This is one of the best things about Spokane: The Conservation Futures Program. Since it was passed in 1994, the program has conserved over 9,000 acres of open space in Spokane County.
https://www.spokanecounty.org/1592/Conservation-Futures
The trail systems for hiking and biking just keep getting better and better. The county even has started putting up trailhead cameras so that it's easier to see which trails might be over-crowded.
https://www.spokanecounty.org/4214/Trailhead-Web-Cams-List
And while most of these parks have already been mentioned, this will help portray how large they really are:
Mt. Spokane State Park: 13,000 acres
Riverside State Park (west and north of downtown): 11,000 acres
Farragut State Park (over the border in Idaho, north of CdA): 4,000 acres
And 5 ski resorts within a 2 hour drive. As mentioned above, the 64 mile long Centennial Trail, a paved path that parallels much of the Spokane River and ends in Idaho on Lake Coeur d'Alene. Also not too far away is the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes, a 73 mile long paved rail trail that has incredible scenery.
Excellent local universities in Gonzaga, Whitworth, and Eastern Washington University.
A whole lot of positives about the area. Full disclosure, there are some drawbacks:
- Winters can be a little long.
- Smoke from the western wildfires.
- Between late June and mid-September, it can be VERY dry.
- Traffic is getting worse (not Seattle-bad, but not what it was just 10 years ago).
- Housing costs have gone up faster than the national average.