Yosemite Sam, Part 3 — First Impressions of the Chariot

As soon as it arrived, I put the Chariot together and attached the hiking kit. That afternoon me, Jackson, and Sam all headed out for a shakedown hike. I made Jackson do the pulling:


What? A kid needs exercise, right? Kidding, only kidding. We wandered through the neighborhood and along some hilly fire roads, and by the time we got home I had a pretty good idea of how the hiking kit would work out. Not bad, not bad at all. At least on the wide sidewalks and relatively smooth dirt paths. Going up steep hills was hard work, but it felt easier than carrying a 50-pound pack. The Chariot specs say that it weighs 27 lbs., so with 30-pound Sam riding in it, it probably weighed close to 60. Didn't really notice the weight much though. Pulling the thing took some getting used to as well, but by the end of the walk I was getting the hang of it.

Most importantly, Sam seemed to be really comfortable riding in the Chariot. The seat and harness fit him like a glove, and he happily rode along, quietly "talking" and enjoying the ride. Over the next several days, we had fun trying out the jogging kit and the bike trailer kit, too. All worked as advertised. Here's more of my initial impressions:

• Excellent build quality. The Chariot feels rugged and well built. Materials seem durable.
• The attachments -- jogging, bike trailer, and hiking -- are all well designed and very easy to interchange. The fact that the bike trailer arm and jogging kit both store on the Chariot itself is a nice touch, and very convenient.
• It's really wide, several inches wider than our other jog stroller. Because the Chariot also serves as a bike trailer, it probably has to be fairly wide for stability, but the width made me concerned about how well it would work on trails.

So, with the Chariot purchased and a few trial runs behind us, there wasn't anything left to do but plan a trip so that we could try the system out on some real trails. Oh sure, I could have found some local trails to try it on, but where's the fun in that? I started planning a trip to Yosemite.