Northeast - pretty farmland riding in PA?

I like riding on roads through farmland, and I like to find pretty views of barns and cows + horses, fields of plants growing, stone farmhouses.

So far in Pennsylvania I've found some nice roads near the Lehigh valley around Trexlertown, also the Oley valley near there, and some nice farmland more toward the center of the state around Lewisburg.

What are some other areas with roads to try?
Specific routes would be even better, like the prettiest I've found so far is this loop (http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Hawk-Mountain-Farms-Dream) near Kutztown, and I last time I took some photos of it (http://www.roberts-1.com/t/b08/u/s/a/index.htm).

Ken

I rode through Lancaster County twice in the last month; once basically following Bicycle PA Route 2, then coming southwest to northeast on the way back. It's all beautiful.

You'll get some of that scenery here (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=521862).

The area around T-town is great for riding.

I live a bit farther southwest (Carlisle). Not sure where you are, or if this is close enough, but if so let me know and I would be glad to give you specific recommendations for around here.

jim

I live a bit farther southwest (Carlisle).
We live way east, but last fall we made it as far as Harrisburg -- and actually enjoyed riding into and out of the city by some roads we tried (though it was not an example of farmland). So we're ready for Carlisle as a next step now this year.


I rode through Lancaster County twice in the last month
Along with the Lancaster Bike Club website, there ideas of specific routes for Lancanster county are much appreciated. Sharon and I tried riding around that area a couple of times before, but seemed to find more suburbs than farmland. It's a long drive for us to get there, so we were looking for some better routes before we tried again.

Ken

Here's some photos from last fall when Sharon and I rode this 38 mile loop (http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Hawk-Mountain-Farms-Dream) near Hawk Mountain and Kutztown . . .

http://www.roberts-1.com/t/b08/u/i/hmd/800x/089-farm_along_Stony_Run_Valley_Rd_800x602.jpg
farm along Stony Run Valley Rd

http://www.roberts-1.com/t/b08/u/i/hmd/800x/060-farm_on_Dotterers_Rd_800x598.jpg

http://www.roberts-1.com/t/b08/u/i/hmd/800x/104-W_to_Sharon_on_Hawk_Mountain_Rd_800x599.jpg
Sharon riding west on Hawk Mountain Rd

http://www.roberts-1.com/t/b08/u/i/hmd/800x/012-farm+horse_along_Mill_Creek_Rd_800x603.jpg

http://www.roberts-1.com/t/b08/u/i/hmd/800x/160-horses_by_barn_on_Hawk_Mountain_Rd_closer_800x601.jpg

http://www.roberts-1.com/t/b08/u/i/hmd/800x/189-NW_to_white_bird_on_pond_800x584.jpg

http://www.roberts-1.com/t/b08/u/i/hmd/800x/182-three_cyclists_on_Hawk_Mountain_Rd_800x598.jpg
riding on Hawk Mountain Rd

http://www.roberts-1.com/t/b08/u/i/hmd/800x/244-cows_running_w_barn_800x603.jpg

http://www.roberts-1.com/t/b08/u/i/hmd/800x/276-farm_w_pond_on_Slateville_Rd_800x582.jpg

http://www.roberts-1.com/t/b08/u/i/hmd/800x/269-mommy+baby_donkeys_609x675.jpg

For a few more pics from that day, see this page (http://www.roberts-1.com/t/b08/u/s/b/index.htm).

Ken

Bucks County has a mix of farmland and woodland with hills. There are many old stone houses and barns. You can find cue sheets on http://www.cbbikeclub.org/ Some areas have suburban development, but in general the areas southeast and north of Doylestown are very picturesque. http://www.njbikemap.com/ covers some of this area.

that's where I ride, lots of farms, animals and quiet roads.
too many damn hills, however.

sorry, I meant bucks county, that's where I ride.

I agree with Bucks County. It is a very picturesque area with loads of old stone homes, pretty villages and plenty of farmland and woodland, not to mantion a few terrific country inns to stop and grab a bite.

