Spokane Hiking? (Monroe, Dishman, Cheney: 2015, buying, costs)

[eqttrdr]

Anyone have favorite hiking trails around the Spokane area?


Aside from driving to Idaho or Liberty Lake are their any other hiking trails within 20-30mins of the city?

[WendyK]

If you get a Discovery Pass (when you renew your car tag), you can visit any of the state parks and go hiking. Riverside Park is a huge area with trails all over the north and west side of Spokane where the river flows. There's also the Turnbull Refuge in Cheney which is well known for seeing lots of different birds and other wildlife. With the Discovery Pass you can also go up to Mt Spokane and hike there. Check with the local REI store on Monroe or Google search for hiking info - there are a lot of places to hike around here.

[Infidel]

For real hiking (10+ miles, 2000'+ elevation gains for example, very common in the Cascades) you'll have to drive at least an hour north or NE into Idaho. You can do a quick hike, that almost feels like a wilderness hike, in the Dishman Hills Natural Area. It's just outside of Spokane, far enough to be quiet, and has some good elevation gain. These would be several-hour hikes, probably not day hikes. I think Dishman is better for the "wilderness" feel than Riverside is, the latter being not far from high-traffic roads and very often subject to enormous amounts of noise from the nearby ORV area.

Couple of links:
Parks - Dishman Hills Natural Area
Dishman Hills Conservancy - Maps

Have fun.

[pikabike]

Originally Posted by WendyK

If you get a Discovery Pass (when you renew your car tag), you can visit any of the state parks and go hiking. Riverside Park is a huge area with trails all over the north and west side of Spokane where the river flows. There's also the Turnbull Refuge in Cheney which is well known for seeing lots of different birds and other wildlife. With the Discovery Pass you can also go up to Mt Spokane and hike there. Check with the local REI store on Monroe or Google search for hiking info - there are a lot of places to hike around here.

The Discover pass (not Discovery) is not tied to renewing vehicle tabs. A donation to WA State Parks is an opt-out portion of the fees, $5. It is NOT the same thing as buying a $30 Discover pass! I have heard that the parks used to be (inadequately) funded through these voluntary donations that "someone else" pays. Turned out the donations were not nearly close enough to meeting operating costs. Neither are the proceeds from Discover passes. Partly this is because so many people cheat the system and sneak in without the pass. But I suspect that there are other problems also.

[articworks]

Originally Posted by pikabike

The Discover pass (not Discovery) is not tied to renewing vehicle tabs. A donation to WA State Parks is an opt-out portion of the fees, $5. It is NOT the same thing as buying a $30 Discover pass! I have heard that the parks used to be (inadequately) funded through these voluntary donations that "someone else" pays. Turned out the donations were not nearly close enough to meeting operating costs. Neither are the proceeds from Discover passes. Partly this is because so many people cheat the system and sneak in without the pass. But I suspect that there are other problems also.

35 bucks for a 12 month pass.. access to all the state parts. or 10 dollars per day. Do the math and pick whats best for you... Plus it goes to a good cause, keeping the parks nice.

[pikabike]

Originally Posted by articworks

35 bucks for a 12 month pass.. access to all the state parts. or 10 dollars per day. Do the math and pick whats best for you... Plus it goes to a good cause, keeping the parks nice.

Actually, the annual pass costs $30. It is usable by two vehicles per household though not at the same time. It is a bargain and, yes, a good cause.

[ShadoAngel]

There's over 50 miles of hiking trails in Riverside State Park. There's also the Dishman Hills area, which includes Dishman Hills, Glenrose, and Iller Creek. Palisades Park just east of Downtown. The Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge is just south of Cheney. The James T. Slavin Conservation Area is inbetween Turnbull and Spokane.

Really just open up Google Maps and hit up one of the green areas. It's either a golf course or a park with walking/hiking trails. There's hundreds of miles of single track paths in and around Spokane within 20-30 minutes.

[bartonizer]

Originally Posted by pikabike

The Discover pass (not Discovery) is not tied to renewing vehicle tabs. A donation to WA State Parks is an opt-out portion of the fees, $5. It is NOT the same thing as buying a $30 Discover pass! I have heard that the parks used to be (inadequately) funded through these voluntary donations that "someone else" pays. Turned out the donations were not nearly close enough to meeting operating costs. Neither are the proceeds from Discover passes. Partly this is because so many people cheat the system and sneak in without the pass. But I suspect that there are other problems also.

Yes, it is tied together. I renewed my tags last Friday, and both options were on my renewal form- a $5 voluntary donation to WA State Parks AND a $30 Discover Pass purchase option. We already had one so we didn't pay the fee.

Didn't mean to nitpick, just wanted to clarify. The state is offering it through licensing for the sake of convenience, apparently. Where to Buy | Discover Pass, WA - Official Website