We were visiting the area and wanted a hike that might be above the haze (presumably fire smoke from Alberta, Canada). The sunrise is earlier, by almost 30 minutes, in the NE corner of the state compared to the SW corner so we did not get a "sunrise" start. We started hiking around 6:35am and headed up trail 130 toward the top of Mt Spokane. We made it to the campground (did a little road walk to skip a snowy section of trail) before jumping back on the trail (upper Kit Carson). It was not snow-free for long but at least it was somewhat intermittent.
We kept our feet dry and only broke thru the snow or slipped a couple of times. We made it to the Vista House under sunny skies and nice temperatures. Unfortunately, flies were a nuisance (and were biting). You could not stand still for long before they'd find you. Views were hazy in all directions so views to Canada and back down toward Liberty Lake were not to be had. We could see a hazy Spirit Lake to the East. It seemed we had the whole park to ourselves. The road is still partly snow-covered so it is still closed. We chose to walk back to the campground via the road to avoid the snowy trail. We did have to cross snow on the road, but it easily traveled. As we headed down, three mountain bikers were heading up (and would be hitting snow soon). We regained the trail after the campground and made it back to our vehicle where there was just one other vehicle - the mountain bikers' truck). There were many more cars at a couple of the lower elevation trailheads.
Flowers- there were a few varieties but by far the most prevalent were the yellow glacier lilies.
Trash- lots of handwarmers on the trail and a few on the road, we can only assume they fell out of the pockets of snowshoers? We picked up some interesting trash shortly after jumping on the Upper Kit Carson trail, including 3 cans of pineapple juice and a bottle of fireball and of course a gummy bear wrapper. I say "interesting" because it does NOT sound like a tasty combo! Ha!
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