Bike About Tri State Loop
June 6, 2025 § 1 Comment
In my last post I wrote about the equipment prep as well as the riding prep for some upcoming bikepacking rides. Now I sit here in the comfort of my home after finishing 8 days riding a giant loop around the Tri State NJ/PA/NY/NJ area, having covered a lot of miles and riding every day. I think I will split this into two posts, and so, start this off with the first few days, and then follow it with the last.
I needed to test out my bikepacking equipment, and I needed to develop my legs. I am recently out-of-work and sort of retired, so while I have been able to put some regular road miles into my legs, I felt a need to get some bikepacking miles into them as well before taking on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route later in June, and so when the opportunity was presented to join another group that was doing a 4 day out and back to Jim Thorpe, I jumped onto that and started planning. I had already mapped a route from Hancock NY to Pier 11 in lower Manhattan, so I just needed to add in a route from Jim Thorpe to Hancock, and thus make an 8 day ride out of this.
Of course as the day of departure approached, the weather forecast for that day (Thursday the 22nd of May) looked like rain all day, though it wasn’t a heavy rain being forcasted and there might be some windows of opportunity. I decided that I would get an AirBnb near the trailhead for the Delaware Raritan Canal Trail and therefore would ride up Thursday, and start with the main group at the TH the next morning.
It was indeed raining when I awoke, and that was fine. It was only 36 miles to New Brunswick, and I had some tasks to complete before I left, which left me in my bathrobe all morning along doing image processing for something I am working on, so I never put any clothes on, and I packed up my bike, and once I finished my tasks managed to get out the door at around 1:30 in the afternoon. It was a shame I couldn’t have finished an hour or two earlier as a window of no rain had opened for me, and while it was not raining when I left, 30 minutes into the ride, the drizzle started. I had decided to “Go Cheap” on rain gear and purchased a Frogg Toggs rain suit from Dicks, and while the jacket was an okay fit, the pants were huge, and I had to use ankle straps to keep the excess from going into the chain ring, but they did their job and I wasn’t getting soaked from the rain. The fenders I installed also did a lot to keep me dry as well. I also went with my winter Lake boots since they were made for weather, and I was definitely in weather.
I had also modified my route that morning, as there was a stretch on a road with a higher speed limit and I was unfamiliar with that route. I am glad I did because the new route was much quieter and safer. The only thing that was wrong was that while I was riding along, already 10 miles in, I realized that because I had been dressed all morning like “The Dude” from Big Lebowski, I hadn’t brought my wallet, which was in my pants, and not in my bathrobe. I also didn’t pack tire irons, or a comb. So, although I relieved my daughter of the job of driving me to New Brunswick, I had to enlist her aid in going to my house and getting those things for me, and then bringing them to me in Somerset at my AirBnb. Let me cut to the chase here, and say, she did just that, and then we went out to dinner before she departed, and I enjoyed a quiet evening in the basement of Dante’s (My host) house watching the day’s action at the Giro D’Italia. Bonus to Dante for allowing me to dry everything I had in his dryer.
Next morning it was foggy, I made coffee and oatmeal, and then rode down to the TH at 8:30, which was the official start time. I am/was an invitee so I didn’t want to be the one that everyone was waiting on, so I was ready to ride. Everyone else that was starting either parked at the Greek Orthodox church or was dropped off on the Piscataway side of the Raritan in the park, but I stood alone at the TH as the clock ticked. There was some whatsapp chatter, and I shared my location with Kahlilah, and she shared back and her dot was just across the river from me but didn’t move at all. After awhile I decided to ride over there since it seemed pointless standing by myself at the TH when everyone else was over there, and I found them, and not everyone was there yet, so there was more waiting. Introduced, I was, and as more people arrived, more intros were done, and when we were all together, Chris, Jim, James, Randy, Joao, Miguel and Dave (maybe there was 1 more), we set off around 9:15 and hit the TH. They were all familiar with the canal path, where as I was new to it, so I stayed at the back, and yoyo’d off the back as I took it easy on the overflow sections, and got gapped off. I got to know Randy and Dave, as well as James along this section, and we rode steady down to Route 518 where we jumped off the path to cut across to Lambertville. I was told that some of the crew didn’t have their legs yet, and they wanted to limit the overall to about 65 miles so we were cutting across the state here. Fortunately, though busy, 518 has a significant shoulder through Hopewell, where it then branches off and becomes a wee bit less trafficky while at the same time surrendering shoulder. It was on this section that I found myself in front, and I found some good rhythm for the staircase climb over the next few miles out of Hopewell, with James and Joao on my wheel until I finally crested and then from there we exchanged pulls all the way to Lambertville where we awaited at the bottom of the hill at small motorcycle establishment where the proprieter was showing a couple of young lads a Ducati he had for sale. The establishment had a junked rusty Ford 150 parked and we leaned our bikes there to wait and listened to the others talk. James and Joao were Motorcycle enthusiasts as well and I seriously thought that we might get into some convo with the owner of the place. That never happened. I won’t go into it here, but the dude had an attitude and he didn’t like us, so we left as the others came down the hill and we got some lunch in Lambertville.
