People who visit Mt. Spokane for winter activities will notice an iconic business closed its doors this winter.
Bear Creek Lodge is situated right in front of the Mt. Spokane State Park entrance. The large rustic log structure was built in the 1940s. It featured a bar, restaurant, events center, and rooms to rent. For the last several years, the lodge also featured outdoor activities, including a snow tubing hill and a small campground. But this winter, the lodge and its surrounding 110-acre grounds are silent. Its owner of nearly two decades, Sam Deal, decided to sell the building and acreage to the Washington State Parks Department.
What comes next is still to be determined.
“It's an old building. The standards of a state-run building for public use, is a little higher bar than you have with a private operator, so we really have to do a facilities assessment of the entire lodge," said Scott Griffith, the agency's eastern region superintendent.
Griffith says the evaluation will include the water, septic and electrical system, ADA compliance and whether the building meets fire codes. It will also decide whether to development with one partner or more for future uses.
There is no specific timetable for decisions, but Griffith says the Parks Department will ask the legislature for money next month as it decides how to proceed.