Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Coming over the hill on State Highway 231 after turning off Moos Road lends a view of the community of Edwall.
Editor's note: This is part 2 of a 4-part series.
BLUESTEM - Sometimes, you just need to take a drive. Whether it's a quick 20-minute getaway or a four-hour day trip, going for a drive is a method people often employ to clear the head and see more of the world.
And some of those drives are right here in Lincoln and western Spokane Counties.
In a four week stretch, we've been exploring four drives that one can take in The Record-Times' coverage area. The only rules are that the drive must be a loop of some sort and at least partly be within Lincoln County.
This week's loop across diverse terrain and landscape takes approximately 85 minutes to complete and traverses the backroads from Bluestem to Medical Lake in Spokane County before looping onto familiar roads.
Begin from either Davenport or Harrington. Follow State Highway 28 to Bluestem Road, located halfway between the two city limits. Turn east onto Bluestem Road, and weave along the mixture of wheat and scablands.
Notice the grain elevators, both active and not, in the Bluestem/Canby area. Cattle graze in the fields, and on a sunny day, the Selkirk Mountains loom to the north and northeast.
Continue on Bluestem Road past the Bluestem Grange and past Canby into the rolling wheat hills that welcome the driver to Edwall.
Entering Edwall municipal limits, the driver has a "Choose Your Own Adventure" decision of sorts.
If one would prefer to stay on paved roads, turn north onto State Highway 231, head up about a mile and turn right onto Cloverdale Road. If one doesn't mind a little gravel, turn south onto the highway before quickly turning left onto Moos Road and heading east.
The views on a sunny day of rolling wheat hills as far as the eye can see, with hilltops and mountain peaks in the northern distance, are spectacular. But, being surrounded by private farmland in this area, one would do wise to enjoy the views from the car and continue the trek without stopping and exploring.
From either Cloverdale or Moos, continue east to Waukon Road near the Spokane County line. Moos Road turns into West Drumheller Road at the county line and follow that road into pine-laden forestry. Turn right onto Waukon and left onto Moos/Drumheller if coming from Cloverdale.
As Spokane County yields more forest than the wheat and scabland of Lincoln County, keep an eye on the road for scampering critters like chipmunks, squirrels and marmots.
Eventually, Drumheller reaches a "T" intersection with Malloy Prairie Road. Turn left and continue north through further forestry and rolling wheat hills until reaching State Route 902.
Take another left on the highway and enjoy the scenery heading into downtown Medical Lake, which includes a view of the lake itself and dense evergeen trees.
From here, the drive gets very familiar for longtime locals. Wrap up the excursion by rerouting to Davenport via Brooks Road and U.S. Highway 2 to complete the loop.
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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