Rock Creek, Escure Ranch BLM

Since moving to Spokane Erik and I have noticed that there are two things that people from Eastern Washington are proud of. The first is Gonzaga Basketball, and rightly so, we have caught the contagious Zag spirit too. The second are the ice age floods that formed the geologic features that cover central Washington known as the scablands. That's right, you cannot walk down the street around here without hearing people talk about Lake Missoula and one Coulee or another. Erik and I had to laugh to ourselves every time it came up. . . okay people, you had some big floods back in the day, congratulations. I really didn't understand what all the fuss was about. In fact the first time I drove through Central Washington I thought it was the ugliest place I had ever been in my life especially considering the green cascading beauty that the rest of this state is known for.

But since learning the geology that formed the area and exploring the scablands on a few hikes I have gained an appreciation for this apparent wasteland. There really is no other place on the planet like it. This geology is unique to the world and rightly so. What from I90 appears to be yellow-gray desert with nothing but sagebrush, has turned out to be a rolling countryside with basalt outcroppings forming cliffs, mesas, box canyons, and potholes. There are surprising rivers, lakes and waterfalls and tons of wildlife hiding back in this desert. Not only that, but when spring fever hits and the trails in the mountains near Spokane and northern Idaho are covered in snow, adventurous hikers can head west into the scablands to find slightly warmer temperatures and sunnier dry trails. It is a secret treasure you would never find just passing through traveling by car.

Lat week my hiking club was going down to Escure Ranch BLM area to hike. This is a neat area with some unique glacial flood formations. It was about an hour drive South from Cheney, I was on some crazy dirt roads through some wheat fields way out in the middle of nowhere. We hiked out about 5 miles on the ridge above Rock Creek. It was one of those hikes that looked kinda lame in pictures, but once there I was impressed with the gorgeous blue skies and sweeping vistas. I LOVE my hiking club. I have met so many wonderful people. The sun was shining, probably the sunniest day we have had this Spring. Two hikers brought dogs. Tate LOVES the dogs. She would violently lean from one side to the other in the backpack carrier to make sure she could always see the little dog over one of my shoulders. Several people in the club had ticks on them when we got home. AAAHHHH!! TICKS!!! I never had to worry about that in Utah, but they are pretty bad here in the Spring. I am terrified. I will gladly wear gators all year long if it means not getting a tick. So far I have not had the pleasure of pulling one out of my skin. Cross your fingers!

We have a few more hikes in the Scabs planned this Spring. It really is a neat area. I have a great appreciation for the uniqueness and beauty that is out there.

Mt. Spokane Snowshoe Summit

Oh the joys of having Erik home for a weekend! The much awaited week between conference and nationals that Erik gets to stay home is always a fun one. Since the weather was going to be a warm 50 degrees in the foothills, we figured conditions up on the mountain would be pretty mild and that this would be a good day to take the baby up there. Plus, we haven't used our snowshoes nearly enough this winter.

Mt Spokane also seemed like a good choice with the baby because the back side of the mountain is a ski resort, while the front side has the trails. So when we got to the summit we had a nice little cabin snack shack up there to drink some hot coco and feed the little one. So maybe this is not our typical summit, but it was a fun and beautiful hike non the less. We had amazing views of this new landscape we live in. We could see the plains of Eastern Washington, all the mountains of Northern Idaho and all the way to Canada (maybe). Tate has graduated from the front carrier to the hiking backpack and she was loving the new ride. It was a steep climb and we had a ton of fun.

Check out our route and elevation profile from our GPS data.

Hog Lake Falls, Fishtrap BLM

Yesterday Erik loaded a bus and headed across Montana to Bozeman for the Big Sky Indoor Conference track meet. Did we sit around feeling sad? I think you know the answer. . . Tate and I met up with the Inland Northwest Hikers again and headed down to the Fishtrap Lake recreation area to hike a 7 mile loop to Hog Lake Falls. I was still nervous to hike with strangers but one women posted that she was driving from Cheney and willing to give rides. I couldn't pass up a ride from someone who lives right in town!

Once again the INH did not disappoint. This is one of those hikes that I would look up online, and decide it wasn't all that impressive, only to go to the location and be surprised by how great and scenic it was. Outdoor adventures are like that, they are usually much cooler in person, photos don't do them justice. Well, Hog Lake was definitely one of those hikes. I wasn't expecting much, just wanted to get outside and meet some new people. Once there I was loving everything about the place.

It was snowing as we drove down, and cloudy and cold at the trailhead. We passed a historic old barn, a bird viewing lake, and several frozen lakes formed by the Missoula Flood. The ice fisherman stared at us as we walked by probably thinking, "Crazy hikers", while we were all thinking, "crazy ice fishers." We stopped for lunch and I fed Tate, I am pretty much the queen of motherhood when it comes to nursing Tate outdoors, just call me mother nature! As we ate, the clouds rolled out and a glorious warm sun beat down on us. I haven't felt that warm in months. We finished at the Hog Lake falls for the finale. IT was a unique multi-tiered falls that were much larger and impressive than pictures can represent.

 

Once again, the hike was really made special by the wonderful people. It group has a lot of older retired folks. They all LOVED Tate. She, of course loved the attention and was perfect the whole time. Never cried, just cooed, babbled, squealed and blew raspberries the whole time. She scared off any wildlife in the area that is for sure.