Your Outdoors Photos: April 2016

The Inland Northwest is full of flora, fauna, waters, scenery and active people out to savor it all. Please visit this gallery regularly to share photos of your wild experiences, learning moments, hot discoveries, favorite trips. Help us build a visual tour of what's so great about the outdoors in this region through all four seasons. This photo gallery will be an inspiration to some people. To others it will be a reminder of why we love to live here -- and get outside as much as possible.

NOTE: Before photos show up on the reader photo gallery, they must be approved by an editor. If yours does not show up immediately, fear not. The only likely delay is that an editor has not had a chance to approve new photo submissions yet. Thanks for participating!

NOTE: Before photos show up in the reader photo gallery, they must be approved by an editor. If yours does not show up immediately, fear not. The only likely delay is that an editor has not had a chance to approve new photo submissions yet. Thanks for participating!

Upload your photo

Section:Reader Photo

Fri., April 1, 2016

Photos in This Album

Palouse canola fields-taken June 20th

Photographer: Mary Weathers
Taken on Turnbull on 5 24 2016

Photographer: Buck Domitrovich
Blue-winged Teal taken on Turnbull on 5 24 2016

Photographer: Buck Domitrovich cheney Wa
Yesterday at Felts Field. Spokane Valley, Washington.

Photographer: Tim Colquhoun
Yesterday at Felts Field. Spokane Valley, Washington.

Photographer: Tim Colquhoun
Lilacs, Lilacs everywhere! They are blooming like crazy over here in Odessa, WA. Took this April 21st, 2016

Photographer: Becky Nelson
The Palouse Falls State Park is a state treasure. Not only is the main attraction fantastic, there is a wonderful system of trails that offer a unique hiking experience including this trail down to the upper canyon and upper palouse falls. The trail system is in transition however, due to too many folks getting in over their heads on some of the precarious informal trails the park. The parks system is in process of formalizing a safer more permanent trail plan. Hopefully they will strike a good balance between access and safety. This photo was taken April 26th, 2016

Photographer: Michael Brandt
You never know who you will run in to on the bike trail at Fish Lake. Taken April 26, 2016.

Photographer: Gayla Aspenleiter
Marmot trying to hide in the rock at Fish Lake, taken on April 26, 2016.

Photographer: Gayla Aspenleiter
Sunshine, fly fishing, and trout

Photographer: Wayne Jordan
Mallard at Turnbull

Photographer: Maxie Ray Mills
Beautiful Buzzards`Riverside State Park

Photographer: Maxie Ray Mills
Beautiful Buzzards`Riverside State Park

Photographer: Maxie Ray Mills
Beautiful Buzzards`Riverside State Park

Photographer: Maxie Ray Mills
Amber Lake 4/20/16

Photographer: Peck
Flowering Dogwood Spokane Valley 4.25.16

Photographer: Bob Salsbury
Hiking at Field's Spring State Park south of Anatone, Washington.

Photographer: Pam Rogers
Taken Sunday April 24 near Hauser Lake.

Photographer: Sandy Graf
Spokane's Nishinomiya Japanese Garden is blooming with spring colors.

Photographer: Craig Goodwin
Syringa Vulgaris Spokane Valley 4.24.16

Photographer: Bob Salsbury
Syringa Vulgaris Spokane Valley 4.24.16

Photographer: Bob Salsbury
Lilacs opening Spokane Valley 4.24.16

Photographer: Bob Salsbury
Last Saturday we took a drive to Lewiston and Clarkston. I love the blue bridge in Lewiston. The weather was beautiful.

Photographer: Lori Pence
I love getting outside at lunch and taking pictures. It is amazing what you find down a bank along the Spokane River, tulips.

Photographer: Lori Pence
I love getting outside at lunch and taking pictures. It is amazing what you find down a bank along the Spokane River tulips.

Photographer: Lori Pence
Spring is in the air the birds are out and the toms are showing off for the hens.

Photographer: Lori Pence
This little guy or gal was trying to freeze and act like I didn't see them.

Photographer: Lori Pence
This yellow-headed blackbird was calling to the lady blackbirds at a pond off 57th Ave. on the South Hill. All the birds were in full courting mode and creating quite a ruckus!

Photographer: Cortney Litwin
Backpacking Lower Lena Lake in the Olympic Peninsula with my roomates.

Photographer: Lisa Burk
Eric Parker filtering some already very clean mountain water at Lower Lena Lake on our backpacking trip to the Olympic Peninsula.

