Everything is in between states right now. A lot of frozen bodies of water and a lot of free flowing bodies of water. It's still wintertime, so there's lots of dry foliage. Some birds. Didn't see any mammals today, though plenty of evidence! A nice quiet place for meditative exploration amidst the ponderosa.

the highlight was seeing a porcupine

Found a beautiful trail about an hour outside of Spokane. We started at the visitor center and found there is no parking pass required. Several well stocked vault toilets throughout the refuge. 
Lots of flowers blooming and more to come. Birds singing everywhere. 
We stayed on the trail and after about an hour of hiking I spotted the first tick on my friend’s hoodie. When another friend found a tick on her pant leg, we got a little wigged out and headed back to the car via the road. I found another tick crawling up my leg when we got back to the car and after a thorough body check, we headed home. Back at the house I found another tick on my back under my shirt. 😳
Despite the tick situation, I would gladly go back (after a big dose of bug spray!) It’s really beautiful and great for flowers and birdwatching. 

I visited Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge over the weekend to check it out on recommendation from some folks I met in Spokane. My partner and I did the scenic loop drive around the park and hopped out of the car occasionally to check-out some of the short spur trails.

Road texture was muddy in parts otherwise fine. We were in a Subaru, but I think any car would have made it OK. There were a handful of other cars and hikers throughout the journey.

Most of the riparian areas were frozen over. We didn't see much in way of wildlife for most of the visit — only a few Canada geese here and there. However, just as we had given up hope, we saw a moose!

I think it was a juvenile, but hard to tell. Overall we were elated for the experience and I hope to come back.

There are several trails you can choose from. Several are 1 to 2 miles long.

You can also take a road and take a slow drive.

I saw deer, moose, and other wildlife.

There are toilet facilities in the park.