Month: December 2020

On Wednesday, Mother Nature dumped 16 inches of snow on Northeastern Pennsylvania. While the accumulation was significant, it was a bit less than originally forecasted.

Today, the first official day of winter, presented me with a window to go out and play. I grabbed the Karate Monkey and rode from home to the Delaware State Forest. The trail from my community to Five Mile Meadow Road was untouched and impossible to ride. I walked through and was surprised to see that Five Mile was groomed with snow machine tracks.

If you have ever pedaled on snow after a snow machine, you know what I’m talking about. The center of the tracks are similar to the rumble strips on the side of a roadway. This creates enough traction to ride in fairly deep snow. I made a right on Ben Bush Road, and connected over to Standing Stone Trail. Both are old logging roads, now mainly used by ATV’s and snow machines.

By Thursday, it should warm up enough and the thaw will remove most of the snow until the next winter weather event. Each storm brings us a different of snow. The powdery type is the easiest to push through, while the wet, sticky snow is another story. Both are worth layering up and getting outside.

What’s Playing (what am I listening to while writing or what’s dancing around in my head while riding), today – Harry Chapin – A Better Place To Be

Every once and a while, I take the 25 mile drive down to the Port Jervis Watershed Trails, to traverse a bit more rugged landscape. While the entire park is beautiful and challenging, the upper section, near Reservoir three, is quite possibly one of the most picturesque places to ride a bicycle in the tri-state area.

On Friday, I met Mike at the parking lot on Box Baum Road for a late afternoon sampling of the lush green trails that make you feel like you have been magically transported to somewhere in the northwestern part of the country. We had about 90 minutes before sunset, so we wanted to make the most of the time we had.

We pedaled out of the parking lot and right on to Walt’s Keep, an easy trail that sends you west for about a mile before intersecting with Starcrawf, then loops back to the lot. Next, we headed down Box Baum Road and hopped on Holography. This is one of my favorite trails in the Watershed. What it lacks in distance, it makes up for in beauty. The views of the lake and incredible pine needle surface makes me forget any stress I might have carried into the park. I felt weightless as we tranistioned to Lost Bear, Mahackamack, Tufted and Delaware.

Somewhere up on Mahackamack, we ran into TC from Action Bikes and Outdoor. He was test riding a new demo bike. Both shops offer demos that are suitable for the most rugged terrain.

If your in town or looking for a beautiful place to ride, checkout this section of the Port Jervis Watershed, you won’t be dissappointed.