Bikepacking Session #3 - Check Ride - Palouse to Cascades Trail

This is a required one day field trip to do a shakedown of your bikepacking gear (bags and all overnight gear), test ride your loaded bike and gauge your current fitness riding a loaded bike.

At check-in, please be ready to ride, and show us how you have your bike set up for an overnighter. Instructors will be there to help and provide advice, but it is up to the students to bring the necessary gear and bike attachments.

After everyone has checked in, we will have a trailhead meeting and answer additional questions. We will then ride about 3 miles along the trail to a nice open area where we will practice setting up camp and using our camping gear. After we eat lunch, we will re-pack our bikes and ride additional mileage along the trail and then return to the trailhead.  The total mileage may be up to 25 miles round trip (up to Carter Creek Campground and return), but may be adjusted based on circumstances (issues with bikes, gear, fitness, etc).

The primary objectives are as follows:

• Practice fitting gear and contents on the bike.
• Feel how the bike handles with overnight gear loaded.
• Evaluate the gear, the mounting mechanisms, how it handles on the bike.
• Gain an idea how long it takes to pack and unpack.
• Gauge fitness.
• Ride in a group and practice group dynamics
• Share ideas and gain  feedback from others 

NOTE: An E-Bike is not allowed in this course.

The route difficulty is rated as "Gravel I / Gravel II". For  the detailed definition of these ratings, see the Bikepacking Activity Overview Chart.

Cedar Falls Trailhead near Rattlesnake Lake.  Time to be announced via email but likely to be about 7~8 AM.