We venture even further south in New Jersey to a rare area where people are relatively scarce.
The final ride of the 2021 edition of Tour de Pines may be my favorite yet: so much time bicycling on quiet roads plus my first time in gorgeous Belleplain State Forest. Who would have expected all this in the most densely populated (and can I say most congested?) state in the U.S.?
Continue reading “Tour de Pines 2021, day 4: I’m in love with Belleplain State Forest”We looked hard. What we found instead.
Oh I looked for the Jersey Devil on this 51-mile ride on the Tour de Pines, particularly around Leeds Point, the eastern-most part of our route and its alleged birthplace.
No luck.
Continue reading “Tour de Pines 2021, day 3: The hunt for the Jersey Devil”A tale of immigrant New Jersey deep in the Pine Barrens.
We aborted this bike ride after nearly 5 miles (I’ll spare you the explanation, but all is fine — we’ll find another day to ride the 52 miles, maybe a bit less, and finally see Chatsworth, the heart of the Pine Barrens).
On the other hand, I had time to explore historic Whitesbog Village, once New Jersey’s largest cranberry farm and a place where they apparently treated their workers better than the rest. It also was home to Elizabeth Coleman White, who developed the blueberry cultivar we eat today.
Continue reading “Tour de Pines 2021, day 2: Historic Whitesbog Village plus Potato the baby pig”We biked nearly 50 miles in southern Burlington County.
This is my third year exploring New Jersey’s giant Pine Barrens ecosystem and preserved open space, thanks to the Tour de Pines bike rides organized by the Pinelands Preservation Alliance. It’s back as group rides this year, though over four days instead of the five pre-COVID.
Continue reading “Tour de Pines 2021, day 1: Cranberries and ice cream sandwiches”I dreaded seeing the damage from Henri and Ida. What a mess.
The remnants of Hurricanes Henri and Ida walloped New Jersey in August and September, and the D&R Canal towpath was smack in the path of both. The Millstone River flooded, Canal Road flooded, all kinds of major roads flooded … it was not pretty.
I dreaded seeing the damage to the canal towpath (also part of the East Coast Greenway).
We finally biked the section from Trenton to Princeton after Sunday’s big rally for the Essex-Hudson Greenway. Here’s what we found:
Continue reading “Hurricanes Henri and Ida ripped up the D&R Canal towpath”When you can’t get to the lavender fields in Provence, you can bike to these outside Princeton.
The lavender plant at my house spills over almost the entire width of the front walkway — a challenge for those put off by the many bees foraging for nectar. But how do I prune it? And what clever things can I do with the stems?
That’s made me curious about a lavender farm between Princeton and Hopewell with 15 varieties. Easy enough to bike there, I thought. Much of it is already the route we take when we want to punish ourselves with hill climbs in the Sourlands. And much closer than the lavender fields in Provence.
Continue reading “A lavender farm in New Jersey? You can bike to 2 near Princeton”The East Coast Greenway has a new route from Jersey City south that goes over two new bridges and bypasses Newark.
Now that the new Goethals Bridge connecting Staten Island and New Jersey is finished — and it has a bike lane — the East Coast Greenway has revised its route from Jersey City to Rahway. So of course I had to check it out.
Continue reading “We tested out the East Coast Greenway’s new route through Jersey City and Bayonne to Rahway, New Jersey — here’s what we found”I’ve been waiting for this lovely section of the Delaware River Heritage Trail to formally open. It finally has.
I’ve raved about the new trail from Crystal Lake Park to Roebling before — while it was under construction, while the railroad crossing was being finished … it even made my list of 5 great Central Jersey trails before it was formally finished.
So what more can I add? Beyond go. And offer up more photos to help tempt you.
Continue reading “This fabulous new bike trail in Burlington County is finally officially open”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”Both have great sections — and messy parts too.
I shocked a few of my neighbors when I said I was biking to Philadelphia this past weekend. It takes an hour to drive using I-95 so it seems crazy far to bike … and besides, how would you go?
Continue reading “Two ways to bike from Princeton to Philadelphia — which is better?”
Exploring by bicycle 