Mission Point Trail

Even without a tour guide, this interpretative trail has plenty to offer hikers who enjoy learning about local history. The trail starts next to Saint Paul's Mission, built around 1847 at the Fort Colville fur-trading site. From there it goes to an overlook of the Kettle Falls site, though the falls are now submerged beneath Lake Roosevelt.

Archaeologists estimate that humans have used this site for 9,000 years. An interpretive sign explains the massive amphibolite stone at the overlook. Deposited by retreating glaciers and used as a whetstone for centuries, the stone was originally located near the falls.

From there the trail loops around to the Fort Colville site, a Hudson Bay outpost established in 1825. It also marks a small graveyard that contains both marked and unmarked graves. The tour guide explained that the graveyard could actually be much larger; most of the graves were not marked or markers were lost/stolen over the years.

If you visit the Mission Point Interpretive Trail on days that the guide is not present, there is a smartphone app that provides an audio tour of the area.