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:

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.

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.