This trail won’t win any beauty awards. But it’s a stress-free route through suburban sprawl in Bucks and Montgomery counties.
I’ll be honest: the 202 Parkway Trail in Pennsylvania’s Bucks and Montgomery counties is never going to win any beauty awards. That said, it blazes an almost stress-free path through suburban sprawl. That’s worth a lot.
Continue reading “I biked the 202 Parkway Trail — here’s what it’s like”Beautiful scenery, but oh those climbs!
First, the rolling hills of upper Bucks County mean the scenery is gorgeous, even if my iPhone photography skills can’t do them justice. The roads through the woods, with a stony creek alongside. And then the old stone homes.
But getting out of the river valley to the top of those hills? That’s another matter. Hard work! Or perhaps that’s the danger of just taking a random ride off Ride With GPS and there is an easier (and less trafficked) climb than Upper York Road? What should we have done instead?
Continue reading “Biking Bucks County covered bridges to New Jersey beer”A belated reply to a question I was asked at a talk about cool places to bike,
This is for those who want to camp along the 165-mile Delaware and Lehigh Trail. The question of campsites came up at a recent talk I gave at REI about great places to bike in New Jersey and beyond, because two people independently said they wanted to bike the entire route and cut costs by camping.
I was stumped. I know you can camp at Tinicum Park and at a private campsite just a bit north of it (as I discovered on a bike ride), and then there’s Washington Crossing State Park on the New Jersey side. (Info about an upcoming group bike ride and camping trip from Easton to Tinicum Park here.)
But beyond Easton and Bethlehem?
So I asked Brian at the D&L for help, and he kindly shared his map of campsites on or near the trail. (Let him know if you know of others.)
You can also check out Hipcamp, which includes camping possibilities on private land.
For those who want an indoor option, there’s this trail-friendly business in Lehighton (south of Jim Thorpe) that offers cheap sleeps in a bunkhouse.
Anyone else have suggestions? Or experiences with the campsites?
If you’re looking for a campsite in New Jersey that’s close to the main D&R Canal towpath (the one between Trenton and New Brunswick), there’s now one in Mercer County Park.
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A bike ride in New Jersey and Pennsylvania with a food destination in mind.
I always say a bike ride is better with a destination or theme in mind. Or that it’s all about the food. Our latest two-state ride did both.
After stumbling across the Stockton Fire Department‘s pancake breakfast years ago, we’ve been talking about going to its roast beef dinner. When the post card announcing this spring’s date arrived in the mail, it went on the calendar. No more stalling.
Stockton is along the Delaware River, and we’ve ridden both the D&R Canal on the Jersey side and the D&L Trail on the Pennsylvania side. (We picked up lunch here on our bike ride to watch polo last fall, for example.) This time, though, we weren’t going to take it easy with a flat ride. Instead we picked out a ride posted on Ride With GPS that took us into the hills on both sides of the Delaware River.
Early on, we crossed New Jersey’s only covered bridge, the one-lane Green Sergeant with wooden planks for the floor as well as wooden sides and top. (Traffic going the other way takes a flat modern bridge.)
Continue reading “A bicycle ride over 4 covered bridges in New Jersey and Pennsylvania to 1 firehouse roast beef dinner”
Exploring by bicycle 