The Bestest Pennsylvania Road of All

Our favorite roads and rides in the mid-Atlantic area - if you find a hidden gem please post!

The Bestest Pennsylvania Road of All

Postby RockBottom » Sat Jul 04, 2009 8:08 pm

Today I rode Route 144 from Snow Shoe to Renovo. Absolutely magnificent: the whole thing is state park, so it's mostly wooded with no houses or development. Lots of scenic pull offs. I passed other vehicles maybe every 5-10 miles, so it was like I owned the road. Supposedly there are several thousand elk around there. Route 120 from Renovo to Lock Haven wasn't half bad either.

This was the view when I stopped for a relief break:


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Re: The Bestest Pennsylvania Road of All

Postby gardner17756 » Mon Jul 06, 2009 8:42 am

After reviewing your post Sat night I nailed down my early morning ride route for Sunday. Saturday was spent hiking the falls at Ricketts Glen State Park. It was a beautiful day to spend time with the family and to enjoy the beauty of the glen.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricketts_Glen_State_Park

On Sunday morning we left the Muncy area and headed west on I180 to Lock Haven where I picked up Rt 150. Stopped at the marina of Bald Eagle State Park around 9:00 am. The morning was still quiet with no activity at the small marina.
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http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/ ... eagle.aspx

At Milesburg I turned north on Rt 144 and headed towards Snowshoe and found five miles of freshly paved and lined mecadem.
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Had I been riding solo .....

My mother's family settled the Moshannon area in the early to mid 1800's. One of my forefathers may have served in the Bucktail regiment during the Civil War. One of my biggest regrets in life was failing to write down the oral history that my grandfather recited to me when I was a child. He lived the life of a deep woodsman until he went off to fight the war to end all wars. Long before Rt 144 was constructed he would hike 17 miles of trails, following the ridgeline, to the Lewis Camp near the Eddy Like Trail.

A view looking east:
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Ironically the same view that RockBottom posted except one day later at approximately 11:30 am.
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In Renova we proceeded north on 144 to Galeton. South of Ole Bull State Park passed a red air head with a sporty looking side car riding south. Once again had I been riding solo I would have been tempted to turn around. lol. At Galeton we proceeded east on Rt 6. At this time of the day there was alot of traffic for rural PA. Fortunately the weather remained perfect. Took Rt 287 and rode towards the Tioga Hammond dam and stopped at a friends cabin for a brief visit before slabbing it down Rt 15. We were home by 4:30 after making a 292 mile loop.

144 is indeed a great road to ride; from Milesburg to Galeton there is a full mix of terrain and road surface conditions.
gardner17756
 

Re: The Bestest Pennsylvania Road of All

Postby RockBottom » Mon Jul 06, 2009 3:31 pm

You've inspired me to go back and explore more of that region. I'm going to use this as my base: http://www.ncentral.com/~towers/
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