Day 4: Keuka Lake Trip. The home stretch.

August 6, 2021 by nmarzano 1 Comment

Packed up and out of Hoffman campground by 5 am, I am eager to close this out. Just 90 miles to go. The home stretch to Lake Keuka.

Exiting Pine Creek Gorge

The last 40 miles of the Pine Creek Trail come easy, coasting gently uphill. The valley is empty. Birds chirp. Tufts of low-slung fog nestle between the trees. A white-tailed deer bounds onto the paths, and ambles down the trail a bit before leaping into the forest.

I’ve seen a lot of beautiful things in nature, but this feels like goddamn Brigadoon.

At Wellsboro, the path dumps me back onto road. Leaving the gorge for the first time, I can see dark clouds and a heavy rain line ahead on the horizon. Pulling into the Dandy Mart, I decide it’s a good moment to have a coffee, eat some donuts, and decide whether I want to ride through that dark curtain right now or wait it out. I wouldn’t call what I’m doing “bike touring,” but I’m not racing either. I have all day.

Super soaker

Twenty minutes and several powdered donuts later, the rain hasn’t abated but I’m antsy. The road crests the mountains near the New York State line. Hopefully the weather clears up on the other side. My weather app insists it will, but lately we have some trust issues. Time to get soaked.

To say the next 30 miles aren’t my favorite miles of the trip would be an understatement.

I don’t have the greatest faith in motorists’ awareness of solo cyclists on a normal day, and I do my best not think about their lowered visibility in this downpour. In times like these, some people turn to prayer. I find that cursing helps.

The detour

A few miles past the state border, the rain abates and I get a backroad reprieve from the highway. Then, I hit my first route snag. Huge orange signs signal in no unclear terms that the bridge is under construction two miles ahead. Traffic is detoured fifteen miles in the wrong direction. I decide to ignore it. Clearly these warnings are meant for cars, I think. I forge ahead, expecting to find perhaps a pedestrian path on one side, or maybe a resurfacing project I can talk my way through. I find neither of those things. Actually, I find nothing. This is a zero bridge, Thelma and Louise cliff situation. The downpour starts again, abruptly, mockingly. In literature they call moments like this a “pathetic fallacy.” I can confirm this is how it feels. I slink back the way I came, and map out a more serviceable detour.

Keuka Lake

Around noon, with the sun breaking through, I turn on the dirt and gravel fire roads of Moss Hollow and Birds Eye State Forests. Apart from a few pothole-heavy sections, they aren’t that technical, nor is the total elevation all that bad. I hit a two mile stretch of steep grades that feels like biking straight up a ski jump in spring, with grades pushing 17-20% in places. Otherwise, it’s a peaceful and fitting end to the journey.

The forest gives way to fields and farms, on a paved backroad that eases me over the last hill.

And there she is: Keuka Lake.

Day 3: Keuka Lake Trip. Pine Creek Gorge or bust.

August 4, 2021 by nmarzano 2 Comments

Today was supposed to be a key decision point along the route: stick to a 5-day journey and take the remaining segments 60-70 miles at a time, or hammer through in two roughly 100-mile days. Yesterday I learned that my own personal suffer-fest isn’t a long day on the trail—it’s the boredom of getting to camp too early. Triple-digit days or bust.

I’m up by four am, and off shortly after the day breaks. It’s dry for now, and I hope the grey clouds overhead can cross their legs and hold it for a day.

My destination is Hoffman Campground, halfway up the Pine Creek Trail, a relatively flat path winding north through Pine Creek Gorge. To reach the trailhead I first need to make my way up and down three peaks in Bald Eagle State Park. My morning includes roughly 2,500 feet of elevation over 18 miles on forest service roads. Is that a lot? A little? Can I climb it fully-packed in the mud, dirt, and gravel?

It’s a perfect day to find out.

Bagels and Bald Eagle State Forest

First things first: bagels. Lewisburg sits right in front of Bald Eagle State Forest. I pop into a local bagel joint for an egg and cheese on an everything and an iced coffee as big as my head—hill fuel. I grab a poppy seed with butter to go. You will be my top-of-the-hill celebration bagel.

A few miles out of Lewisburg the road turns to dirt. After a day on tarmac, it’s good to be alone in the woods again. I feel the bike jitter with life along the studded path. On paved roads my mind can wander to other thoughts while my body does the biking. I pay attention to obstacles and surroundings, but for the most part it’s type 1 thinking, instinctual and fast. Gravel roads nudge your brain into second gear. They don’t light it up with adrenaline the way a race or technical single track might. They just ask for a little more presence. I can feel the aperture of my focus tighten slightly. Almost time for the climbs.

