I'm planning a self-contained trip from Massachusetts to Tennessee for Oct & Nov
I plan going through Shenandoah Nat'l Park and Taking the Blue Ridge Parkway through Virginia and N Carolina to Tennessee.
I'm not sure about the best route for the first half of the trip, however.
Does anybody have any tips or a good route suggestion through NY, Philly, Baltimore & DC?
(Through the city or not)
I'm thinking I want to be in DC in time for the Rally to Restore Sanity, Oct 30.

I'd go through Rhode Island if you can do it. From there, you can go into Massachusetts and take the ferry to Orient Point in Long Island. The only down side to that is riding through Queens or Brooklyn. If you're okay with city riding, you'll be fine.

The best way to get to DC from there is to cross New Jersey and ride to Philadelphia. The East Coast Greenway offers a (mostly) navigable route through New Jersey, but it adds significant mileage to your trip.

However you get there, once you get to Princeton (or even Kingston), you can take the Delaware and Raritan towpath to Trenton, and then cross the Calhoun Street Bridge (there's a walkway) into Pennsylvania, and head south to Philly from there. However, this requires riding through Northeastern New Jersey, which is horrible for biking. I don't know the route offhand, but if you can cross New Jersey heading almost due West, you'll get to Frenchtown and you can the the Delaware and Raritan Rail Trail (different from the towpath) and cross into Pennsylvania wherever you like (there are a few bikeable crossings). This adds probably around 15-20 miles to your route, but it's a nicer ride. (You also lose out by missing Princeton this way -- a very nice college town.)

Thanks for the suggestions.
Those are good things to look into.

Consider your options.

One is as neilfein suggested, heading into Philadelphia. From there follow the East Coast Greenway to DC.

Another is to head due south, to Cape May, cross on the ferry, head west across Delmarva to the Annapolis bridge, and get a shuttle over it. The Bike Washington website has detailed instructions on riding from Annapolis to DC - or to Greenbelt, where you can take the Metro into DC.

It's easy to head toward Skyline Drive from DC--just take the W&OD trail westward. It's a nice, paved, rail-trail. You'll need to first take the Custis Trail in Arlington, VA, for a few miles to connect to the W&OD. The two trails will take you 2/3 of the way to the north end of the national park.

I don't think it would make sense to bike thru Baltimore. Either go around the west (longer but hillier and prettier), or the flat (and boring, IMHO) Eastern Shore after the Cape May-Lewes ferry. I believe there no longer is an official shuttle across the Bay Bridge, i.e. you need to find somebody who will take you across the bridge, but I'm not 100% sure. If you decide to go west of Baltimore, you could go west from Philly thru Amish country east of Lancaster, PA, very pretty country.

For a route from Philly to DC, have a look at this journal: Turkey Tour, Touring out of Washington DC on Thanksgiving Weekend. (I also have a Boston - NYC tour journal up on Crazyguy.)

Once you get out of northern Delaware, the route I followed to DC makes little sense unless you have to be in Columbia. When you leave Bel Aire, I'd look west for navigable roads, then head south into DC. In particular, my route from Columbia, MD to DC was pretty bad. I don't think they know what a bike even is on the roads near Columbia.


This is, unfortunately, fairly typical of most roads in the Columbia, MD area

Northern Delaware is a climber's paradise! It's beautiful, which I did not expect. The drivers were all polite and passed at safe distances. I'd stay as far from the coast as possible, though.


West Rolling Mill Road in Wilmington, DE

I stayed away from Baltimore, circling around the city limits.

If you ferry to Long Island and don't want to ride throught Queens & Brooklyn, get a Metro North bike pass and take the train into the city. Ride over to the West Side and take the greenway to the Washington Bridge, or
take the PATH into Jersey and pick up your ride from there

coming through Springfield MA? Let me know

Take a look at Adventure Cycling's Atlantic Coast Route. I believe it still passes through Ayers and may have a Boston Spur. It skirts Philadephia (You can get into the city via a bike trail) and heads south through PA Amish Country. I also believe it has a spur into D.C.

If you decide to follow the AC Atlantic coast route, let me know. I could host you one night if you stop west of Philly.

Bit optimistic on the 2/3's, sorry. W&OD runs you only to Purcellville, then you need to get to Front Royal. 1/2 maybe, and even that's optimistic considering it drops you way NE of where you need to be.

