JRZrider

Indyfabz,

I am planning to do the High Point to Cape May route within the next few weeks and am seriously considering using your "first two days" that you have mapped out. I am planning it as a 4-day tour and will be meeting up with my family at Cape May Point where we vacation every year. I see on another post that you recently completed a trip from High Point area to Upper Black Eddy, ending back in Philli. My question is did you use your recommended "first two days" route using Old Mine Road and through the Delaware Water Gap? Also did you camp at Worthington State Forest where your day one ends? I plan on camping all three nights. Any input from your experience with your recent trip through that area from North Jersey to Upper Black Eddy would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

neilfein

Currently have a Mount Laurel - Delaware tour planned, over three days and involving a ferry. Will post after the tour!

indyfabz

Yes.

Day 1: Camped the night before the tour in NJ just outside of Port Jervis, NY on River Rd./CR 521. Took that to Old Mine. Crossed CR 560 near Dingman's Bridge and continiued on Old Mine/Wallpack to Peter's Valley Craft Center where I picked up NPS 615 through Wallpack. When NPS 615 ends, you make a left across the creek, which is Old Mine Road again. It's an evil climb and then a short decent to Millbrook Village, where you make a right to stay on Old Mine towards I-80. That takes you past the entrance to the campground at Worthington State Forest. It's all beautiful riding and there was very little traffic when I went. Mostly people out fishing.

Note that Worthington does not take reservations for one day on the weekends unless you call Saturday morning and there is space available. However, they told me that they will find space for anyone arriving by bike. The place is on the AT, so they have large group sites. They put me in the group site with the bear locker. Think it was No. 23. There are bears around there, so use the locker. Just missed seeing one last year on Old Mine during the Black Bear Century. Unless you ride the 8 or so miles round trip between Worthington and Delaware Water Gap, you will have to carry all your food from the start as there are no services along the way to Worthington except for the Wallpack Inn, which may not be open for lunch. No grocery stores in DWG, but there are two small convenience stores and a couple of restaurants, including an affordable diner. I stoked up on food in Matamoras, PA across from Port Jervis. There is a giant Price Chopper on U.S. 6 not far after you enter PA. Total distance for the day was only 43 miles, but there are numerous ups and downs, especially on NPS 615. The first section on Old Mine is pretty easy until you cross CR 560, where a serious climb starts before you descend into Peter’s Valley.

Day 2: Took Old Mine to the end and crossed the river into DWG using the pedestrian walkway along I-80. The diner has decent breakfast. From there, took PA 611 to Portland. Crossed under the bridge to NJ and took River Rd. to Riverton Rd. and then crossed back into NJ at Belvidere. Took CR 620 out of Belvidere and made a right onto Foul Rift Rd, which becomes River Rd. at some point. You follow the turns to stay on River Rd. and then CR 621 all the way to Phllipsburg. (It’s best to look at this on Google Maps to see the relationship between River Rd. and other roads around it.) It’s gorgeous back there and you probably won’t see many vehicles until you get to town. Phillipsburg had a lot of traffic. Take S. Main and then make a right onto Carpentersville Rd. at a traffic light just after you pass under one of the railroad bridges. Bear right at High St. to stay on Carpentersville and cross I-78. This will take you down to the river. Once again you basically follow the river on River Rd. all the way to Riegelsville. Again, gorgeous and little traffic. (The metal bridge on your right was designed by Roebling of Brooklyn Bridge, etc., fame.) Make a left, cross the tracks again and make a quick right onto CR 627. That will take you all the way to Milford, NJ. For camping, I crossed the river into PA, went south on PA 32 for about 1.5 mile and made a right onto Lodi Hill Rd. The entrance to Dogwood Haven Campground is about .2 miles on Lodi Hill. The owner is really nice. Charged me $15 and offered me a beer. The deli/liquor/grocery store in Milford has a good selection of groceries, and the pizza place in town is good. The Ship Inn is worth what they charge.
One SNAFU. A few miles of the road into Milford is now closed for culvert replacement. Job is supposed to take 4-5 weeks. Detour signs will be posted. It’s probably not a long detour.
To continue heading south, you can ride PA 32 to the next bridge and cross over into Frenchtown or back track to Upper Black Eddy and cross back into Milford, NJ, make a right at the light and take CR 619 to Frenchtown. While I don’t like riding on PA 32, it’s only a few miles to Frenchtown. If you leave early, traffic should not be a problem.

chefisaac

When you doing that? Want some company for some of the ride?

JRZrider

indyfabz,


Thanks sooo much for providing all the details of your trip. That is alot of great information that will come in handy for my trip.


Funny, I do alot of hiking around the DWG, been up/down Minsi and Tammany countless times but I never really paid much attention to the roads around the area from a cycling perspective.


Did you happen to notice the condition of the Delaware Canal / D & R Towpath's on either side of the river. I work in Somerset NJ right next to the D & R Towpath and walk on it frequently for lunch. They did a great job restoring the surface for cycling all throughout the New Brunswick area to Princeton this Spring. I was wondering if they got around to resurfacing/restoring the Towpath in those severely damaged areas around and North and South of New Hope/Lamvertville? It is nice to use the Towpath as an alternative to road when it is available in that area.

indyfabz

CR 521 is in good shape. The first part of Old Mine up to where you cross CR 560 has some condition issues. A little gravel and ruts in a few places. But it's not that bad. Also, there was virtually no traffic so I could ride around the rough patches without having to worry.

NPS 615 is in good shape. The surface of the evil climb I mentioned is rough in places, but it's not that long. The rest of Old Mine is decent. I assume you are familiar with the traffic light on Old Mine about a mile before it ends. If not, make sure you wait for the green. The road narrows to one lane. If you blow the light you could get hit by oncoming traffic.

The Worthington campground is a nice place. One odd thing about it is that it's very spread out along the river. From my group site it was almost a half mile walk/ride to the southern shower/camp sink buildings. (There was a pit toilette and water source close by.) The walk/ride to the northern shower facility was nearly 3/4 of a mile. On the flip side, the group sites are near the office where they sell the firewood.

hat the path on the NJ side from Frenchtown to New Hope is fine. It's actually better in some respects than SR 29. The shoulder on SR 29 heading south has been allowed to deteriorate in places starting a few miles south of Frenchtown. In several places there is a lot of gravel and broken pieces of cold patch. I did a rode ride using it earlier in the year and someone flatted after they ran over a sharp piece of broken patch. After that, we got on the trail with our 23c tires and had no problems. It gets better as you approach Bull's Island. The other advantage of the trail is that SR 29 loses it's shoulder at Stockton. The north side shoulder has historically been bad in places and has gotten worse.

I haven't ridden south of New Hope, but I have seen people riding it while driving on SR 29. It looks fine, and I am almost certain the damaged bridges have been repaired and the entire stretch is open.

It's a shame that the Bull's Island campground is closed this year. Part of it is permanently closed due to tree instabiluty caused by years of flooding. A portion may re-open in 2013 after assessment. I loved that place, especially the walk-in sites. Several years we rode up there there Good Friday and stayed the weekend. The first time we did it we had the place to ourselves the night before Easter. Spookey but fun. And with the Black Bass Hotel open we would walk across the pedestrian bridge for drinks.

neilfein

Sure, PM me? You'd be welcome to ride along for a few hours or the day as we swing by Cherry Hill.