Originally Posted by
hyegeek
Yep. The plan is to start in Post Falls Idaho and ride through Spokane, down the fish lake trail to the Columbia Plateau trail to the John Wayne trail. We have a pretty good idea of route and conditions until we get to Warden, after that things get complicated until we get across the Columbia River.
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Have you checking in with the DNR on doing that portion east of the Columbia? I understand their approval and support are needed. It's pretty much all locked gates and ballast for road bed over there. Last account I read on doing the Columbia Plateau Trail - below the Martin trailhead - was done by a guy on a Surly with 4" wide tires, doing about 8 MPH. You are good to Martin Rd., then the adventure begins.
The John Wayne west of the river is a trail. East of the river it's an adventure/expedition. I would love to hear about the trip. Most of the pix I see from that section show people walking. However, I did see a video of a gang of roadies getting a geology briefing by Rock Lake. It inspired.
This spring, coming back from the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes, I swung by the bottom of Rock Lake to see if I could... Nope. Two lane road. No shoulder. Fenced. Gate locked. All the trailheads, info kiosks, restrooms, on-trail campsites, parking lots, etc. are west of the river.
Take a look at the TrailLink pages on the CPT and JWPT and check out the pix. The CPT info is more applicable to your trip.
<http://www.traillink.com/trail-reviews/columbia-plateau-trail-state-park.aspx>
Good luck. I'd love to do the section in Rosalia with those concrete bridges or the trestle section of the CPT by Winddust Campground..