With only a couple of weeks left before my knee operation, which would
end my 2002 riding season, we took off for a 10 day trip to Pennsylvania
to enjoy some of the best bike roads in the N.E. First stop was at
Footerest Campground, Mt Jewitt, on the edge of the Allegheny National
Forest. Someone had released a couple of pet rabbits a few years
ago and the campsite is now overrun by tame rabbits. The certainly kept
our cat, Hastings, amused for a few days. This campsite is open year round
and has direct access to the forest trails for snowmobiles and motorcycles.
It looked really promising but the forest roads turned out to be tree lined
straight gravel roads, mainly existing to access the oil and gas pipeline
network that covers the entire forest. Decided to concentrate on the paved
roads and found some great ones - try SR 666 if you are in that part of
PA. Really, all the roads were so much better than anywhere in S.
Ontario that it didn't matter where you rode - it was great. After
3 days, we decided to explore to the east, and then move on to Finger Lakes
for the last 3 days.
With no destination in mind, we just drove until something interesting
turned up. We saw a campground across a lake near Tioga, PA and went
back to check it out. Turned out to be a State Park with several
sites right on the lake so we checked in and ended up staying there for
the rest of the trip - great place to stay - would definitely go back for
more! No tame rabbits here, but enough natural wildlife to keep Hastings
interested. We thought Hastings would be a problem as he spends all his
time outdoors when at home. He was a stray kitten that adopted us on a
previous trip so he grew up outdoors and surviving on his hunting skills.
We decided he couldn't run loose when we are camping so he has a large
cage to sit in outside the trailer. It worked really well and he
was no trouble at all. He even enjoyed his ride in the truck as I'd
made a carpeted shelf that fitted between the front and rear seat headrests
- he had a good view out the windows and seemed to travel well.
Pine Creek runs through a nice valley, but it's a stretch for it to
be called the Grand Canyon. Although the weather was nice, it was always
hazy and made it difficult to get nice pictures.
Every day was a bike-ride day - short ones if Sandy went, all day long
if I was on my own. I covered over 2000 km of great roads - see my bike
site for more pics - ranging from Interstates, highways, backroads
- paved and gravel, to Forest Access roads. All of them were very interesting
and scenic, and generally in very good condition - some of the roads were
so freshly laid that they hadn't applied the centre line markings.
Don't think I've ever been anywhere that had so many new roads.
Headed back home after a very enjoyable trip - at the border, the Immigration official asked how many were in the truck. "Two" I said. "What about the racoon in the back?" he said. Hastings just smiled at him. |
This page last updated on July 22, 2002