Where was Vision Quest filmed?

After the incident following Carla and Tannaran’s date, Carla and Louden journey up to see his grandfather before Louden’s big match. Mostly to invite him to watch, but also to check in on him.

On the drive to his place, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, Carla and Louden get back on speaking terms as they both apparently have super short memories. Carla immediately gets flirty saying: “You know what turns me on? Hands. Big hands”. Oh boy.

The road used to film this interaction was Bigelow Gulch Road, Orchard Prairie, Spokane, Washington. It’s out towards the northeast of Spokane city center, and is often lined with beautiful trees and wide open spaces. Considering how close to the city it is, you feel as if you’re miles and miles away from the hustle and bustle.

As it’s a remote road, you’re going to need to drive there. However, you can recreate your favorite Vision Quest moments on the way there, pretending to be Louden and Carla.

In the opening sequence of the film, we see and hear Louden outlining his plans for the year. On the first day of wrestling practice, Coach (Charles Hallahan) says how the varsity process and seeding will work for the year. Essentially to be number one, you have to challenge number one and beat them.

When asking who wants to go first, Louden raises his hand to which Coach replies, “Louden you’re already number one at 190”. This is where Louden explains his weight division cutting plan, much to the dismay of his teammates and the coach himself. Most of the wrestling and training montages take place in the old gym of Rogers High School on Wellesley Avenue in Spokane. It’s a huge school with baseball and athletic fields, making it the ideal spot for such a sport-heavy, high school film.

As this is still a functioning school, you can’t really visit it unless you go there, there’s an event or game on, or if you’re a parent. You can, however, stand outside as the exterior shots of Louden’s school were also filmed at Rogers High School.

You can drive here, but the number 33 bus does also stop right outside the school if you don't have transport or want to be greener.

Following his first bout against Kuch in the opening scene, Louden is buoyant and runs from the high school to his job as a bellboy in a local hotel. He quickly changes out of his sweats into his vibrant red jacket and goes through the kitchen past his sort of mentor and short line cook called Elmo (J.C. Quinn).

He’s a bit of a curmudgeon and puts up with Louden, but shows his affection for the kid when he actually puts on a shirt and comes to his wrestling match at the end of the film - it’s a big deal.

Louden: “I can’t believe they actually pay me to work here.” Elmo: “Neither can I kid.”

The filming location used as a stand in for the hotel that Louden worked at was the Ridpath Hotel on Sprague Avenue in central Spokane. This has since become the Ridpath Club Apartments and they are permanent dwellings, so you can’t really go inside and have a look around unless you live there or know someone who does.

As it’s in central Spokane, there are plenty of great restaurants and bars around the area, and it’s actually just around the corner from the Spokane train station, so it’s super easy to reach if you want to take it in from the outside.

After training for some time to try and make the lower weight division, Louden decides that it’s time to check out the competition - the legendary Shute. He brings Kuch along for moral support who isn’t sure about this plan, after all Shute is supposed to be a machine.

This theory is validated when we see him training by carrying a huge log on his shoulders up a load of bleachers. The guy is an absolute monster, packed with 168kg of pure muscle. Louden should be scared.

Schute: “Think you’ll make the weight?” Louden: “I hope so” Schute: “I hope so too”

This intimidating Vision Quest scene was filmed at the Joe Albi Stadium, which is located at 4918 W Wellesley Avenue, Spokane, Washington. It’s actually just a few blocks west of Rogers High School and used to be a stadium that was mostly used for High School sporting events.

It’s no longer in use and reports say that although it’s still standing, the turf has been pulled up and it’s just a mess of concrete. You can still see the iconic bleachers that Schute hikes up with the log through the gates though, so it’s worth the journey if you’re in the Spokane area.

Located in between the hospital and Fairmount Memorial Park, you can either drive or take the number 22 or 35 bus and walk around the back of the hospital.

In a scene that’s fairly early on in the movie, we see Louden in a busy bar, talking to Mr. Tanneran as he’s eating ribs. We can see that Louden really wants some but is committed to his highly dangerous weight cutting methodology.

A couple of minutes later, Carla appears and Louden introduces the two. Little does he know that they’ll be on a date in no time. Carla asks him to dance as there is a band playing, fronted by no other than Madonna. Yep, that Madonna. She was super popular and the studio wanted to take advantage of this so she plays Gambler and Crazy For You in this scene, the latter is the song that Carla and Louden dance to.

Louden: “How about that dance?” Carla: “Sure”

This iconic bar is the Bigfoot Pub & Eatery on 9115 N Division Street, Spokane, Washington. Just off the main road heading north out of Spokane towards Town & Country, this bar is super accessible and even welcomes kids until 9 pm.

It has a generous parking lot, but if you want to enjoy a drink, both the number 22 and 27 buses stop relatively close by. Enjoy some fries, have a drink and play some ping pong - just remember to put Madonna on the jukebox.

Here we are at the climactic final scene: Schute versus Louden in the 168kg weight division. Up until now, Louden’s weight loss induced nosebleeds have held him back, but can he hold it together long enough to make his dreams come true?

Spoiler, yes he can. After he pins Schute after six minutes, he celebrates with his teammates on the court. In true 1980s coming of age style, there’s a freeze frame of Louden celebrating with the following voice over:

“Kuch was right, it was a vision quest. But all I ever settled for was that we’re born to live and then to die and we’ve got to do it alone, each in his own way. And I guess that’s why we’ve got to love those people who deserve it like there’s no tomorrow because, when you get right down to it, there isn’t.”

So profound.

This final matchup and the scene where Tannaran shoots the basketball were both shot at Spokane Falls Community College. You can find the campus at 3410 W Fort George Wright Drive, Spokane, Washington. Located in West Spokane, much of the campus and buildings have been modernized since the movie came out in 1985, but it’s a pleasant place to wander around.

There’s a huge parking lot and it has a dedicated bus stop on the number 33 bus route.