Being as interested in Geology as I am, namely the geology of the PNW, I knew a place we had to adventure at some point was Steptoe Butte! I've been wanting to for some time, but we kept putting it off because the drive there was long, and it was the only thing in the area to see. However today, we decided lets go! Steptoe Butte is an important geological feature. Eastern Washington was made by many lava flows, and ice age floods. All of Washington used to look like the western side of the state, however those lava flows buried all the mountain and forest landscapes millions of years ago. All of the past landscape was buried deep beneath the ground. However, Steptoe Butte, is said to be the only mountain to stay atop, and the last surviving mountain of the great lava flows. The rock on this mountain is much older than anything else around it, and it is a big random mountain peak in the middle of the Washington Palouse. I thought it was incredibly interesting to see a mountain survived so much, and I knew I wanted to go there! So today we finally did! We grabbed suits and started our drive.
The drive was indeed long, and through lots of hills and fields of the Palouse. But we took roads we had never been down before. So it was still interesting. We also listened to good music and chatted the whole drive which is always nice. Every now and then we could see a large mountain in the distance and I kept wondering if it was Steptoe. After a couple hours of driving, we finally arrived!
We began the drive to the top, and boy howdy was the road to the top something haha. The road was very narrow, no guard rails, and huge potholes. We both had quite a bit of anxiety getting up there but we made it safely and took some deep breaths hahaha. We made it to the top and we were both amazed at the view!
I've never been super interested in the Washington Palouse other than it's geology, but I gotta say seeing it from above was a whole new perspective. Rolling hills and fields literally as far as the eyes could see. It was pretty freakin cool!
Turned out we were not in the main parking lot, but we were both a little shaky from the drive up so we decided to walk up to the very top. Up there, was literally 360 views. It was amazing! (Although, could of done without the towers in the way haha) We read all the info signs about the area and checked it out.
Turned out we were not in the main parking lot, but we were both a little shaky from the drive up so we decided to walk up to the very top. Up there, was literally 360 views. It was amazing! (Although, could of done without the towers in the way haha) We read all the info signs about the area and checked it out.
After walking around and looking at the view, Grave decided to go get the car and bring it up to the main area here for our fursuit photos. I sat and enjoyed the view while I waited. Once he arrived we got ready to get some fursuit photos! Grave helped me get some photos before he suited up as well.
After getting lots of photos and videos of me in suit, Grave also went to get into suit. While he was suiting up an older couple came up to the top as well and I got to make them smile (they were respectful and kept distance!). Once Grave was ready we took some photos and videos together before I desuited.
I desuited, and took lots of photos for Grave! Glad he suited with me again today.
After getting lots of photos and videos of him, he also desuited and we walked around for a bit longer. I asked for some quick photos off the other side of the mountain as well.
Soon enough the wind was really picking up, and bringing in some clouds, so we thought it may be time to go back down. We did stop at the lower parking lot again for some more quick photos first, tho!
After we got those photos we finally went down the mountain. I did better anxiety wise than coming up for sure, but it sure is a scary road haha. We got down to the bottle safely and decided what to do next. I saw on Maps something called "That PNW Bus" and it was basically an old broken down bus covered in graffiti. I thought it'd be neat for fursuit pics so we decided to find it!
We didn't have service for maps for quite a while haha, so we had to just, drive in the direction we thought we needed to go. Thankfully we didn't get lost, and ended up being able to use maps after a while. The drive to the bus felt like it lasted forever as we had to drive through so much of those rolling hills. We had snacks and chatted though so it was nice.
We finally found the bus and pulled into the spot. No one else was here thankfully!
We didn't have service for maps for quite a while haha, so we had to just, drive in the direction we thought we needed to go. Thankfully we didn't get lost, and ended up being able to use maps after a while. The drive to the bus felt like it lasted forever as we had to drive through so much of those rolling hills. We had snacks and chatted though so it was nice.
We finally found the bus and pulled into the spot. No one else was here thankfully!
We walked around and checked it out. You could even walk inside the bus! While we were walking around, we found a can of paint that was still full! So we used it to paint "Trans Rights" on the side of the bus.
After that, we walked around and tried to pick up and throw away some of the paint cans, then I suited up in my head and hand paws and we took photos. (I didn't wear my tail because I didn't want to drag it on the inside of the bus). Getting fursuit pics here was fun!
While I was taking photos another couple showed up. So we tried to finish real quick, and forgot to get any video, dang! But it was still fun! Grave didn't want to keep the other couple waiting, so he just took a quick selfie.
We desuited, Grave took an out of suit photo of me with the Trans Rights we painted then we headed off. After that we headed home and got some dinner and chilled out the rest of the day! We had to prepare for a big wind storm hitting the next day haha.
This adventure was super awesome and I'm glad we finally went! It was definitely a heck of a drive, but worth it for those views! We hope to go back during the summer to see when everything is green!
This adventure was super awesome and I'm glad we finally went! It was definitely a heck of a drive, but worth it for those views! We hope to go back during the summer to see when everything is green!