer Parkways returns June 16 with a 4-mile car-free route through the Manito and Comstock neighborhoods, inviting the community to move, connect, and play outdoors together.

summerparkways.com

outthereoutdoors.com/spokane-summer-parkways-car-free-community-event-south-hill

Ammi Midstokke never planned to become an open-water swimmer. But when a 33-mile relay across Lake Pend Oreille became part of a fundraiser supporting LGBTQ+ inclusion through Sandpoint Pride, she found herself learning to swim, confronting cold water, and discovering why so many people are drawn to wild swimming in the first place.

Read “Baptism by Open Water” in the latest issue of Out There Outdoors.

outthereoutdoors.com/baptism-by-open-water-lake-pend-oreille-pride-swim

Baptism by Open Water A hesitant swimmer dives into open water for a cause bigger than herself. By Ammi Midstokke Cover photo courtesy of Ammi Midstokke

If you're looking for a unique race this summer, Run With the Horses in Wyoming’s high desert needs to be on your radar. Happening Aug. 15 alongside Green River’s River Festival, this marathon, half marathon, 10K and 5K takes runners from town onto the Wild Horse Loop, climbing through rolling desert terrain with expansive views and the chance to spot wild horses along the way.

Courses start at 7 a.m. and range from a fast 5K to a full marathon, reaching elevations above 7,300 feet before returning to Green River. After the race, stick around for festival activities, live music and a community celebration that makes this destination race one to remember.

Learn more or register at runwiththehorsesmarathon.com.

Annual Run With The Horses Marathon

What started as a ride up Mount Spokane to honor Wendy Ramsey has grown into one of the Inland Northwest’s most meaningful cycling events.

This year’s Climb for the Cure on June 14 adds a competitive race element with a $10,000 prize purse awarded across routes and age categories.

Riders pedal a mix of gravel and pavement on a choice of two routes up Mount Spokane and back to the start at Big Barn Brewing. Every mile honors someone and raises money for cancer research, making the community celebration at the finish that much sweeter.

Whether you race, ride, volunteer, or sponsor, every part of this event helps support cancer research and families facing the unimaginable.

Learn more or register at Climbforthecure.org.

Climb for the Cure Big Barn Brewing Co. & Bodacious Berries Fruits and Brews, LLC North Division Bicycle Shop The Bicycle Butler Roast House Mojo Cyclery Evergreen East

Spring in the Methow Valley turns the hillsides around Winthrop into a mix of balsamroot, lupine, and paintbrush, with trail routes that cut right through it. The Sun Mountain trail race, organized by Rainshadow Running, climbs hard into that landscape, with views stretching toward North Cascades National Park. Between the effort and the terrain, it’s the kind of course that stays with you more than any finish time.

outthereoutdoors.com/methow-valley-spring-trail-running-sun-mountain-winhtrop-washington

📸Ammi Midstokke

Spring brings a steady return of birds across the Inland Northwest, from sandhill cranes passing through the Columbia Basin to swallows and warblers arriving later in the season. Around Spokane-area wetlands and rivers, migration is easy to follow this time of year, especially before the trees fully leaf out.

outthereoutdoors.com/spring-birding-inland-northwest-migration-spokane-wetlands

📸Tom Munson

A women-only Survival Sisterhood Retreat at Prater Mountain Ranch near Sandpoint brought participants from ages 17 to 80 together through wilderness skills training and shared time along a creek in the pines. Alongside learning shelter building, fire making, archery, and awareness skills, the experience unfolded into something more communal, shaped by storytelling, reflection, and time in the land. Many left describing not just new skills, but a lasting shift in how they relate to place and each other.

outthereoutdoors.com/survival-sisterhood-retreat

📸Alana Livingston

Sacred Cedars Wilderness School

Vanessa Swenson’s fireweed print was the entry point into a body of work already woven through Spokane’s public spaces, from murals to packaging design and community goods. Her solo exhibition “State of Awe” draws on field sketches and wild places across Washington, a practice now shaped by new rhythms of motherhood and watercolor work created in short studio bursts alongside her son, including her “Nurse Log” painting and continued support for Washington Trails Association through art sales.

outthereoutdoors.com/vanessa-swenson-art-motherhood-state-of-awe-washington-watercolor-nature

📸Clarin J, Vanessa Swenson

A book about two 18th century naturalists sent Ammi Midstokke deep into questions about plants, language, and the ways we understand the natural world. From Linnaeus and Buffon to honeysuckle on a forest trail, “Every Living Thing” becomes a meditation on naming, knowledge, and paying closer attention outdoors.

outthereoutdoors.com/every-living-thing-jason-roberts

Canadian lynx are once again raising kits in the Kettle Range, part of a broader effort by the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and other partners to restore wildlife across Eastern Washington. From pronghorn and woodland bison to grizzlies and wolves, Adam Gebauer explores how species are reclaiming habitat—and how people are adapting alongside them.

outthereoutdoors.com/eastern-washington-wildlife-restoration-lynx-bison-pronghorn

📸Adam Gebauer