Distance

Distance4

397 km

% Unpaved

Gravel2

80%

Ascent

Elevation2

6300m

High Point

High Point3

487m

Difficulty

Difficulty2

6/10

Canadian Shield 400

The Canadian Shield 400 is part of the Bikepack Adventures Grand Depart routes. It’s an all-encompassing bikepacking route throughout the Outaouais region, just north of the nation’s capital, Ottawa. At approximately 400km long, it is just enough to provide you with a long-weekend challenge that will push your physical and mental fortitude. Hitting up some of the top sites in the Outaouais region such as Gatineau Park, Paugan Dam, Mont Ste. Marie, Gracefield, Kazabazua and Otter Lake, this route will challenge you with gravel roads, unmaintained winter roads, rail trail, single-track and double-track.

With nearly 100km of riding within the Gatineau Park and 12km of single-track in Mont Ste. Marie, you will spent over 25% of your riding time on trails. That is massive within the world of bikepacking. 

This route was developed by Chris Panasky, creator of the Bike Tour Adventures Podcast.

Navigation Tips and Tricks

In order to more effectively navigate the Canadian Shield Bikepacking Routes, we have gone ahead and broken down the route into smaller more manageable files of approximately 200km per section. We have also removed the POIs to allow it to load more quickly and feel less cluttered. I still recommend you download a copy of the full file onto your phone, for quick reference of POIs and more in-depth analysis throughout the adventure. This route would be extremely difficult to complete using traditional maps and it is therefore recommended to use a GPS device or smartphone while riding this route. The Canadian Shield Bikepacking Route is often updated to make your experience as good as possible, whether to re-route to avoid road closures, or to add in a new piece of track that you are sure to love, so it is highly recommended you use the newest and most up-to-date maps.

There are a couple different methods to add your route on your Garmin/Wahoo/Other GPS device.

The 1st method is to “Pin” the route to your device. The “Pin” button can be located in the top-left of the page when you open the map.

The 2nd method is to click the “Send to Device” button just below the route title. This method requires you to download the appropriate file to your computer and upload onto your device. You can follow the steps and instructions to complete the transfer.

I personally always use the “Pin” method as I find it much quicker and easier. 

Be sure to spend some time practicing with your device and making sure you understand how it works.

You can join the Bikepack Adventures Club page to get some of the premium member benefits for free, such as the ability to download any of the routes on the Bikepack Adventures RideWithGPS page for off-line use. 

I have taken the liberty to break up the route files into 200ish km segments which can be downloaded by all Bikepack Adventures club members. 

CS400 Gallery

Chris

Traveller. Cyclist. Expat. Over 15 years experience living abroad in six different countries. I've travelled to over 40+ countries and met countless travellers, cyclists, and other expats. As a passionate cyclist I've had opportunities to bike tour in some truly amazing places. While definitely not an expert at bike touring, I'm passionate about sharing bike touring stories and helping others learn hacks, tricks, and techniques to improve their touring experience. I look forward to you joining me on this journey of learning about and becoming a better bike tourist.

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