Bring your camera.

Cheers,

Brian J.

I live a bit farther southwest (Carlisle). Not sure where you are, or if this is close enough, but if so let me know and I would be glad to give you specific recommendations for around here.
Looks like Sharon and I are going to get to Carlisle for a couple of days soon. So if you want to post some suggestions here (or contact me by private message), that would be great.

Ken

I live in western PA and when you get around amish country and farmlands in Indiana, Clarion, and Armstrong Counties, there are remarkable views, tons of old relics, historical places, and friendly people. If you would like roads I suggest riding, PM me.

... Indiana, Clarion, and Armstrong Counties, there are remarkable views, tons of old relics, historical places, and friendly people. If you would like roads I suggest riding, PM me.
Thanks for the offer -- and just for letting me know it's good -- for some other trip.

For this time, those counties seems as far from Carlisle as Carlisle is from us.

But who knows? Perhaps trip after trip, we will be led farther west in Pennsylvania.

Ken

Well when you do make it out here, make sure to let me know. I am always looking for people to ride with and share the beautiful country side we live in. Take care.

I live in western PA and when you get around amish country and farmlands in Indiana, Clarion, and Armstrong Counties, there are remarkable views, tons of old relics, historical places, and friendly people. If you would like roads I suggest riding, PM me.

Same for Mercer County where I live. I've lived in this small town (Mercer) for a couple of years now, and it is just awesome for riding. Tons of quiet roads to chose from.

I live a bit farther southwest (Carlisle).
jim
Thanks to Jim's encouragement, Sharon and I went to Carlisle over the Fourth of July weekend, and found some great farmland riding -- including an area he suggested later in a private message to me.

We also rode loops further southwest by Shippensburg and Chambersburg, and into Maryland by Hagerstown - (turned out it wasn't much further to ride across the Potomac River even into West Virginia for a couple minutes).

Seemed like there was a higher "density" of farms on the southeast side of Interstate 81 than the northwest side. In addition to cows and horses, we actually saw a number of farms with goats. The towns ("boroughs") were also pleasant to ride into, and a couple of the college campuses.

Lots of gentle riding with short hills, though more and bigger on the northwest side of I-81 - (and we didn't venture up into the mountains farther off on both sides of I-81). Mostly good road surfaces, generally less traffic than eastern Pennsylvania.

We're hoping to get back there again sometime.

A helpful source of ideas for riding around Carlisle was
this route on Bikely.com (http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Carlisle-Century)
but we did not ride the whole route.

maps: Turned out to be difficult to buy a detailed country road map for all of Cumberland county (which contains Carlisle) although it was pretty easy to find at convenience stores a detailed map for most of Franklin county around Chambersburg. So for the northeast side of Cumberland county (closer to Harrisburg) we used pages from a book of Dauphin county maps we had. For the rest we used a less-detailed map that covered south-central PA.

Ken

Looks like you found some of my favorite routes. Would have happily tried to join if I'd been in town. Perhaps next time.

I'll send you a PM next time we go there again.

Nice that the Carlisle area is straightforward to drive to from the east, using I-76, I-78, or I-81. Once there it's easy to access lots of the nice farmland southwest from Carlisle by using I-81.

Some other things . . .

* In addition to a number of farmers riding around on horse-and-buggy (esp on Sunday).

* We saw more goats than any other place we've been in the U.S.

* Our first afternoon, we rode our bicycle all the across the state of Maryland -- and back. We started in State Line PA and across the Potomac River into West Virginia. (disappointment: No sign there saying we had entered West Virginia).

Next time, in addition to exploring and re-visiting more farmland, we're going to try to ride some loop route connecting between Carlisle and Harrisburg -- so we'll be glad for some advice on some roads to use or places to ride thru along the way.

Ken

Lebanon valley -- Sharon and I tried riding the farmland roads southeast and south of the city of Lebanon, and it was really outstanding.
Lotsa cows and horses and silos -- not many tourists (except us) even though it was a great weekend day.

