17 July 2019 Antoine Peak

It was the right time of year for huckleberries.  I had remembered there was a restaurant on Trent that offered huckleberry shakes in season.  They also closed after the lunch service.  My local staff member and I agreed to test their huckleberry shakes and burgers.  The burgers were average, but the huckleberry shakes rocked.  The restaurant also had an old car theme and filled the place with oldies music.  It was a different lunch, but worked out well.

I set aside this evening for a long hike at one of my favorite parks in Spokane.  At the start of the rise up the trail I was surprised to see two adult turkeys in the brush and pines near the trail.  They were with six or seven poults moving through the thick undergrowth.  Turkeys are usually quite skittish when the young ones are along.  This group was mostly oblivious to me as I watched.  There was a lot of scratching for food as they moved along.

After the Iller Creek hike the evening before, I wasn't expecting to see any wildflowers on this hike.  I was pleasantly surprised.

I was really surprised to spot mariposa lilies along the trails.  I had only spotted them once before on my visits.  That spotting was two plants at Dishman Hills on a rock formation.  I have been back to that formation and not seen them again.  This evening, there were dozens of plants along the trail.  It was a surprise as I have been here so many times and never seen them.

I made it to the peak which would have been the point where I would have left the trail and visited much tougher terrain.  I was hoping to make a large loop and return with cache finds for some of the tougher hides.  Unfortunately, there were black clouds rolling in from the west.  With no rain gear, I turned to the still blue skies and quickly made my way off the peak.  The longer distance caches would need to wait another year.