We crossed the Delaware over to New Hope, and jumped onto the Delaware Lehigh Canal Path Trail and headed North. This path I am familiar with, though I don’t believe I had ridden this section before, but it wasn’t any different than the section up near Tinicum Park. The canal had water, and plenty of parenting Canadian Geese along the banks, and all the overpasses made me duck my head whether I needed to or not. I do believe that for one of them I did in fact dismount to walk under and I would have hit my head. Just to note, this section of the Canal Path is where Jessica Savitch missed the turn on RT 32 and plunged into the canal and sadly lost her life way back in 1983.
Consulting the group we decided that rather than ride up Bridgetown Road onto the bluff where our campground accomodations lay, that instead we would turn inland off the path onto Geigel Hill Road where the Covered Bridge Ride starts (and ends), and jump onto Tinicum Church Road which is a much gentler climb for 25% of the elevation gain, as well as being about 90% less traffic than Bridgetown Road. Add to that we get to ride through a covered bridge since the first one is right there on Geigel Hill Road. My advice was too turn onto Tinicum Church road which joined Bridgetown after most of the bluff elevation was gained, leaving just some rolling terrain to the campground, but the decision was made to go a different route, which was steep. I think a couple of us had to put a foot down and walk it, and so the group kind of spread out. The RideWithGps app navigation doesn’t reroute when you go off the route. All it does is tell you that your are off route until you get back on route. I should have started a google maps route request to get to the campground, because by the time I got to Bridgetown Road, I was last, and Randy and Dave were ahead of me, and they crossed the road, and kept going (I didn’t realize I was at Bridgetown), and I assumed they could see the others, so I followed. Now I knew we were close, and that the campground might have more than one entrance, but after a mile, and losing some elevation, Randy and Dave stopped and said, “We think we missed the turn” which I looked and verified “Yes indeed, we did” so it was back the way we had come, gaining that elevation back and then a left and another mile and then I was back on course and guided in.
James, Jim, Joao and I were supposed to be in RV 23 site, which I found empty and not very tent friendly at all, when someone found me and told me we had tent site that was open that night. Much better. I set up my tent, and both Jim and I boiled water for our dinner while James and Joao wondered what the deal was with going out somewhere. That “go out” never materialized, so James talked them into driving to get some pizza to bring back and that is how the others ate that night. Some folks used the showers, but we mainly relaxed by the two fire pits that we had going, and it was a quiet night of rest. The last thing that was mentioned was an 8:30 start the next day.
I was up early the next day, chose to snack and find breakfast with the others. I had my camp all torn down and was at the front building ready to go by 8:30, and took the opportunity to get some “Original” Fritos. While we did not get out at 8:30, we did all eventually get out by 9ish, and we started out with a downhill on a fairly vehicle free road. The descent was steep enough, that even though I wasn’t coming back this way (The others were), I wouldn’t come back up this route. Your brakes better be good because when the second downhill was finished it Tee’d at 32 so you better stop. A short hop on 32 then gave us access to the Canal Path, which in this section, never having ridden this section, was mostly grassed over except for a 4″ single track which most of the time wasn’t that deep, however there was one moment after I had moved out of it because of an approaching rider that after trying to get back into the track, I wobbled and did hit a lip that caused me some concern. No crash, but I was glad when the single track opened up to a more classic cinder packed trail and we rode that trail all the way to the mouth of the Lehigh River across from Easton Pa. We could see the Farmers market on the other side of the Lehigh, and as it so happened two different railroad bridges crossed here, and there was a freigh train using one of the bridges at that moment. We gathered and found the bridge across the river and then hit the markey where everyone found something to eat. I took in a peanut butter rasberry crepe, and some coffee, and bought some candied pecans. I also took this opportunity to share my location with Paul who would be joining us at some point after Easton, he riding down from his Dad’s place in Hellertown.
After a group photo, we were back on the bikes and back across the bridge and back on the trail. This section from Easton to Bethlehem was on both side of the Lehigh, where I think initially is was on the south side, and then most of the canal path follows the river on the North side, and had some dodgy sections before it leveled out and became a very steady slight uphill grade. We picked up Paul, and on we went passing the giant shell of the infamous Bethlehem Steel company, long shutdown but life persists every summer when Musicfest comes to town.
