THREE-HOUR TOURS Plenty of road trip opportunities in every direction

By Kate A. Miner Marketing Correspondent

Sometimes you only have a weekend, maybe even one day, and you want a quick travel adventure with plenty of time to get home before dark. Or maybe long drives are just not your thing. Either way, we’ve put together a list of great destinations you can get to in three hours or less from the Spokane area.

One Hour or Less Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Known for water sports and lakeside events, this little town is a delightful escape. Lake tours are less than two hours, and Tubbs Hill overseeing the lake is perfect for a quick hike. There are plenty of shops, galleries, and restaurants. If you’re staying the night, you’ll find the Coeur d’ Alene Resort right on the lake, but if you’re looking for something quieter, I recommend One Lakeside, a block from the resort —all the amenities without the crowds. Another gem, just outside downtown, is the Wolf Lodge Inn restaurant — historical and authentic, with great Western décor, plus fantastic grilled steaks and seafood.

Liberty Lake Regional Park/Liberty

Lake Loop Trail

This 8-mile trail takes visitors along Split Creek, through a cedar grove, past Liberty Falls and an old cabin, and offers amazing views.

Riverside State Park

This Spokane favorite provides recreational opportunities for all visitors. There are 55 miles of trails, including the 40-mile, mixed-use Spokane River Centennial State Park Trail, which extends from the Idaho border to the Nine Mile Recreation Area.

Spirit Lake, Idaho

This tiny town in the upper panhandle of Idaho has less than 2,000 people, but the area around Spirit Lake has a new trail system worth discovering. It’s also home to the historic White Horse Saloon, truly authentic, with original wood floors covered in peanut shells.

One to Two Hours

Hawk Creek Falls State Park and Fort Spokane

The area where the Spokane River meets the Columbia River offers plenty of great camping and outdoor activities. Other nearby attractions include the Lake Roosevelt Reservoir, Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, the Colville Indian Reservation, the Grand Coulee Dam, Steamboat Rock, and Northrup

Canyon. For thousands of years, the area was a gathering place for tribes fishing the rapids of the Spokane River. In 1880, the U.S. Army established a fort above the confluence of the Spokane and Columbia Rivers, Fort Spokane. The National Park Service operates Fort Spokane as a visitor center, with a museum and walking trails.

Kettle Falls

Further north you’ll move into the land of mountains carved from prehistoric glaciers. This small town is named for the falls that plummet nearly 50 feet, carving “kettles” in the quartzite rock. Also, not far south, is the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area along the upper Columbia River and cradled in walls of stone carved by massive ice age floods. Once home to American Indians, traders, and trappers, you’ll find great swimming, boating, hiking, and fishing.

Wallace, Idaho

This town has been the world’s largest silver producer for over 100 years, making it the richest mining town still in existence, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. With more than 1,000 miles of mining, logging, and Forest Service roads, it also has the world’s largest mountain bike, ATV, and snowmobile trail system plus an underground mine tour, classic silver, and unique antique shops. Nearby is the Burke Ghost Town, an abandoned mining town built in a canyon so narrow that the railroad ran right through the hotel lobby.

The Gorge

The Gorge’s formation began 40 to 60 million years ago when molten lava pressure pushed up granite to frame the Columbia Basin. Between 6 to 17 million years ago, ancient volcanoes erupted, streaming more than 20 massive basalt flows into the area that’s now the Gorge. This area is home to the Gorge Amphitheatre, phenomenal hiking trails into the Gorge and along the Columbia River, as well as some great wineries, such as Cave B Estate Winery near the Sagecliffe Resort & Spa (known for “oasis glamping”) and Beaumont

Cellars, offering paired wines with meals prepared by local chefs.

Gingko Petrified Forest

This park covers an area of 7,470 acres and is home to one of the largest and most diverse collections of petrified wood in the world. There are three different parts, the Wanapum Recreation Area, Gingko Petrified Forest Interpretive Center, and The Trailside Museum and

Trees of Stone Interpretive Trail. Also nearby is the Hanford Reach National Monument, a place of sweeping vistas and towering bluffs. Wildlife abounds here, and you’ll often see mule deer, coyotes, bald eagles, great blue herons, large elk herds, and porcupines.

Two to Three Hours

Priest Lake, Idaho

A century ago, you had to travel for three days by train, horse-drawn carriages, and a steamer to get to Priest Lake. Little has changed on this picturesque lake, including the 100-acre Eightmile island, reachable only by boat.

Prosser

A little town along the Yakima River known for its incredible wineries and the great Prosser Balloon Rally in September, is also home to Gravity Hill. A strange phenomenon that causes gravity to “work backward.” If you shift your car into neutral, you will begin rolling uphill. Supposedly caused by everything from aliens to ghosts, this little town has fun twists worth exploring.

Bickleton

This town, less than an hour from Prosser, is known as the Bluebird Capital of the world because of the thousands of bluebirds that spend most of the year in the area. Bickleton is also home to Washington’s oldest tavern and oldest rodeo, as well as the west’s oldest carousels.

Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho

This is the largest lake in Idaho and the 38th-largest lake by area in the United States. Three areas surrounding the lake, Sandpoint, Bayview, and Hope, provide opportunities for enjoying the water. This lake is famous for fishing, including

Kamloops (a species of giant rainbow trout), mackinaw, and kokanee salmon. There are great places to stay, including the Schweitzer Castle & Château de Melusine, a unique vacation rental atop Schweitzer Mountain near Sandpoint.

Twisp and Winthrop

This area in the North Cascades is a center for art, culture, and adventure, full of art galleries and eclectic boutiques, the local non-profit, Methow Made, makes it easy for people who love arts and culture to experience local products and flavors while supporting the local economy.

Leavenworth and Wenatchee Valley Leavenworth is a Bavarian-styled village in the Cascade Mountains, with alpine-style buildings and restaurants serving German beer and food. It’s not only picturesque and full of great places to stay (check out the numerous treehouses and chalets), but it’s also home to a Nutcracker Museum, the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery, and The Enchantments, considered one of the most beautiful and scenic wilderness areas in the Pacific Northwest. About 30 minutes from Leavenworth is Wenatchee, a quaint town along the Wenatchee River. Three miles north is the Ohme Gardens showcasing the Columbia River at its best, with 9 acres of terraced alpine gardens flowing like a stream down and over the rocks. recently-finished Zephyr Connector trail will take you to the Liberty Lake Regional Park trail system (think old growth cedar groves and waterfalls), which in turn links into the Mica Peak Conservation trail system, creating over 5,000 acres of absolutely spectacular county park land.

Other areas worth exploring within three hours from Spokane: Pendleton, Ore.; Pullman and Lewiston, Wash.; Walla Walla; St. Joe National Forest,; Creston, British Columbia; Missoula and Flathead Lake in Montana.

Not to be confused with MacKenzie Natural Area in Liberty Lake, the McKenzie Conservation Area trailhead is at the northwest shoreline of Newman Lake. This riparian zone connects to the Mount Spokane State Park ecosystem, preserving a critical wildlife corridor linking the Selkirks to the Spokane River Valley.