Spokane County High Point Trip Report
Mount Spokane (5,889 ft)
Date: April 19, 2003
Author: Dean Molen
There are three ways to do this CoHp, found in Mt. Spokane State Park. You can drive almost to the top in
the summer time, ride a chair to near the top in the winter time, or hike to the top if you find the road closed
or the ski lifts shut down or are looking for exercise in the summer. I did a snow hike to the top from the
base of the chair lifts as the ski season was over at Mt. Spokane ski area but the road to the top was gated
and buried under snow. From the base elevation of 4,272 feet to the top is just a little over 1600 feet of
vertical but I had to make my way up a slope that was still heavy in snow. Good waterproofing on my boots
and long gaiters and ski poles were just the thing.
It took me a little over an hour an a half to make the snow trudge to the top where I found two possibilities
for a high point. On the northern end is a building referred to as the Vista house. Just immediately to the
south eastern corner of this building is a BM and what you could assume is the actual highpoint.
However, when I looked over towards the tower/antenna arrays on the south end of the peak, it looked possible that
the highpoint might be over there instead. So not wanting to take a chance, I made my way over to what
appeared to be the highest spot. With all the snow, it is possible that I was standing on a big snow dome
that artificially made it seem higher than the BM spot. No matter, I wasn't taking any chances. I did GPS
readings on both and the tower area seemed higher. It'd be interesting to see this area again in the summer.
It was interesting to see others skiing after hiking up to the top. It made me wish I had brought my skis but
the boot glissade down only took me twenty minutes as the snow was still in decent condition for doing so.
photos