Destinations - 4XPEDITION Team 4X Community Forum

The Centennial Trail, Spokane WA & Coeur d'Alene ID

Shovel — Fri, 30 Sep 2022 04:38:08 +0000

If cycling with plenty of beer and pizza stops sounds like a good time, the cities of Spokane, Post Falls and Coeur d'Alene share a roughly 64 mile long paved multi-use bike path from Lake Coeur d'Alene on the East end to Nine Mile Falls, WA on the West end all following the Spokane River through urban and less urban scenery.

Close to the West end of the trail.. still around another 7 miles West from here are paved.

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Bowl & Pitcher natural area bridge, in Western Spokane

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A view from just West of downtown Spokane

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A view of downtown Spokane, from Kendall Yards

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The Pavilion in the middle of Spokane

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Along the riverfront just East of downtown

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East of Spokane, toward Spokane Valley/Millwood

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A bridge in Spokane Valley

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The water is always this clear, but it's usually very cold this close to the lake. It warms up as it heads West.

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The Idaho state line

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A park area in Post Falls, ID

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The East end of the Centennial Trail near the lake shore in Coeur d'Alene

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I have only traveled about 20 miles of this trail so far and there are still a few gaps to navigate - the part nearest my house is one of those gaps but it's a tremendous resource to have, an easy highway to downtown without having to drive & a few neighborhoods have embraced the trail with restaurants immediately off it, some even have bike repair stations with air and tools to borrow.

It's not all wilderness, there's also wilderness particularly at the West end of the trail but parks all along it to stop and rest, or just to provide parking if you drive-and-ride.

The Geophysical Sno-Park + Bike Park

Shovel — Fri, 27 Aug 2021 15:30:54 +0000

While maybe not a bikepacking destination for the serious traveler it's an interesting little place to stop and ride around.    Located near Newport, WA (get you some potato tacos at Mi Pueblo in town!!) the sno-park is a cross country skiing park during winter and a mountain bike park in summer.   Nothing too technical for mountain bikers it's the kind of system you could ride on a department store bike without difficulty but the forested scenery and rolling terrain makes for a nice afternoon which feels more distant from civilization than it is.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/colville/recarea/?recid=67828

Along the North boundary of the park is the Newport Geophysical Observatory which doesn't look like much more than a tiny community of tiny houses but the huts actually contain sensitive geomagnetic measurement equipment and is used to monitor nuclear weapons testing worldwide as well as the influence of the geomagnetic field on weather and other factors affecting national security.

https://www.usgs.gov/natural-hazards/geomagnetism

Not much else to say about it, it's a fun stop if you're in the region already with a bike or some cross country skis.   I think it's novel to discover that the geophysical observatory exists and why it's there, the bike and ski park happens to be a good way to use the land around the observatory and I'm glad the National Forest keeps it open and maintains it for the public.

The Palouse to Cascades Trail

Shovel — Sun, 02 May 2021 01:13:33 +0000

We took a trip to do a little hiking nearby to Kittitas, WA and unfortunately all of the entrances to our destination were blocked by a variety of fences and gates but we accidentally stumble on a newly completed rails-to-trails bridge along the Palouse to Cascades Trail - formerly known as the John Wayne Trail .

Newly completed as in just opened YESTERDAY!    We didn't even know that at the time, or I would have violated the fence and signs to at least climb up and take a peek at it.    I'm not actually sure how it's both "open, as of yesterday" and also closed functionally by gates.. maybe if you got onto the trail somewhere else you're allowed to stay on the trail.. whatever.

Anyway it looks like an awesome route! https://palousetocascadestrail.org/

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Unfortunately this is the only photo we got, and my wife's phone apparently was focused on the bug guts on the windshield.. ah well.

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We'll have to revisit on bikes, maybe set aside a four day weekend to get some pedal powered adventure in!

The Hiawatha Route

Shovel — Sun, 04 Apr 2021 17:44:26 +0000

One of the many good things about living in Spokane is we can sleep in late, enjoy coffee and toast, decide we both hurt too much to spend the day gardening and then after 10:00am decide to drive to Montana for some bicycling.

I just loaded up the bikes, no idea how this is going to turn out. I don't know the local weather on the pass well enough to even know if it's thawed yet.

The Hiawatha is a rails-to-trails route and apparently (as I only just found out four minutes ago) considered by many the crown jewel of such things in America. Well hot diggety dang! And just an hour and a half away!

Sandwiches packed, bikes loaded on the badge-designated 4Xpedition Patriot 🤣 , camera's gonna have to charge en route. I'll let you all know how it turns out later.

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Maiden Voyage!

Scott Leuthold — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 02:42:18 +0000

Weather permitting departure Wednesday morning for a three-day trip in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. This will be my maiden voyage so I’m testing everything out. Departing from Carefree, AZ and following all single track to Fountain Hills, AZ. I think it is likely about 30 miles each way. I will overnight at my sister’s house and on the return will camp overnight in the desert on the east slope of East End Peak in the McDowell Range. The trip is mostly downhill to Fountain Hills from Carefree and all uphill home which is why I’ve put the camp out on the return. If everything goes as planned, a 4XPEDITION Adventurer episode will release Sunday.

This is my TREK 1120 totally loaded up and ready to go. Should be a great trip and a great new episode!

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