I could really use a host in that area.
I haven't decided for certain whether I will go through the city or not yet, though.
Where are you west of Philly?

Thanks,
-Randy

FWIW, google maps claims it's 52.2 miles from DC to Purcellville, and 38.1 miles from Purcellville to Front Royal. Those are estimates for drivers on roads, not cyclists on trails. It's 9% less than 2/3 but well over 1/2, but I agree that I did indeed overestimate (a SWAG, actually) the percentage. Nevertheless, I would still recommend taking the W&OD all or most of the way toward Purcellville if I wanted to get to Front Royal from DC by bike. Even following google's 2 road routes DC->Purcellville->Front Royal, it's only 20 miles longer than the most direct road from DC->Front Royal, which is I-66. Obviously a cyclist leaving DC is going to have to take something longer and much less direct than I-66, so going via Purcellville wouldn't necessarily add that much mileage. It's certainly a pleasant trail most of the way. Having said that, I have no idea if there's a decent way to bike from Purcellville to Front Royal. If route 340 north of Front Royal is anything like route 340 south of Front Royal, I sure as hell wouldn't recommend that road for biking!

Back to Harutz: If you're approaching DC from the west or northwest, the Capital Crescent Trail is a very nice way to bike into the city. If you're coming from the north, DC has plenty of residential streets which are nice for cycling. And if you arrive on the weekend, Beach Drive in Rock Creek Park is largely closed to motor vehicles.

Thanks.
I was actually planning to ride to Purcellville out of D.C. originally.
I was excited to find out there was a trail running that way.
It shouldn't be too hard to find a backcountry road down to Skyline Drive from there. It's only 40 miles.

From the junction of the Custis to the end of the W&OD is 42 miles. Add 5 miles for the Custis and you're at 47. I bike commute 28 miles of it each way every day, so I know every root pop and pothole on the trail

Skyline Drive entrance is off of 522. Not really backroads. I'd probably cut toward Bluemont, and get to the RT 17/Rt 50 intersection and cut SE toward I66. Just before you get to I66 Rt 55 is on the right and that will run you right into Front Royal. SNP is about 1 mile from the intersection of 55 and 522.

Basically climb the Mt on Rt 7 from Purcellville and take Blue Ridge Mountain road south to 50, left turn there, go to the bottom of the hill and right on 17 to 55 then right on 55 into Front Royal. Most all of it has good shoulder except BR Mountain road which is two lane but heavily used by cyclists. Mt Weather for FEMA is off that road if you wonder what all the Govt fences and cameras are.

You're in my neck of the woods then

Cool.
Thanks for the route.
A clear way to get from D.C. to the parkway makes the southern half of my trip much easier.
From there on out it's just woods and mountains.

I don't remember it being too chilly in Carolina in November,
but it already hit freezing last night out in the western part of Massachusetts.
I hope camping won't be too bad down there.

If you do follow the AC route, there are two nice camogrounds in New Jersey. One at Worthington State Forest in the Delaware Water Gap. The other at Bull's Island Recreation Area just above Stockton. The latter has some really nice walk-in sites. Weekends are usually booked at Bull's Island (only open until the end of October) and I would suspect Worthington gets crowded, too. While you can make reservations, NJ state parks require a two-night stay if reserving for the weekend (Fri. & Sat.). If you show up on a Saturday and there is room you don't have to pay for two days.

Further up, the Jelly Stone campground outside of New Paltz was decent (although commerical) and empty in the fall. The state park just north of Hyde Park, NY was nice. A day off there gives you time to visit the Roosevelt home and the Vanderbilt mansion.

The Bulls Island campground is very good, I've been there a couple of times, including a 2-day tour from my house to there and back. Call ahead, but I'd be surprised if you needed a reservation in October. It's off the Delaware and Raritan rail-trail.

Weekends in October often see large groups of boyscouts. I have camped there a couple of times on Saturdays before the CBBC Covered Bridges Ride and it has been full. A ranger told me that on weekdays there are always sites available.

Heading across the pedestrian bridge for a drink at the Black Bass:

i did part of the atlantic coast route from nj past dc a few years back, getting into baltimore was pretty terrible, but once you get in it is a pretty nice city ant the route they have from baltimore to dc was really nice - mostly on the rock creek park bike path. I remember getting out of DC heading south being pretty bad too.

THe route they have through amish country and along the sequhana (sp?) river in pennsylvania was great riding.