October 16, 2021 – Circumnavigated Mount Spokane via (mostly) Trail 130
View Route Details: AllTrails Map of our Route
We finally did the loop around the “base” of Mount Spokane! I’ve had this on my “to do” for quite some time and 2021 happened to be the year that we decided to try some new trails at Mount Spokane.
Well, we sure heck got off-route and then landed ourselves in some weird mixed up ski resort machinery and shenanigans. Also, by far the creepiest hike we’ve have yet done at Mount Spokane. Chair #4, you are utterly creepy. Didn’t help me at all that I’ve been reading A Solitude of Wolverines, which is a thriller based on an abandoned ski resort turned wildlife protection land, but then there are people trying to kill the main character. Quite possible that our hike was somewhat inspired by the book and helped me further my visualization of the crazy nail biting events in the book. (Book review is here…)
It was a beautiful blue skies and possibly last of the warm days before winter falls upon Spokane kind of day. This was the first main ski slope we traversed and then so very many followed. Too bad that this trail can’t be snowshoed in the winter. (Stupid skiers. Really. No offense to ya or anything. Grumble. Grumble. Grumble.) 
Larches were actually one of our original inspirations to hike Mount Spokane. They are in full fall splendor. Oh, how I luv you, my larches. 
Number 1, the Larch! (To be said, out loud, in Mounty Python tone.) 
Another ski slope. And more larches. 
Staring out over all my baby and grown up larches. Yupp. They are all mine. 
And then at the top of slope after we realized we were no longer on Trail 130. We decided to summit and check out what’s at the top. Apparently, creepy abandoned school bus is at the top. David thinks we should refurbish it then hit the road with it and start our bus-RV road trip blog. Cause that’s what the cool kids are doing these days. 
The yin yang. Balance in all things. Pow! What is HAPPENING here? A complete mystery. 
Our view from our lunch spot. Cause we got hangry. Not that angry. Mostly just hungry. But we were a bit exhausted down sloping on foot to try and connect back to Trail 130. I also kept freaking out cause book + ski slope + abandoned = something is most definitely going to leap out at us from the trees and kill us. (Meanwhile, David was just enjoying being out in nature and the sunshine.) 
The infamous broken Chair # 4. Creepy decapitating heads machine. A leftover tire from a car it recently ate. The downed ski lift lines that we had to crawl over and under. We seriously like leap-ran over it. 
And then! Then we had an Indiana Jones escape moment from the giant rolling boulder (er… ski lift cable roll). 
Did I mention I love larches? 
The map of our route along with key points: exact location where we lost the trail, then the actual spot where we finally realized we were off route, then lunch spot (with our spelled incorrectly – whatever!), and at last creepy broken chair # 4.
thehikingbookworms.com 