Actually, climbs are nothing the rolling meditation I just described. They are plodding, painful, slogs. After living in flat Philadelphia for a while, I don’t know what to expect from this segment. Turns out, I love it. The love is a little masochistic, but the grind is satisfyingly. Philly’s coastal plain be damned, my people were HILL people. Swarthy southern Italians who wouldn’t be caught dead in a valley. My tree legs may struggle to fit into skinny jeans, but they have been bred to claim the higher ground. I put it in low gear and eat up the elevation. All of this is not to say I don’t curse the gods as I do it….

Gravel road at the top of climb number 3 in Bald Eagle State Forest

The face of a man who has just earned himself a celebration bagel. Creepy.

I’m through it before noon. That’s it. No boogieman after all. From here to Jersey Shore, PA, where I pick up the Pine Creek Trail, it’s all downhill.

Pine Creek Trail and Thunder

I emerge from tree cover into a goldilocks day. It’s sunny, cool, and I’m feeling fresh with about 50 miles to go. I park myself on a bench overlooking the river, munch on my celebration bagel, and wonder how a town in landlocked north-central Pennsylvania had the huevos to call itself Jersey Shore.

I pop into a supermarket to pick up a hoagie, some baby carrots, and—in what may be my first unforced error of the trip—a Pay Day bar. How much of Pay Day revenue depends upon calorie-starved bikers mistaking it for Baby Ruth? It’s got to be at least 25%.

As a converted rail trail, Pine Creek is much wider than Day 1’s D&L Canal Trail, but it’s a similar vibe. It’s a relaxing way to close out the day, apart from the occasional game of “rattlesnake or stick” I play along the way. The PCT Facebook group is full of posts of rattlesnakes spotted along route. So far, everything’s coming up “stick.”

With about 10 miles to go, the weather turns. Fluffy white cumulous give way to darker clouds. After a short drizzle the sky just unloads. It’s dumping buckets. I press on. I hear a massive crack of thunder. Sunshine and dark clouds are churning throughout the gorge. It’s tough to tell whether the mountains are protecting me from the worst of it, or trapping it in the valley in front of me. I pause for a bit to collect my bearings. With no shelter behind or in front of me, I decide to just press on.

It pays off. Around 4:30 pm, just as the sun fights back through, I pull into Hoffman Campground. A couple sits under a pavilion riding out the last of the rain. It’s a Friday night on a holiday weekend, but the weather seems to have scared everyone else off. I make polite conversation until it lightens up, and then excuse myself. There’s a hoagie and a fake Baby Ruth calling my name.

Day 3: Keuka Lake Trip. Pine Creek Gorge or bust.

Day 2: Keuka Lake Trip. Lehighton to Catawissa.

August 1, 2021 by nmarzano 1 Comment

Day two bikepacking through Pennsylvania. I know it will be a wet one. Yesterday I managed to dodge storms, but today the downpour is inevitable. The forecast calls for soaked socks and the constant squeegeeing of touchscreens.

Other than that, this should be a pretty easy day. There aren’t many options for rustic camping (state forests, parks, or campsites) between yesterday’s D&L Trail and tomorrow’s ride through Bald Eagle State Forest, so today will be spent largely on PA backroads. I’m targeting the Indian Head Campground just outside Catawissa, just 70 or so miles away. Feels a little conservative after yesterday, but I stick to the plan. There aren’t great camping options along the route, and while my 1000-lumen headlight is strong enough to get me out of a jam, I haven’t yet invested in a legitimate night-riding system. Pushing distance is part of this trip, but night riding has to remain out of scope.

When I say “out of scope,” it’s because I often think in terms of “layering” new challenges. I’m a lifelong biker, but have only been card-carrying “cyclist” of the lyrca-sporting variety since August 2020. Prior to this trip, I knew what it felt like to bike a century, race gravel, and to bikepack shorter overnighters. I’m far from expert in these things, but they were experiences in my toolbox nonetheless. Yesterday I combined those into a fully-laden long day. I “layered” on the new challenge of a 105 heat index. Each new experience gives me the confidence to layer on one or two unknowns next time, and then calibrate how hard I can push myself in those conditions in terms of distance, speed, and elevation. Today, I’ll find out what it feels like to do some climbing in a downpour.

After a quick grocery store detour in Jim Thorpe, I roll into the Lehigh Gorge. The last miles of the D&L Trail offer a placid start to the morning, from sweeping mountain views to lush rhododendron forest. I pass one early morning hiker, but otherwise am left alone with my thoughts and the white noise under my wheels.

Day 2: Keuka Lake Trip. Lehighton to Catawissa.

After 15 miles, I hit tarmac. The clouds open up. I push a few wet, category 4 climbs. The rain shell goes on quickly, and I think about my rain pants and poncho. I’m drenched by the time it takes to consider. It’s no big deal, and next time I’ll probably leave those out of my kit altogether.

