IskandrAGogo OP t1_j31vnik wrote on January 5, 2023 at 2:16 PM

Reply to comment by CheckmateApostates in Good place for a star gazing weekend trip? by IskandrAGogo

Yeah. I'm hoping to do something over the summer on the east side, but the days are so long that it's hard to keep my kids up long enough to see stars then. Maybe if we waited until March or April there'd be less of a chance of snow in the passes, and the sun would still set soon enough. It's just hard to plan with weather, so I'm trying to find a few places close by. That way when we have a weekend with a clear sky, we can just go.

There's honestly so many places in Eastern Washington that I want to go to for hiking, etc but there's never enough time for all of them.

CheckmateApostates t1_j32krw1 wrote on January 5, 2023 at 5:01 PM

Snoqualmie Pass is usually good by March/April. Astronomical twilight ends out there before 9 pm up to March 27th, so that could be a good time.

I'm an avid hiker/backpacker who lives in Spokane and I love living out here largely because of the access to the outdoors. Lots of good hiking immediately surrounding Spokane (although not necessarily what I'd consider destination hikes for someone from the west side, unless you're looking for something that's not the Olympics or Cascades) and then northward to the Salmo-Priest wilderness. If you can find the time from late June through September, I highly recommend Abercrombie Mountain and/or the nearby Salmo-Priest. Wildflower season up there is mid- to late July.