Connecting New Jersey and Pennsylvania May 2006
KenR, May 2006:
Sharon and I rode on our tandem bicycle from New York to Pennsylvania by way of northern New Jersey. We think the route is rather good overall and hope to do it again. The sections thru Ulster and Orange counties in New York are wonderful for us, and New Jersey and Pennsylvania have some very good sections too.
Our main route this year would have been around 136 miles from the Mid-Hudson Bridge to downtown Bethlehem PA. The route we used was overall similar to last summer and the time before, but we tried several new things: some lower-traffic roads in New Jersey and in Pennslyvania. The route we took had the lowest total distance on high-traffic-volume roads we've ever attempted on this route.
Some of the lower-traffic roads had some long hills or steep hills -- so next time we're thinking we might go back to some higher-traffic roads. First candidate for eliminating low-traffic hills would be the first couple of miles just south of Sussex boro, NJ. Second candidate might be in Pennslvania southwest from Pen Argyl Rd. Third might be additional miles south from Sussex boro, NJ.
Below are some of the roads we took from Poughkeepsie NY to Bethlehem PA. Note that
In the sequence of roads below, the direction of each road is roughly Southwest or South, unless otherwise specified.
We rode it on the weekend -- of course some traffic patterns and volumes are usually different on mid-week days.
Maps -- the details of roads below likely have some mistakes, and won't be very useful without a detailed maps. We used the Hagstrom county road maps for Ulster and Orange counties New York and for Sussex and Warren counties in New Jersey.
New York
We took the official bicycle route from Poughkeepsie west across the Mid-Hudson Bridge. When the bicycle access route reached the traffic light at Route 9W, we followed these roads:
L on Rt 9W South
R on Chapel Hill Rd
L on Perkinsville Rd
bear R on Gabriety Rd to its end.
R on Mahoney Rd
bear L on Peach Rd (Mahoney turns R) to its end.
R on Milton Turnpike (Ulster county Rt 10) -- climb up and long down
L on Barclay Rd (turn comes in midst of downhill, after left turn for Rabbit Run Rd)
Then we joined this route:
Farms around New Paltz South -- at mile 6.7
and followed that into the village of . . .
Wallkill NY
The village of Wallkill NY is in the valley of the Wallkill River, which flows into the Hudson River at Kingston NY. There are several ways to connect to Wallkill from New Paltz and Kingston or Poughkeepsie -- see New Paltz - Wallkill Valley routes.
From Wallkill in Ulster county, we rode into Orange county . . .
208 South (alongside the Wallkill River) into Walden NY.
Straight across onto 52 West (and after a couple of blocks we stopped at a nice bakery on the right which said it's open every day). Then just after crossing the Wallkill River ...
L on S Montgomery St - becomes River Rd - Orange county 29 (beautiful) to its end.
L on 17K East into Montgomery NY, just after crossing Wallkill River,
bear Right onto Bridge St
L on Clinton St (food)
R on Union St (Rt 211 South)
L on Boyd St, which later became Goodwill Rd
R on Beaver Dam Rd, later cross Rt 99 onto Neelytown Rd to its end.
L on 207 a short ways East (high-speed high-traffic) (food) (near Campbell Hall train station)
R on Hamptonburgh Rd (up hill) to its end.
R on Sarah Wells Trail (beautiful, some hills) to its end.
L on Main St - 207 into Goshen NY (nice food stop)
distance: Wallkill to Goshen is about 20 miles, with around +950 - 1050 vertical feet of climbing.
Straight across main traffic light on West Main St,
bear Right onto entrance ramp for ...
Rt 6 / 17M (high speed traffic but wide shoulders) going West,
L on Maple Av (there's an earlier L turn onto Police Dr which is a little shorter and gets off the high-traffic road sooner, but that road one-way northeast-bound).
R to continue on Maple Ave -- becomes Orange county 37, gets beautiful, turns west
L on Onion Ave, curves west with steep climb up to big view east-ward
short ways on Rt 12, then second left onto
L on Pierce Circle (beautiful past the onion farms), leading to a mile of dirt-gravel on Lyman Ave, then back to pavement with horse farm. (? perhaps the gravel could be avoided by earlier more on Rt 12, then a different Left turn down to the horse farm ?). We rode over Breeze Hill south to end of road, then
R on Turtle Bay going West to its end. (Actually this time we first turned L and make a loop around the Turtle Bay road, which was also nice)
L on Rt 12
R (west) on Gardnerville Rd
L on Carter Rd
R on Wm Lain Rd, which leads to a very steep climb
(climb could have been avoided, with more traffic on Rt 12 and Rt 1, but it was definitely worth going at least to the base of this climb to see the beautiful farm which was once a rest stop on the popular Country Roads bicycle tour. We just got off and walked our tandem bike up the climb, then enjoyed the pretty descent and quiet roads beyond.)
Straight across Orange county Rt 1 onto Lower Rd, and continue straight across State Line Rd into New Jersey, down a steepish hill with a sharp curve -- to its end.
New Jersey
L on 284 South (some high-speed traffic, but decently wide traffic lane plus some shoulder)
R on Unionville into Sussex boro NJ
distance: Goshen NY to Sussex NJ is about 24 miles, with around 1350-1500 vertical feet of climbing.
R on Church St, down a rather steep hill.
L on Main St, where we re-fueled decadently at the Just Desserts shop. Then we found
Newton Av, took that south down hill, and then continued on it across high-traffic-volume Rt 23.
climbed a substantial hill on Newman Rd, and down to its end.
This didn't seem worth the work, so next time just after crossing Rt 23 we would instead turn east near the school, and go about a block east, then turn R onto Rt 639 South (Loomis Av?)