With Jim Thorpe ahead we barreled on trail to street to trail on the North side until we hit Catasaqua, and that was where James, Paul, Dave and I decided we needed some food with James and Paul championing a burrito place right across the street called La Herenchia El Camacho. The trail had just come to a detour there by Taylor House Brewing where a few locals were sitting outside enjoying a beer or two. There didn’t seem to be any organized lunch plans and I just went with the flow and followed others across the street to get a burrito. Fortunately they had small (which was still large!) which I ordered and consumed. Actually I think Paul and I split a small, while everyone else bought a small, ate half, and packed the other half.
Now, to be honest I was sure that everyone else had just continued on, so after we were done, I was very surprised to find that the rest of the crew were just chillin at Taylor House. They didn’t eat, or at least I don’t think they did. The hour was getting late, and we still had miles to hump, and James, Paul and I still had a summit finish to climb. So we all started out again, not quite on the trail, but on some dodgy connecter that got us there. At this point Paul, James and I were riding as a unit, with James looking after the two of us. Yes, I needed tender loving care as I still had 5 additional days ahead of me, and I didn’t want to push it until I found my legs. James was happy to oblige and set a fairly aggresive pace. At times we had Taj and Miguel with us, and Paul was yoyoing off the back until we got to Weissport and realized that Paul was off the back for awhile. We waited on others, and then crossed back to the North side of the Lehigh on Bridge St where we again got into a rhythm and I kept a better eye on Paul and gave James signals to ease up when Paul started to drift. In this manner we knocked out the final miles into Jim Thorpe.
Since we were camping, and everyone else was hoteling, we didn’t await their arrival. We sought out a dinner spot, to dine before ascending the climb, not knowing what kind of climb it was. We dashed down a side street arriving at a charming place that had an hour wait, and no outdoor dining, however three lovely ladies came out and advised us of another place back on the main drag where they had outdoor seating you could get immediately. Sunny outdoor would have been best, but outdoor was good enough, and we sat at one table while the ladies were seated at another table near us. They were up for the weekend from New York City, however two of them were from East Texas (no accent that I could detect) and the other I can’t recall. They were very charming.
Dinner finished it was time to climb, and as soon as I mounted my bike, I saw fresh raindrops on my front bag. Shit, it’s raining again. So. I quickly donned my rain jacket, looked at Paul and James and said “See you at the top or on the way, but I am starting. Honestly I don’t think there was a flat section in the entire 3.81 miles to the top. Paul had read me the notice from the camp owner, and something about “Take the red gravel road” once you get near the top. What played out was they must have had something come up that delayed them further because I didn’t see them again until I was in dry clothes at the top and setting up my tent. I cursed Paul most of the way up. Really I cursed myself for not getting a room in town, but it was easier to blame Paul. I hit the red gravel road, and it was another 1/2 mile of that to the literal top of the ridge. This is why the campground is called “100 Mile View” because you can see 50 miles in each direction of the valley. Beautiful. It was also very windy and since I was wet when I got to the top I wanted to find our spot quickly but Paul left that detail out, and though he texted me the information, I had not seen that when I saw that the sites were 1-40 to the left and 41-80 to the right. Fuuuuuck. Which one? Then I saw a young man walking toward me like he was looking just for me, and he was looking just for me. Turns out we were in overflow, which was right there at the top of the road. EXCELLENT!! The owner came over and dropped of the wood, and offered to light it, and I accepted, while I changed.
It was very hard to set up my tent in that wind. I had to be very careful not to let anything set by itself without something holding it down, lest it end up airborne and off the side of the mountain. Paul and James struggled with their tents as well, and I kept throwing logs onto the fire to build up the coals. The wind made quick work of each log. When we had finished camp setup we stood around that fire for the next hour grabbing warmth until it was time to say goodnight. We scattered the coals as much as possible, and turned in.
The wind was supposed to die, however it really just subsided. I got up once to take care of business, and then we got up around 6:30. We all used our vestibules as a barrier to the wind and got our water boiling needs taken care of and enjoyed some coffee drinks and oatmeal. We saw a text about donuts at 8:30 at a shop in town. I was anxious to stop in so I could say a proper farewell and thanks since on this day, I was continuing North, while everyone else was returning back whence we had come. So I packed up quickly, and was loaded before Paul and James, so we did farewells up top, and down the hill I went.
I found the Donut shop, and had just gotten my bike parked when everyone that had heeded the donut call came outside. We exchanged all the pleasantries, shook hands, hugged, and they walked off while I went inside to see what I could get. The answer was nothing, as every single donut has egg in it, but they looked great, so I bought 1 Boston Creme, got another cup of coffee and sat outside in the beautiful sunshine. Maybe today it will not rain.
Day 0 Home to New Brunswich AirBnb Strava, Relive.cc
Day 1 New Brunswick to Upper Pond Eddy Strava, Relive.cc
Day 2 Upper Pond Eddy to Jim Thorpe Strava, Relive.cc Part A, Part B
Big Bird's Adventures 
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