Ken

The Livestrong Challenge route outside of Phillly was really nice and the vast majority of it was through areas you are describing. There was some decent climbing as well. My Garmin stated there was 7k of ascent on the 100 mile route, although they claimed it was 4k. I included a link of the route below. The area by Landis Store had a climb that put Warrenville Rd. to shame.

http://www.livestrongchallenge.org/site/c.frKPI1PAIoE/b.4180379/k.C682/General_Course_Map.htm

I didn't see anything about pa bike route 1 (I think thats the correct one). It snakes around south of rte 222 near trexlertown and westward (towards topton mertztown etc). It's a really nice road (Im just getting into road bikes so I haven't ridden it) and there are always a bunch of roadies on it. When I go out today I'll find out what the route is called and report back. Routes like this one is one of the biggest reasons why I'm getting into road riding

near trexlertown and westward (towards topton mertztown etc).
Yeah there's some nice farmland around there -- worth lots more exploring.

If you look on the asphalt when you're riding around there, you'll see markings for other routes used for special events -- so they could be source of ideas for further exploration. For more ideas or if you like to use a GPS for navigation, can do a web search on Trexlertown bike routes, or get on www.Bikely.com or www.MapMyRide.com and search for routes near Trexlertown.

One of Sharon and my favorite routes nor far from there is
www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Hawk-Mountain-Farms-Dream (http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Hawk-Mountain-Farms-Dream)
Around Trexlertown, if you find white painted arrows marked DCT on the asphalt, those might lead you to that route.

Ken

Really, all the country roads in Pa are pretty nice. Lehigh Valley, the Cumberland Valley, Lancaster area, all the way out through State College and such is all great to look at.

Just coming back into the area from Germany.
Usually the best way to meet other riders is to do a web search for a bicycle club in your area. Or you could try starting a new thread on this forum, with a subject like "looking for riders in AAA", where AAA is the place you want to ride a lot.

Interesting that lots of the people who started the farming in Pennsylvania were German-speaking. (although "Germany" did not exist as a country back then). The English people who were already around mangled the language and called it "Dutch" -- but really the new farmers were speaking "Deutsch". That's how we got the "Pennsylvania Dutch" -- it wasn't like hardly anybody came to PA from Holland or the Netherlands. (The arrivals from the Netherlands were in New York, not Pennsylvania.)

One of the German farmers who came over to Pennsylvania was Hans Eisenhauer, and (after changing the spelling of the name) one of his boys did pretty good for the Army and the USA.
Interesting also that Pennsylvania has a special Army institution - which is near to some nice farmland riding southwest of Carlisle.

If you remember some nice farmland bicycling from Germany, I'd be glad to hear about that. Back in September, Sharon and I were riding in Germany, and found some delightful farm roads around a couple of places far south (see Bayern farm riding (http://www.roberts-1.com/b/x/de/#region_Bayern)) -- in the same league with the very best of Pennsylvania.

Ken

You mentioned Lewisburg. There is a road from Lewisburg to State College, Pa that will get you what you a looking for (Rt 192). You can always mix in back roads. Lots of Amish farms and tucked in the valleys between the Appalachian Mountains. Go to map my ride and search Lewisburg. There are a lot of rides in this area.

gorgeous scenery, ken.

what's a good starting point via train or bus to get close to that action? the closest i've seen to that is delaware anywhere south of dover, toward milton and further (and lots of roads with a doublewide shoulder all for you)... it'd be nice to get that in a different state for once.

gorgeous scenery, ken.

what's a good starting point via train or bus to get close to that action? the closest i've seen to that is delaware anywhere south of dover, toward milton and further (and lots of roads with a doublewide shoulder all for you)... it'd be nice to get that in a different state for once.

There are plenty of lightly traveled roads in much of Pennsylvania. Wide shoulders are nice, but hardly necessary for about 98% of my riding.

I was mistaken in my previous post. I thought the route I was on was called Route 1, it's Route L. I need glasses:rolleyes: