I live south of Baltimrore and will be taking a club ride to Bill's Bike Barn in Bloomsburg, PA (near Wilkes-Barre). I need to be in Ashfield, MA (the Berkshires) on Tuesday evening. I'm taking a two day riding class that will have me touring western MA and southern Vermont.

Instead of heading south and then back north in a few days, I decided to make a mini vacation of it.

I was thinking of taking US 6 west to the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon, then north and east through southern New York.

What would you guys do with three days to kill in that general area? I'm open to just heading north further into New England.

I was thinking of Mount Washington, but saw how early severe weather gets there.

 

I live on 6 in Wellsboro, about 10 miles from the canyon. Do a Google search on these must-stop things to see up here while on a bike trip.
-- PA Grand Canyon
-- Kinzua Bridge State Park
-- Kinzua Dam
-- Letchworth State Park (In NY)
-- Hyner View State Park
-- Benezette PA. This area has largest population of free roaming elk east of CO. Since it's cooler during the day, the elk might be out of the woods now. I don't ever see many at the elk viewing areas. I usually see them up close right in the village, and at the visitors ctr.

Roads to ride just because they're great rides:
-- Route 44 north from Jersey Shore PA all the way up to route 6 in Coudersport.
-- Route 287 south, from Wellsboro down to 220. (Then 220 south 3 or 4 miles to 44.)
-- Route 120 west from Lock Haven PA to St. Marys. Then 219 north up to route 6. (At 6, go east 4 or 5 miles to Kinzua Bridge. Also, 120 goes right past Hyner View, about 25 miles west of Lock Haven.)
-- In NY, 414 from Corning to Watkins Glen. Then 14 from Watkins Glen, up the west side of Seneca Lake. If you stay on 414 at Watkins Glen, it's a great ride up the EAST side of Seneca Lake. On either route, you'll run into the NY Thruway to go to Albany & New England, or you can map it out to go to Watertown, and then Lake Placid, and then the ferry across Lake Champlain into VT.

Have fun. It'll be a fun 3 days. I can give you names of restaurants & good burgers also, along the PA routes if you want, and a good one in Watkins Glen too.

 

Geezr

I have a couple of brochures put out by a Route 6 travel group and it has several loops and the things to see on each route. Dining and lodging suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time.

 

Geezr
Since the OxYoke Inn closed are there any other hotels up around rt 6 that you recommend? I miss the Ox Yoke. Was nice jumping off spot for the area.

 

Emil, what are the route numbers on those loops? I know the area real well, and can probably recommend dining & lodging on those routes. How many days & nights are you staying? I might be able to recommend a decent motel to use as home base for day trips. I can recommend nice day trips too.

 

Go east on 6 from Ox Yoke, and just outside Galeton (just past The PermaStone bar/restaurant) there are cabins on the left. I've seen bikes there. Can't remember the name. (*** Hill Motel, I think.) A little further east, closer to the turn to go up to the Grand Canyon, is Colton Point Motel. There's Sherwood Motel & Canyon Motel both in Wellsboro, and there's a place in Coudersport called Mill Stream Inn that doesn't look too bad either. Hope it helps.

 

Where you at? I'm down in Annapolis..

 

Clarksville

 

I had to give this some thought. I will probably stay Saturday night in either Toward or Wellsboro. With deer season upon us, I want to be off the road before dark. Is lodging and dining better in one town than the other?

Tuesday, I will be heading east to Mass.

That gives me Sunday and Monday to roam around. Based on your list of items to see and do, and where I'll be overnighting, the PA Wilds West Loop and PA Wilds East loops seem to be the ticket.

BTW, is the PA Lumber Museum with seeing?

Your help is truly appreciated.

Best wishes
Emil

 

From Bill's Old Bike Barn, I recommend 80 west, 180 west to Williamsport, 15 north to Mansfield, and 6 west to Wellsboro. About a hundred miles. I recommend Googling room rates, and calling either Canyon Motel or Sherwood Motel, both in Wellsboro, and right on route 6. Wellsboro over Towanda because you'll be able to walk to restaurants, bars, ice cream, grocery store, etc. Nice to be able to do that after you park, and it starts getting dark. Wellsboro's a busy little town, especially on weekends, so it won't hurt to call a week ahead to reserve a room.

I don't know the Wilds Loops route numbers, but here are a couple of day trip rides that'll be fun:
1--- About 250 - 260 mile loop. Great ride.
-- From Wellsboro, 287 south 40 miles to route 220.
-- 220 south 10 miles to Lock Haven & route 120 west.
-- 120 west 20? miles to Hyner View. Cross the Susquehanna River, and look for the sign on the right to Hyner. It's about 5 miles up. Narrow road & some sharp turns, but paved & smooth. I've been up there dozens of times on my Ultra. Gotta go up just to see the view, and maybe a hang glider up there. Then back down to 120 west.
--- 120 west is a wonderful ride with almost no traffic. Maybe another 20? miles is a restaurant called The Willows. Good place for lunch. It's in Sinnemahoning.
--- 120 west to St. Mary's, and then 219 north up to 6.
--- 6 east about 5 miles, and look for the sign to turn left & go see Kinzua Bridge. It's pretty cool. A must-stop if you're anywhere near it.
---- Backtrack back to 6 east, and about 75? miles back to Wellsboro. Around 10 miles before Wellsboro, in Ansonia, look for the sign to Colton Point State Park, and turn right & go up. That's the west rim of the canyon.
--- Back to 6 the same way you went up. And 6 east 10 miles back to Wellsboro.
If that loop's a little too much, just head west on 6, and you can get to Colton Point, Lumber Museum, and Kinzua Bridge all near 6. In Smethport, don't take 6. Take 59 west. Keep following 59 to Kinzua Dam, and it also goes past the road to Kinzua Bridge. Then just turn around & ride 6 east back to Wellsboro. I haven't been to the lumber museum in at least 20 years. It's right on 6, so you can stop & decide for yourself if you wanna go in.
--- Day 2, Letchworth State Park in NY. Similar to the big grand canyon out west, but a smaller scale. It's pretty cool. Stop frequently to look at the views.
--- Get there via 15 north to Corning NY, then 17/86 west, and 390 toward Rochester.
--- Take the Mt. Morris exit, and look for the signs to Letchworth. This is the north entrance. Probably $6 or $8 to get in since it's a state park in the peoples republic of NY, but it's worth it. Probably 20 miles to get through Letchworth, but it'll take awhile because you'll have to stop & look alot.
--- There's a new railroad bridge being built near the south entrance, so I don't know if you can exit down there yet or not. There's another park exit about 3/4 of the way down, so just Google Map your way back to Wellsboro. The roads are all good for bikes, so doesn't matter which way you go to get back.
--- Tuesday, you don't need me to get you to MA!

Sounds like alot here, but it's actually pretty easy. Just write down route numbers, and you'll be good. No cell service on 120 of you go that way. No service problem on most of 6. Hope it helps.