Looking for Sunshine

I was able to synthesize a little vitamin D today up on Mt. Spokane. The forecast calls for pea soup below 3000 feet the rest of the week so Walter and I trucked up to Mt. Spokane to get in a bit of sunshine. Oh, and we took Nancy along too.

It was a good day. It was cloudy when we got there but quickly cleared up. Though we were in Mt. Spokane State Park we were actually roaming around on Mt. Kit Carson. This is my first outing with my new snowshoes, which I actually like more than I thought I would. They are Yukon Charlie's; basic aluminum with synthetic decking. I expected to hate the bindings because my old MSR shoes had the best bindings I have ever used. These turned out to be ok once I got them cinched up. And I got them from Costco!!! And they were $30 cheaper than the same pair at REI. They came with telescoping poles which I did not need. One of Nancy's poles collapsed on her today and I could not get it fixed. I prefer to use just one pole so I gave her my spare.


The snow was sort of melty but not slushy. Walter was able to stay on top. I think the little boots that he wears help a bit with that. It is impossible to get the poodle hair out from between his pads and they collect huge snowballs that hurt his feet. He was really tired out from the day. At one point I stopped to put on some more clothing and he thought we were resting and tried to take a nap on my pack. It was cute. There were also some really cool whispy clouds that rolled in for about 5 minutes. It was a Middle Earth moment.

So here are some pictures:

Walter and me towering above the Smith Gap toilet

The cool weird whispy Middle Earth clouds with the sun

More Middle Earth

Looking down toward Spokane: The white in the background are the tops of clouds