If you're ever in Eastern Washington and happen to find yourself with a bike and some free time, I'd suggest checking out the Centennial Trail.
The route is a 37-mile paved bike path that begins at the Idaho border, crosses mostly flat plains, bisects downtown Spokane (at left), and follows the wild Spokane River canyon to Nine-Mile Falls. On the Idaho side, it traverses another 24 miles to Higgens Point, Idaho.
At one time or another I've bicycled different parts of the Centennial Trail as part of the Cascade Bicycle Club's Ride Around Washington tours. The all-paved route is either off the road or takes very low traffic roads.
The only place that can be busy is the bike path along the Spokane River through downtown. It passes a park and I remember kids on training wheels, dogs, you name it.
There's also a couple of more dangerous spots out on the west segment that follows the scenic Spokane River canyon (the “Bowl and Pitcher” area, above). There are signs warning to slow down at corners. One RAW rider, cycling full speed, chose to ignore them and went home early with an arm in a cast.
There's a good article about the Centennial Trail in this month's Bicycle Paper by reporter Elisabeth Rosapepe. She tells how the idea of trail started with city improvements during the 1974 World's Fair in Spokane (I honestly didn't know Spokane had its own World's Fair).
The trail eventually opened as a 10-mile route in 1986, but Rosapepe writes that other opportunities arose for expansion to today's full 37-mile length in Washington.
What's more exciting is the trail's future.
More projects and linkages are in the works that could connect the Centennial to the 130-mile Columbia Plateau Trail (only parts of this rail-to-trail are passable now) south of Spokane, Rosapepe writes. And that Columbia trail could one day hook up with the Ironhorse State Park/John Wayne Trail that leads all the way to the Puget Sound.
A free Centennial Trail map is available at its website, with detailed info about different sections. See other free Washington bike maps at Biking Bis.
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