Riverstone Park

I can say with confidence that Riverstone is the most manicured and landscaped park in Coeur d' Alene. My guess is that the reason the landscaping is bumped up a few notches is because there are so many "adult" activities and events that take place in this multi-use park. It could also be because the entire Riverstone development was built on an old lumber mill site and well, gravel just wasn't going to cut it.



The park itself is 14 acres in size which includes a man-made pond with "water features" - i.e., fountains. There are no water craft or paddleboats on the pond and I've not seen anyone swim in this body of water. There are some geese and ducks but feeding them is not allowed.



There is a paved path around the park and the pond and the paths also link up to the Centential Trail which will take you west to Spokane or east to Lake Coeur d' Alene. You can also hook up with the Prairie Trail at this park which will take you by the Salvation Army Kroc Center. The path around the pond has several benches as well as a couple of bridges and waterfall features.

There are about 50 parking spots in the lot, two of them accessible. Because of the access to multiple trails, people will often use the Riverstone parking lot as a trail head. This morning as I drove into the lot I wondered what was going on at 9 am on a Tuesday. Ten cars in the lot, not a single person in the park.

There are three distinct areas in Riverstone park - the playground, the stage and tiered seating area and another secluded sitting area overlooking the water. There are free concerts in the summer at Riverstone usually offering a variety of musical genres. In 2010, the concerts included rock, jazz, country and celtic!



The stage and seating areas are concrete and are accessible by ramps. There are stairs that lead from the stage to the water's edge so bringing a small child or a child obsessed with all things water will require a great deal of supervision and diligence. The secluded seating area is also accessible however the concrete path turns to paving stones at the bench area. The stone are very large and are still accessible. There is an upper and lower area to this "zen garden" and the lower area drops off into the water without any natural or man-made curbing. There are some large boulders in the this area and my water-obsessed kiddo is always wanting to walk on the rocks to get to the water.



The playground has the standard wood chips for a base but there is a ramp! I chuckle everytime I look at this picture. All I see is someone in their chair saying "great, now what" once they've rolled into the chips and need a 4-wheel drive to get out.



The play structure itself has a ton of climbing opportunities. Ropes, walls, rungs, more ropes, more rungs. There is a plastic curly slide, a triple-wide slide (also plastic) and a fireman's pole for getting back down quickly. There is a rather unique transom which allows kids to sit on a platform while others use a crank to make the platform move back and forth. Great upper body workout for sure! Two big-kid swings and one tire swing round out the playground.




There is a BBQ Pavillion with picnic tables and BBQ grills and aside from the abundant landscaping, the pavillion is the only shade area.



The restrooms are "real" which is always a treat. They do however have heavy doors that open outward. These doors are not automatic and may pose an issue for someone with limited mobility. The only drinking fountains I could locate were at the bathrooom structure.

When I took my kiddo to Riverstone, he was most interested in the pond. We managed to walk the entire path around the pond but it took a long time because we needed to watch the waterfall, find rocks to throw into the water, try to get into the water every two feet or so..... Needless to say, the water features of this park are a bit of a distraction for my water-obsessed kid. I take him to this park when I know nothing else is going on because I know he is going to want to interact with the water and he wouldn't understand why he couldn't just walk behind the band and start playing in the water by the stage. Eventually he'll have enough practice to attend community events at this park but for now, I stick with mid-week days in the spring, fall and winter.

Riverstone Park will be the location of the Buddy Walk, September 25th. The Buddy Walk was created in 1995 by the National Down Syndrome Society to celebrate Down Syndrome Awareness Month and to promote acceptance and inclusion. I'll be there and I hope you will be too! There will be refreshments, gymnastics demonstrations, face painting and other great activities for the kids. Did I mention there will be snacks?

For more information about the Buddy Walk, you can visit Ds Connections NW.