Touring - Philadelphia to New Hampshire

Hey friends,

I'm a brand-new-bike-tourer planning to ride from Philadelphia to central New Hampshire in the end of May. Any suggestions/tips/dire warnings about a route? Google maps has me taking the East Coast Greenway through CT and MA, but I'm wondering if it would be wise to head north through NY and then cut across VT instead. Thoughts? I'm planning on camping pretty much the whole way, with the exception of a night in NYC with a friend.

Thanks!

Is Google telling you to take the ECG only in MA & CT or in other places before that? If the latter, I would not ride the ECG out of Philly. The roads it uses are horrible. The "greenway" down here exists primary on paper, not in reality.

Adventure Cycling Association's Atlantic Coast route (Sections 1 & 2) will get you from the Schuylkill River Trail around Spring Mill/Conshohocken to Portsmouth and Derry, NH. You can continue noth and hook up with their Northern Tier around Damariscotta, ME and take that across the center of NH over Kangamagus Highway, but that might take you our of your way some.

There are decent camping options along the way. One good thing about their maps is that they show you the locations of things like campground, grocery stores, bike shops and motels. Might come in handy for a first trip.

http://www.adventurecycling.org/routes/atlanticcoast.cfm

If you go that route, Bull's Island on the Delaware River north of Lambertville/New Hope is a nice place to stay. Easily do-able in one day from the city. (We're doing a long weekend there next week.) Hit it on a weekday to avoid the two-night reservation minimum on weekends, which tend to fill up as the weather gets nicer.

Have a look at the elevation profiles for your alternate routes. Riding east-to-west across Vermont will require you to cross the Green Mountains, which run north-south. It sounds like your original route is trying to keep you on the east side of those mountains.