Tandem Tom

Has anyone ridden ridden from Phili to Pittsburgh? What is the preferred route and what is it like? Thanks!

Bezalel

I did it but it was more about the ride than the destination. I took the Atlantic Coast route to Washington followed by the C&O and GAP. The direct route would be on BicyclePA Route S but it's hilly.

indyfabz

I did the opposite in September. Took the GAP to Cumberland, U.S. 220 to Bedford and then PA Bike Route S (modified from Lancaster County east) to Philly, getting into town via the Schuykill River Trail. Another modification I made to Route S is that I rode the 8 mile stretch of abandoned PA Turnpike. It's a neat ride with two unlit tunnels that require a good light. Camping opportunities along the entire route, including three state parks, on Route S, although twice I had to go off route a few miles to the campgrounds.

You definitely need to be able to handle hills. One advantage to Route S is that it was perfectly signed, which made navigation easy. If you are planning on cooking there will be a couple instances when you have to shop and carry food with you to the campgrounds. GAP-wise I stayed at the free campground (with Adirondack shelters) in Connellsville and at Husky Haven along the trail in Rockwood.

Tandem Tom

Thanks for the replies! Next year my wife and I will be riding across the country starting around Phili. I just ,last week, rode the GAP &CO.It gets a little boring after a while and since I have ridden it 3x's I was looking for a more interesting route. Though the option sounds quite hilly. I found a RideWithGPS route that shows about 22,000' of climbing along Route S. And I think that may be too much this early in the trip. So maybe the C&O & GAP will be the way to go and in the Spring it will look different. I will look at the US 200 option. Thanks!

indyfabz

The flattest route across PA is probably the northern tier, which is traversed by PA Bike Route Y:

ftp://ftp.dot.state.pa.us/public/pdf...state_mapY.pdf

However, my understanding is that at least some of that route has been polluted with truck traffic from fracking activity. Also, it doesn't start near Philly.

Anything across the center of the state is likely going to be harder than Route S.

Some of what might be contributing to the altitude numbers for Route S is that, heading west, it does not join the GAP until Rockwood and then leaves it at West Newton. I beleive the section of Route S between Bedford and Rockwood through Somerset is tough. This section parallels the Allegheny Tunnel of the PA Turnpike, so it's likely crossing the Allegheny Mountains there:

ftp://ftp.dot.state.pa.us/public/pdf.../Bike_S_11.PDF

If you were to get off Route S in Bedford and take U.S. 220 to Cumberland to pick up the GAP you would miss that stretch. U.S. 220 south from Bedford has a lot of ups and downs, but nothing that looked like it would be too bad going the other direction. And you can save yourself a lot of grief by hanging a right off U.S. 220 onto SR 807/Bedford Rd. NE before you get to Cumberland. Take that straight onto Bedford St., which will take you into the middle of town. Doing cuts out some giant rollers on U.S. 220 between SR 807 and Bedford St.

spinnaker

Check out the Ghost Town Trail