Moose Lake, Moose Mountain & Blacktail Lake in Idaho

I joined the Inland Northwest Hiking group on meetup.com at the suggestion of my childhood friend and neighbor Duane Royer who now lives and hikes in Phoenix. Today was my first adventure with this friendly group. After an easy hike to the lake we climbed to a saddle and followed the ledge to the peak. After a break for lunch we hiked down and took a side trip to Blacktail Lake. We saw very little wildlife (a raven and some tadpoles) but ate a lot of late season huckleberries! We completed an eight mile hike in good weather until the end when it got breezy and sprinkled a bit. A great introduction to this group. Thanks to Jim for organizing the get together!

Route of the Hiawatha

My friend Steve and I left home around noon on a Friday and headed just the border of Idaho and Montana to ride the Route of the Hiawatha rail trail. He hadn't done it before and I had only once about 10 or 12 years ago with my youngest daughter Mallory. This time many more people were using the popular trail that features a 1.66 mile long tunnel, several tall trestles and about 5 shorter tunnels. We made it to the bottom and were the last ones on the second-to-last bus. The driver was informative and very friendly. No flat tires, enough light to see in the tunnels and loads of fun.

Accidental Discovery: Lake Spokane State Park

I was out exploring looking for a rockhounding site and came across this "park" along Long Lake. Nearly totally undeveloped except for a fenced parking area. You pretty much have to have AWD or 4WD to get in there.

A rock-climbing area I didn't know about!

Concentrated group of Buttercups!

Hike at Ginko Petrified Forest State Park Along the Columbia River

Sagebrush country at the edge of basaltic cliffs. Too bad it wasn't a sunny day but then again the cold kept the rattle snakes in their dens!

Pentsemon

I went cross-country skiing up at Mt. Spokane on a Thursday afternoon. Despite a couple inches of fresh snow there was not a soul around. The parking lot was empty despite the fact that most of the trails had been groomed that morning. I skied a 10km route around Shadow Mountain and back.

The view eastward from Shadow Mountain into Idaho.

Nice view of the Mt. Spokane alpine ski slopes.