The Most Wonderful Surprise. || The Last Mt. Spokane Sunset of 2016

Last week, I caught word that the summit road to Mt. Spokane was going to re-open for one week, before they closed it permanently for the winter. If you know me at all, you know that my all time favorite place in Eastern Washington is the insanely beautiful Mt. Spokane. It's the tallest point in Spokane County, and although it's a humble mountain with no jagged peaks or unspeakable elevation, it's still got this inevitable charm, and there's just something about it that I love so much. This summer, the summit was inaccessible because they were re-doing the road to the top (which is actually so nice now, shoutout to you, Spokane County road construction team) and I was incredibly bummed about missing all the amazing mountain sunsets. So, I knew that I NEEDED to make it up there one last time until next spring.

I was fully prepared for the cold; Mt. Spo doesn't mess around with it's wind chill. What I was not prepared for was the total surprise of all the cold white stuff - AKA - SNOW.

Driving to the summit was like fast forwarding through seasons. Early fall at the base, late fall at the state park entrance, and then all of a sudden, flat out winter near the top. I'm still wondering if what I saw was even real. I've always wanted to know what the mountain looked like in snow, and I wasn't about to find out by learning how to ski or snowboard (sorry, dad) because my awkwardly proportioned limbs simply cannot handle a physical task of that level. I'm so, so glad I got to see this before the summit road closed for the season. This place is so special to me, and now I love it even more, if that was even possible.

Shoutout to my friend Rachel for always being down for any crazy adventure plans I throw at her. Also, to the cute dog that was running around up there. That was a nice added extra.