HIKING -- April is prime time for exploring lowland river trails or routes through Eastern Washington's scablands.

Here are just a few suggestions, with details in the guidebook, Day Hiking Eastern Washington or 100 Hikes in the Inland Northwest:

Short trips:

Spokane River trails, Fishtrap Lake and Hog Canyon, Z Lake, Crab Creek, Rocks of Sharon, South Hill Bluff, Saltese Uplands, Palisades, Slavin Conservation Area.

Longer trips: 

Lake Chelan Shoreline Trail, Northrup Canyon and Steamboat Rock, Escure Ranch, North Fork Asotin Creek, Snake River trail in Hells Canyon.

Flowers are blossoming and the vegetation is greening in these lower elevation areas.  By late June some of these areas will be starting to turn brown.

In the forests, however, trails are weeks from prime conditions because the trees and higher elevations translate into lingering snow cover.

Reports from the mountains above Lake Thomas in the Pend Oreille Chain of Lakes east of  Colville told of deep snow and ice not far from the Valley floor.

The Inland Northwest Hikers ventured Sunday to Marie Creek Trail in the Wolf Lodge area north of I-90 just east of Coeur d'Alene (see photo above and directions in 100 Hikes in the Inland Northwest Bonus Hikes).  Sunny areas were fine, but shaded areas were snow-packed.

As Natalia Ruiz put it, "It's a wonderful hike, but at this time trail conditions are atrocious in some areas."