Photographer: Lisa Burk
Backpacking trip in Lower Lena Lake on the Olympic Peninsula.

Photographer: Lisa Burk
Big Rock in the Dishman Hills.

Photographer: Mary Weathers
On the High Drive Bluff trail

Photographer: Mary Weathers
on the ridgetop the breeze loses target and aim i am not a sailor on a sea of exposed schist of lichen crusts with no target to aim we wander to the edges I wish I could find antler sheds to bear back like bundles of sticks on the edges of wander gullies are foliate and soft i sit on an ancient errant stone once born on a raft of glacial ice all around me the gone is done oh grave clumps of saffron balsam the slow killing gears of hawks turn disinterested in errant sheds i descend the moist green path where grasses suck the dirt of wet shameless game trails and coyote crap criss cross the shore of a run dry Styx i will be your ferryman i cast to the corners we will genuflect when we figure why -(BS, 2016) Arrowleaf Balsamroot 4.21.16 Saltese Uplands

Photographer: Bob Salsbury
Lisa Webster ascends Mount Hood on April 19.

Photographer: Clint Webster
It was a long day for these horses. They traveled up Antoine Peak mountain in order to give us a beautiful view. They were enjoying their rest at the top. Photo taken on April 19, 2016

Photographer: Cindy Miller
Woodpecker building a home...

Photographer: Maxie Ray Mills
Woodpecker building a home...

Photographer: Maxie Ray Mills
Taken March 30th, Riverfront Park.

Photographer: Elaine Giadone
southern Lake Coeur d' Alene from Indian Cliffs Trail, Heyburn State Park, Idaho

Photographer: David Taylor
Springbeauty (Claytonia lanceolata) are everywhere on the Beauty Bay Trail (Beauty Bay Recreation Site - BLM) along with many other wildflowers. Taken Monday afternoon.

Photographer: Steve Davidson
Wildflowers are adding dashes of vivid color to Kamiak Butte. I captured this image on Sunday, April 17, 2016.

Photographer: Cortney Litwin
These turtles were basking in the sun at Slavin Conservation Area. I took this shot on April 16, after sneaking in quietly through the brush. I had to go back three days in a row before I could catch them on the capsized boat; they would quickly slide into the water with any activity or noise on the banks of the pond.

Photographer: Cindy Miller
Kamiak Butte is blooming with wildflowers! I hiked along a 1/2-mile switchback on Sunday to capture this view.

Photographer: Cortney Litwin
Kamiak Butte is blooming with wildflowers! I hiked along a 1/2-mile switchback on Sunday to capture this view.

Photographer: Cortney Litwinc
Lake Rufus Woods on the Columbia River. April 13, 2016.

Photographer: Anna Lyn Nogalo Kendall
Lake Rufus Woods on the Columbia River. April 13, 2016.

Photographer: Anna Lyn Nogalo Kendall
arrowleaf balsamroot Iller Creek 4.13.16

Photographer: Bob Salsbury
shooting stars iller creek 4.13.16

Photographer: Bob Salsbury
trillium Iller Creek 4.13.16

Photographer: Bob Salsbury
Meadow Lark - today 4-12-16 Pend Oreille County

Photographer: Karen Soenke
Catarafter on Spokane River below Devils Toenail Rapid, Riverside State Park.

Photographer: Bart Rayniak
Arrowleaf Balsamroot Spokane River 4.12.2016

Photographer: Bob Salsbury
Arrowleaf Balsamroot Spokane River 4.12.2016

Photographer: Bob Salsbury
I was in Riverfront Park taking pictures of seagulls and anything else that appealed to me and then I started a conversation with Clarence. He is retired and hangs out at the Riverfront Park and plays chess with folks to keep his mind sharp. I played him a game and he destroyed me. I will get him next time!

Photographer: Rene Guerrero
Seagull in Riverfront Park

Photographer: Rene Guerrero
Hog Canyon waterfalls Washington

Photographer: Kristy Canright
Mountain views from Liberty Lake Washington

Photographer: Kristy Canright
Hog Canyon Washington Sunday late afternoon

Photographer: Kristy Canright
The traditional first hike of the season is Mineral Ridge in Idaho. There is a bench at the top of the trail that I have the children on the hike sit on for me to take a picture. This had become an annual event. This is the 2016 version taken last weekend.

