Northeast

Northeast Washington covers the inland country east of the Columbia and north of the Snake — five counties (Spokane, Stevens, Pend Oreille, Ferry, Lincoln) running from the basalt scablands up into the Selkirk Range and the Idaho line. The terrain is varied: rolling wheat country in the south, the long Lake Roosevelt reservoir behind Grand Coulee Dam, deep evergreen forest in the northeast corner, and the granite peaks of the Selkirks. Spokane anchors the region as eastern Washington’s largest city, with Riverfront Park, Mount Spokane, and the Centennial Trail along the river. Cheney holds Eastern Washington University; Davenport and Harrington run the dry-farming country west of Spokane; Colville and Kettle Falls sit on upper Lake Roosevelt; Newport and the Pend Oreille River corridor reach into the Selkirks; Republic and the old gold-rush country sit near the Canadian border in Ferry County. Trips here usually start in Spokane and pick a direction — Mount Spokane, the Coeur d’Alene area just over the Idaho line, or the long drive up the Columbia to Lake Roosevelt and the Colville National Forest. Summer is the touring season; winter shifts toward Mount Spokane and 49 Degrees North.