Planning a 5/6 day trip and would like to travel US 6, the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania. Leaving from SE Ohio. Hate interstates, will travel 4 lanes, would rather take the road less traveled. Looking for a good route from say Marietta around Pittsburg to the east end of US 6 in PA. Then looking for a good route south from NE Ohio back to Marietta. Here there's some beauty scenery around Kinzua and Colton Point. Looking to travel 250 miles per day. I can't seem to get a good grip on the seat. Will have my best riding pal on behind. First posting, so not too familiar with the acronyms.

 

Can't help with the roads, but I have been thinking about going to the PA Grand Canyon area. Let us know how the trip goes.

 

We rode RT 6 last summer. It is a great ride. The Kinzua Bridge is pretty cool. How far east are you planning to go? You can jump on RT 62 N or E (in Franklin) which will take you up to RT 6. This is the route we took last summer. You miss the far western end of 6. I would definitly plan on spending some time in Wellsboro. And if possible eat a meal at the Wellsboro diner. The eastern end of Route 6 around Scranton can get little busy, but once you clear that the far eastern end is good.

 

Sorry about the previous post I didn't realize you were looking at doing the western end of 6. Based on that I would work my east to the town of lock haven from there I take RT 120 N to RT 872 n. On RT 120 make sure you stop at Hyner View State Park. Absolutely a fantastic view and depending on the day they may be hang gliding at the park.

 

I can help you, Jay. I live in Wellsboro, less than 10 miles from either rim of the canyon. Personally, I don't care much for Rt 6 east of Wellsboro. Well, over to Towanda is OK, but east of that, near Scranton, you start hitting the Poconos & New York City idiots. (Poconos is all NYC bedroom, and busy with idiot drivers.) There are so many great rides in western PA, you can easily spend 5 days. From where you are, I think I'd take 50 over to 79 north, and then take 68 east toward Cumberland MD. I've been on 68 in my car, but always thought it would be a great ride on my bike. 79 & 68 will be easy here. From 68, you can get to where you can go north into central & western PA & you'll have a blast. Hate to give you other directions if you really want to go to the east end of 6. If you do, I'll help you get there. If you want to stay in the western 1/2 of PA, I'll help you also, and can give you 4 or 5 full days. Let me know.

 

We're going up first week in October, hopefully the fall leaf turn will be starting. We used to vacation with the kids in the Wellsboro area but's it been a good 10 years since we've been back. Really looking forward to it.

The PA Grand Canyon is more of a valley but when you're a flatlander from NJ any hills are nice. Nice hiking trail down to the bottom on the Leonard Harrison side. Take a trip into the sleepy town of Wellsboro and as HDMaxima said, have breakfast at the Diner.

Hope you enjoy your trip.

 

An early October trip sounds like the ticket. Had a rider tell me to stay at the Colton Piont Motel. Will definately try the diner. Had thoughts of traveling to the eastern end but will take what you had to say about the crazys to heart. Maybe get on/off somewhere around Towanda and meander around from there.

 

Jay --- Colton Point Motel probably won't be the Hilton (from what I've seen of it) but it'll be a room, and I see some bikes there. It's about 10 or 12 miles from Wellsboro, on route 6 west. You should make a few phone calls & stay in Wellsboro. It's really nice. You'll love it. You can walk around town in the evenings (alot of people do), you can walk to the diner for breakfast, you can walk to a few restaurants for dinner, you can walk to The Froghut for ice cream (he does a great cheesesteak too!) ---- hey, you can practically walk for everything around here! Anyway, here are 3 places that are right in town. I see alot of bikes at any of these 3. Call for reservations soon. It's a busy little town on weekends, and will be especially busy when the leaves start changing. Canyon Motel (570)724-1681, Sherwood Motel (570)724-3424, Penn Wells Lodge (570)724- 3463.

You'll probably have to do a few interstates, but on these directions, there won't be alot of traffic on them --- in fact, hardly any, as compared to 70 & 79 in Washington PA, or something like that. Like I said, go to 68 east, exit at Cumberland onto 220 north (which is also now Interstate 99), follow 99/220 north all the way to Interstate 80. 80 east for 2 exits. Exit at Lock Haven (still 220 north), follow 220 north signs all the way up to Towanda where you can pick up 6 west. 220 north goes through Williamsport, but after that you'll exit the interstates, and it'll all be "the road less traveled", a real nice ride for the whole rest of your trip --- 'cept for when you get back into OH & head home. I can give you a bunch of nice side trips off of 6 also, with lots of stuff to see, and can give you a nice couple of days in western PA for your trip back to OH. Let me know.

 

Moving to Wyalusing at the end of September. I spent a couple of weeks riding along Hwy 6 and the smaller roads back in July, also took in Gettysburg for a gathering of some friends from the Heritage Springer Owners Association.

That's a nice piece of road!!!

 

Vegas to Wyalusing! That'll be a switch for you! In my opinion, Vegas to almost anywhere would be a pretty good move! I'm about 50 miles west of Wyalusing, on 6. See ya on down the road sometime.