Photographer: David Carpenter
Narcissus Spokane Valley 4.09.16

Photographer: Bob Salsbury
oregon zoo

Photographer: daylene
Priest Lake, Lions Head campground beach - April 9

Photographer: Kathleen Coleman
I was bird-watching near Harrison, ID on Friday when I photographed this osprey taking flight while holding a fish.

Photographer: Cortney Litwin
Family hike on the trail at the Kettle Falls Campground. Our little one asked to get down out of her carrier so she could stretch her legs a bit. This short hike is an early season family favorite. Taken 10April.

Photographer: Deborah Harris
This deteriorating craft at one time carried cars across the Snake River at Lyons Ferry, near the mouth of the Palouse River

Photographer: Bruce Turner
They watched me closely and these ants are more than meets the eye. Manito Park, Spokane.

Photographer: Heather Kaer
Back yard birding, enjoying the swallows

Photographer: Michele Palmer
Spring Break

Photographer: michael forster
A sure sign of spring is the local plowing bees. The recent plowing bee in Pomeroy, Washington, had draft horses and mules preparing the fairground field for planting. Guy Gonzales and his son, Brennan, drive a team of Percherons during the two-day event. The Palouse Empire Plowing Bee, April 16th and 17th, will have a large variety of draft animals plowing a field at the Palouse Empire Fairgrounds, Hwy. 26, Colfax, starting time 10 a.m. (photo taken 4/2/2016 Pomeroy, WA)

Photographer: Sharon Lindsay
Sunset on the Palouse.

Photographer: Becky Israel
Sunset in Lincoln City,Oregon

Photographer: Becky Israel
"Dwell in Starlight" - An old farmstead under the Milky Way in the Channeled Scablands of Eastern Washington. April 1, 2016.

Photographer: Mike Busby
"I need to read the trail sign, it's important" Dishman Hills 4.3.2016

Photographer: Bob Salsbury
Took a trip to Coupeville and the wind was blowing so hard off the wharf,it was easy to get this photo of the seagull hanging mid-air!

Photographer: Sue Riener
Arrowleaf Balsam Root Dishman Hills 4.3.2016

Photographer: Bob Salsbury
The calm waters of Priest Lake reflect the bright core of the Milky Way Galaxy in this 13 second exposure. The galactic core disappears below the horizon during Pacific Northwest winters, but offers a sure sign of spring when it rises again over the horizon in the early morning hours of March and April.

Photographer: Craig Goodwin
Tiny morel --already. April 3.

Photographer: Ken Vanden Heuvel
Tiny morel --already. April 3.

Photographer: Ken Vanden Heuvel
Grass Widow Dishman Hills 4.3.2016

Photographer: Bob Salsbury
Grass Widow Dishman Hills 4.3.2016

Photographer: Bob Salsbury
Glacier Lily Dishman Hills 4.3.2016

Photographer: Bob Salsbury
Time to put the hummingbird feeders out! My first hummingbird of the season arrived at my home on the South Hill today (April 3), a month earlier than last year. He's a male calliope.

Photographer: Cortney Litwin
The golden ant

Photographer: Heather Kaer
Ants peering out of their hole in a tree

Photographer: Heather Kaer
Upside down spider

Photographer: Heather Kaer
Grass widows.

Photographer: Chuck Hartshorn
Biker meets moose along Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes.

Photographer: Sue Niezgoda
Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes on April 2.

Photographer: Sue Niezgoda
Entering a tunnel on the John Wayne Pioneer Trail near Rosalia.

Photographer: Dan DeRuyter
Paddling the trout lakes before the fishing season opens and the crowd arrives.

Photographer: Byron Johnson
Yellow-headed blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) taken outside Pendleton Oregon last week.

Photographer: Steve Davidson
Reflections from the setting sun and ripples from a faraway boat made a pretty scene at North Potholes wildlife area yesterday.

Photographer: Cortney Litwin
Fritillaria pudica or yellow bells photographed on Deep Creek Trail, Spokane County on March 29, 2016.

Photographer: Gayla Aspenleiter
Olsynium douglasii or commonly known as Grass Widow. Photographed on Deep Creek Trail, Spokane County on March 29, 2016.

Photographer: Gayla Aspenleiter
Lithophragma parviflorum or commonly known as Prairie Star. Photographed while hiking at Deep Creek Trail in Spokane County. Photo taken on March 29, 2016.

Photographer: Gayla Aspenleiter
Beautiful flowers of Manito

Photographer: Heather Kaer
Bee pollinating at Manito

Photographer: Heather Kaer