I wanted to check out the Swatara Rail Trail for quite some time – it is a mixture of rail trails and abandoned roads near Jonestown, PA. I saw the trail while driving home from another near by trail, the Stone Valley Rail Trail. Part of my research in checking out new trails is going on Google Maps to see where the trail starts, ends and what else is around it. I noticed at one end of the Swatara Rail Trail there was a KOA campsite and you could cycle (or walk) right from camp to the trail which really intrigued me. So I picked a weekend in August, packed up my camping gear, Kevin, JoJo and my nephew and we headed out for a weekend of adventure!
Continue readingCycling
Lackawanna River Heritage Trail
Kevin was invited to be in a wedding which was going to take place near Scranton, PA. When you are in a wedding, you typically have things that you do all day with the bridal party – and I didn’t know anyone else that would be attending this wedding. So I started looking for things that I could do close to the hotel that would take up some time until the wedding would take place. I thought about taking a tour of Scranton to see all the places The Office was filmed, except there are none. Then I noticed a bike trail really close to the hotel we were staying at – The Lackawanna River Heritage Trail. BINGO.
Continue readingBikepacking the Pine Creek Rail Trail
The Pine Creek Rail Trail or PA Grand Canyon is supposed to be one of the most beautiful spots in all of Pennsylvania. My friend Tracy and I had been trying to plan a bike camping trip there for at LEAST 2 years, but if you have been following this blog you know that 9 times out of 10 when I’m trying to plan an outdoor adventure it rains a lot and I have to cancel. We actually had the campsite booked 3 times last year and due to heavy rains we didn’t go. I was nervous to check the weather as the weekend of our trip approached – honestly a big part of me didn’t think we would actually be going because we had to cancel so many times before. The weather was supposed to be perfect so I dug out all my camping things the night before and stuffed them into my panniers. In the morning, I was making breakfast and a glass jar fell out of the top shelf right onto my glass stove top – completely shattering it. I texted Tracy I would be a little late as I picked the glass shards out of one foot and put a bandaid on the cut on the other. I assured Tracy I wouldn’t need stitches, but just needed to clean up the glass that was now all over my kitchen and then I would be over – there was NOTHING that was going to stop our trip.
Continue readingChristmas Lights Bike Ride 2018
I took my nephew on the annual Christmas Lights bike ride – and man oh man was it cold. Literally freezing. Thankfully my dad agreed to drop us off because I still don’t have a hitch on my new car. My nephew wanted green lights on his bike so I ordered a set for his wheels and he helped me install them. When we arrived there were so many people with decorated bikes. My dad looked at me and said, “Well – what are you waiting for?” “It’s cold!!” I answered, “5 more minutes.” I decided I was going to try to stay in the car as long as possible – It was 30* outside!
Continue readingBike Train: Jim Thorpe – White Haven PA
I was undecided what I wanted to do for my birthday weekend this year. The weather hasn’t been the greatest lately so that took out camping. I really wanted to go see some waterfalls, but a lot of places I looked up were either closed for the season or the trails were washed out due to all the rain we have been having. Then something made me think about the bike train in Jim Thorpe. After a quick search, I found out it was the last weekend for the year. I gave Pocono Biking a call with serious doubts I would get any tickets. They are a company we have used NUMEROUS times before for the shuttle, but never had a chance to take the train. Either way, you park in Jim Thorpe and take the train (which runs about once a month spring – fall) or take a shuttle (which runs daily May – Oct and weekends only in April & November) to White Haven, PA. Then you hop on your bike and cycle about 25 miles along the Lehigh Gorge Trail back to Jim Thorpe.
To my surprise there were a fed tickets available for the train! I claimed tickets for as many family members as I could put in a car. Bikes, trains, and waterfalls – what better way to spend a day?!
Tour De Donut 2018
I’m not quite sure how I stumbled upon the Tour De Donut bike ride that is held in Troy, Ohio, but I knew I wanted to participate. Although I am not a huge donut fan, I AM a fan of riding bikes in quirky and fun group rides. For the Tour De Donut you pick the distance you want to ride from 3 choices. The longer the ride, the more donut stops where you attempt to eat as many donuts as possible before continuing the ride. Each donut you manage to eat takes 5 minutes off your final ride time. Then there is the bonus stop for a special Glazer donut which takes 10 minutes off your ride time per donut.
NYC Summer Streets 2018
It’s that time of year – for NEW YORK CITY SUMMER STREETS! What is Summer Streets you ask? Well I’ll tell you! The first 3 Saturdays in August they close 7 miles of city streets from 72nd St near Central Park at Park Ave all the way down to Lafayette St and Centre St at the Brooklyn Bridge. A few of the cross streets are still open and they have police and volunteers directing people when it’s safe to continue running, cycling or rollerblading the miles of car free bliss!
I went last year by myself and had so much fun my sister decided to join me this year.
Weirdest Bike Ride EVER
A few weeks ago I drove to visit my family – and my new nephew who decided to surprise everyone and come early (about 2 months). After meeting my new adventure buddy in training in the NICU, I asked my other sister and mom if they wanted to go for a bike ride. We went to pick up their bikes and they decided to ride around the driveway a bit – because it had been awhile since they took their bikes out for a ride. Unfortunately that’s where the ride started to go downhill.
Happy 4th of July!
I noticed a group was putting together an early morning group ride on the 4th, so Kevin and I decorated our bikes and cycled over to the start to join in. The ride was going to be about a 6 mile out and back, but so many people showed up that they added the option to keep going making it 10 miles. Despite the extreme heat I think everyone opted to do 10 miles. Kevin and I cycled from home which added about another 7ish miles to the trip. We ended up being the only ones having flags on our bikes which sort of surprised me, but I didn’t care – I was just happy to see so many people out for a ride!
Presque Isle State Park
I couldn’t believe my luck – Mother Nature was FINALLY letting me have a rain free weekend so I could go camping! When we saw how beautiful the weather was going to be we packed our camping gear and began the long drive to Presque Isle State Park in Erie, PA.
blisters and bug bites 