I grind on, traveling roads with and without shoulders, hoping my rear blinker and the neon bandana hanging on my saddle bag are enough to catch the attention of ~~most~~ all drivers. The miles wash away. Before I know it I’m buying lunch, dinner, and breakfast at the Catawissa grocery store. I arrive at Indian Head Campground by 12:30 pm.

Wait… what the hell am I supposed to do in Catawissa, Pennsylvania until bedtime? The campground is dead. There are a few quiet RVs around the perimeter. The tent area is, unsurprisingly, empty. Clearly, I am the only person around here dumb enough to go damp-camping on a Thursday. I set up my tent on a picnic table under a dry pavilion and move it to the choicest patch of soggy ground.

Then, I hoist myself on the table and settle in for a sit. I shovel food into my face, scroll the news, call my wife, call my parents, make small talk with the lady at the camp store, post on Instagram, do the crossword. I check the time. It’s 2:00 pm. This is going to be a long night.

The rain breaks for a bit, and I bolt up the road to get some more provisions: a small bottle of whiskey, some carrots and hummus, and a lighter. Back at camp, I struggle for an hour with a damp bundle of wood the camp lady sold me. No dice.

Today’s lesson: it’s much more fun to be in the saddle than on a picnic table. I will never do a day this short again. Fortunately, I’ve built options into my itinerary for tomorrow. Option A: bike a distance similar to today and sleep in Ravensburg State Park, sticking to the original five-day journey. Or Option B: put in around 100 miles the next two days, and arrive at the lake house a day early.

I have a few shots of whiskey, throw on my audio book, and drift to sleep by 7:30. I’m resolved to make this a four-day trip.

Day 3: Pine Creek Gorge or bust.

Planning a bikepacking route

July 24, 2021 by nmarzano 1 Comment

The concept for my first solo, multi-day bikepacking trip was clear from the start: link together as many large gravel sections as possible—ideally over fifty percent of the route—and use roads as connective tissue. There are only so many options coming from Eastern PA, and three major gravel segments quickly emerged: 1. The Delaware and Lehigh (D&L) Trail from Yardley to Jim Thorpe, 2. A system of fire access roads through Bald Eagle State Forest, and 3. the Pine Creek Rail Trail from Jersey Shore to Wellsboro. Later, I would tack on a few miles of dirt in Birdseye Hollow State Forest, in New York.

Moving that concept into a practical GPX file meant bouncing among a few maps and apps. I used RideWithGPS as the core planning tool, and my initial sketch of the route was pretty close to final. I used a physical map from Purple Lizard to finesse my path through Bald Eagle State Forest, and spot-checked the road segments using street view on Google Maps just so I knew what I was getting myself into. The result was a 360-mile trip with an estimated 13,000 ft elevation gain. I don’t know if the gravel came in above the fifty percent mark, but it was damn close:

Gravel segments in red — Gravel/dirt segments outlined in red.

With the route locked in, I still had a few questions to contend with. I wasn’t sure how ambitious I should be with daily mileage. Is 100 miles a day a lot or a little when you have nothing else to do? Would the elevation in Bald Eagle throw me off schedule, especially weighed down with all my kit? Where would I sleep, and would my options match my daily mileage goals?

I knew I wanted to open the trip with a big day on the Delaware and Lehigh Trail, riding roughly 100 miles from Yardley to Jim Thorpe. I briefly dabbled with the notion of riding straight out of my home in South Philly, purely so I could say I made it door-to-door purely on pedal power. But after examining the extra 34 miles between the city and Yardley, largely through industrial corridors, I realized this section would likely be the single most dangerous portion of my ride. I settled on taking the early train from Philly to Yardley.

Not the most romantic start, but it beats getting squashed by a semi.

Accommodations along the route were a little tricky in one regard. Eastern PA is far from remote, so options for camping were somewhat limited. On the positive side, if everything went to hell, I could probably find a cheap motel. In the end, I opted to spend the first night in a modest AirBnB along the D&L, and found a good mix of primitive camping along the way. Here’s the basic itinerary I settled on:

ITINERARY

June 30 – Philadelphia to AirBnB in Lehighton – 92 miles

July 1 – Lehighton to Indian Head Campground in Catawissa/Rupert – 66 Miles

July 2 – Catawissa to Ravensburg State Park OR Hoffman primitive campsite – 58-108 miles

Option A, arrive late and/or feeling rough after the climbs: Ravensburg State Park.

Option B, early and feeling fresh: Press on through Pine Creek Trail to Hoffman (+50 miles)

Option A Day 4 – Ravensburg State Park to Canada Run primitive campsite – 70 miles

Option A Day 5 – Wellsboro to Keuka lake house – 75 miles

Option B Day 4 – Hoffman to Keuka lake house – 99 miles

No spoilers on whether I took A or B (or that other option, DNF). I’m working on a writeup of the journey.

Next post: Packing and kit list.