R on Newman Rd, which climbed substantial hill, and also had a significant volume of motor vehicle traffic, to its end.
This combination of labor and traffic didn't seem worth it, so next time we would instead go further south on Rt 639, and perhaps try turning right on Rt 628 West to climb to the same place. (or continue further south on Rt 565 to Rt 206)
R on Rt 628 West
The other major option here which might try next time would be to continue south on Rt 565 to Rt 206, then get on some quieter roads near Paulinskill Lake or the Paulinskill Rail Trail.
L on Rt 635 South, which later merges into
Rt 629 South, which later merges into
Rt 519 South, which goes into the village of Branchville, NJ.
continue south on Rt 519, across Rt 206
bear R onto Rt 627 South (while Rt 519 turns left)
bear R on Rt 626 West
L on Rt 521 South, which goes a long ways, passes by Swartswood Lake, through Stillwater, to its end in Blairstown (food)
from Blairstown, NJ
L on 94 North a short ways up hill. The labor of this climb is rewarded by pleasant riding and fine views out across the valley.
R on Cedar Lake Rd / Rt 616 southwest, then in the midst of steep hill,
R on Sand Hill Rd
cross (with left and quick right) onto Polkville Rd, at four-way intersection
straight onto Kill Rd (where main road curves left and starts climbing)
bear Right to join Station Rd, down under a high railroad viaduct to its and at Rt 94.
L on Rt 94 South up a hill.
R on Hainesburg River Rd. Starts with a steep-ish climb -- which is reward by fun riding on a pretty and quiet road -- we'll be glad to ride it again. It ends with a downhill into a stop sign just before hitting Interstate Route 80.
L on Rt 657 (several food options)
R to cross bridge going southwest over Interstate Route 80.
L to southeast into the village of Columbia.
find Green St and take southwest to its end, which leads . . .
across the Delaware River on pedestrian bridge into Portland PA.
Pennsylvania
This year we chose lots of local roads to try to spend very little time on high-traffic roads. The problem is that some of these quieter roads have some steeper and longer hills.
south from pedestrian bridge in Portland PA a little ways to traffic light
Right on State St for 0.4 mile
Right just before crossing creek onto Jacoby Creek Rd (by Hummel's Dam, before reaching Rt 611) and go about 0.5 mile
Left on (unsigned) Middle Village Rd on concrete bridge #37 across creek.
immediate Right onto Jacoby Creek Rd, which later passes by Railroad Ave, becomes Million Dollar Highway and crosses a one-lane bridge, for a total of 1.4 miles.
For many years previous we would have next turned left onto Heiden Rd, but we knew the bridge on Heiden Rd was closed, to this time we instead turned earlier . . .
Left on Sand Pit Rd.
Right on Ye Olde Highway to its end.
Right on Rt 512 West (with high-speed high-volume traffic, but with mostly reasonable lane+shoulder width.)
just before traffic light, we took quieter road parallel to Rt 512 on its right side.
at traffic light, we took a half-Left (not full left) -- on Five Points - Richmond Rd, south about 2 miles, with a long downhill.
Right onto (unsigned) Locke Heights Rd (opposite Sunset), curve Right to go North, then soon turn
Left onto (unsigned?) Richmond Av
bear Left onto Springfield Rd, which ends with a steep downhill into a T-intersection.
Left on Lower South Main St (Rt 712) (later becomes Martins Creek Highway), going South about 1.5 miles. Then after going under a railroad bridge ...
Right on Factoryville Rd half a mile
Right on Ackermanville Rd and
quick Left to continue west on Factoryville Rd about a mile to its end.
Right on (unsigned) Franklin Hill Rd, going north a quarter mile to its end
Left on Rt 191 South, starts with substantial climb, but this is reward by a long downhill with nice views. Rt 191 gets some high-speed traffic, but has a wide traffic lane, plus usually some sort of paved shoulder.
R on Pen Argyl Rd
In previous years we simply took Rt 191 south and west thru Belfast and Stockertown and Nazareth to finish in Bethlehem. But Rt 191 gets some high-speed traffic, sometimes high-volume, so this time we tried some quieter roads we know well. But these roads have some steep hills and some long hills.
It would not be smart to attempt to follow these roads without an accurate detailed map of Northampton county, PA.
quick L on Benders Church Rd (west) (later pass by Heimer Rd)
R on Rasleytown Rd (later pass by Books Hill Rd)
L on Getz Rd (long climb)
R on high-speed high-traffic Sullivan Trail, only a short ways until
L on State Park Rd to its end
L on Jacobsburg Rd, then soon
R on Jacobsburg Rd (or is it Henry Rd?) up a steep hill
R on Fehr Rd
R on Douglasville Rd (up hill)
L on Bowers Rd, curves right, becomes Aluta Mill Rd
straight cross Bushkill Center Rd (not good visibility), continue on Aluta Mill Rd to its end
R on Cherry Hill Rd, and soon
L on High St, and soon
R on Gower Rd to its end
L on Knauss Rd to its end
L on Rt 946, Daniels Rd (high-speed traffic), and soon
R on Penn Allen Rd (up hill, then down) to its end.
L on Rt 248 (high-speed traffic), and soon
R on Gun Club Rd, shortly before its end
R on some road (? Blossom Hill Rd ?) to its end
R on Newburgh Rd (high-speed traffic), and soon
L on Silver Crest Rd. At four-way intersection,
L on Township Line Rd, at least one steep hill-climb, and some crossings of high-speed or higher-traffic-volume roads.
bear Right onto Altonah Rd, climb
then when it reaches Johnston Dr we would turn L or R and take that to other streets that lead into the city of Bethlehem, PA.