any cragging near Seattle, Washington?

We are interested in sport and trad areas with a lot of moderate routes (up to 5.10). Also, the scoop on the whole town would be greatly appreciaed. Are they RV friendly?

did u look in the MP database?

some. I do appreciate people sharing personal favorites of the area though. It is hard to make a judgement based on the database sometimes. Guidebooks are helpful too, but it's good to get a feel and vibe of the area.

Cragging specific - Index (1 hour) is great, Leavenworth (2 hours) is very good, I90 sport crags (30-60)are ok. All the important info is on the site. Watch out for the goats in Icicle Creek (Leavenworth).

Exit 32 is about 30 minutes from seattle and has great sport climbing of all grades and a few trad lines. Index is the best climbing around but it's a little farther and there aren't a ton of routes under 5.10, and those few are crowded. If you go there you will have better luck if you avoid the lower wall.

Just a little further than Exit 32 you'll also find the exit 38 area. It's not generally as good but has a lot more sub 5.10 climbs, and is pretty user friendly. Sort of the local outdoor climbing gym. It's best to go pretty early to avoid large groups and after work crowds. Not a bad spot to spend a day or two. If you have time though Squamish and smith rock are 3-4 hours for amazing endless moderate trad and sport respectively. I would not want to take an RV into Seattle proper it's very hilly and parking is rough with a regular car. But you'll be fine at any of the mentioned climbing destinations. Leavenworth also has good climbing but is currently very hot and having real wildfire issues right now.

Sweeeet!

Thank you! That area sound super cool!

The city is not super RV friendly. You can pull it off but you'll be moving around a bit. It really just depends on your luck.

Agree with Ed on everything. Except Smith is more like a 6 hour drive but amazing and it takes you right by Mt. Hood. The Far Side area at exit 38 seems a little less crowded. Iron Horse trail / Deception wall at exit 38 is crazy after work. Also about a 6 hour drive is Skaha, sport-awesomeness with quite a few RV parks by the lakes.

Very nice. The shpeal we got going is that our van is the size of a sprinter so it fits in a regular car parking spot, so that should help too. We are used to driving so a few hours is not a biggie. We are intending to spend some time in Canada as well, in particular The Icefields. Does anybody know of any hospitals most strategically located in the area? Also, would living on one of the islands be convenient? I know there are quite a few there.

Define convenience when living on the islands. It's convenient in the way that there are ferries to get you across. It's not convenient in that you have to take a ferry to get anywhere. You're basically adding an additional hour to an hour and a half to get anywhere, one-way when you figure in getting to the boat on time and the actual crossing. I commuted to Bremerton from Seattle for a year using my bike and the ferries and a lot of people do. It can be done, it can just make for a long day. You'll see though that the people and the general culture changes pretty quickly when you get across the water from Seattle.

What kind of cragging/style are you interested in; is probably the best answer to your questions. Theres a little bit of everything near seattle. Fee Demo Wall, Index, Fossil Rock, Mt. Erie, exit 32-38, Leavenworth, Vantage/Frenchmans coullee and darrington are all reasonable places for cragging. Then theres the unreasonable places, which I won't get into here, but if you are really interested I will tell you about. (these places almost never see climbers.... but have awesome rock, the approach is too much of a bitch for the majority of craggers to be interested in.)

be super aware that Index is the BEST but 5.9's there tend to be a bit more stiff and sustained than 5.9's at a lot of other places I've been to, if you want to be sure your a solid 5.9 climber index is a good test place. Princely Ambitions is amazing multipitch at 5.9, first pitch of japanese gardens(to the first set of chains) will be the best pitch of 5.9 you'll ever get on. Godzilla is amazing as well. If the moderate trade routes are busy you can find quite a few places with a bit more of approach to get to but still excellent quality lines. The guide book to index is hard to find these days, but well recommended.... for instance godzilla is usually climbed as a single pitch, but can be linked up to city park, sloe children, etc...... for a huge multipitch day at sustained 5.9
Be aware that there have been MUCHO breakins at the index parking lot lately, and your safest bet might be to park in the town of index near the bush house, or by the rafting adventure place.

Leavenworth is your best bet for under 5.9's plus really fun easy multipitch trad/slab exists there too. as well as some of the most awesome rock I've seen up at the pearly gates. Tons of super fun alpine a reasonable distance from Leavenworth as well.

Feel free to PM me if your interested and I can show you around index.