Bikepacking the Pine Creek Rail Trail

In late October, my wife and I decided to bikepack the Pine Creek Rail Trail in northern Pennsylvania. While the trail had its quirks, we had a blast and will definitely be back.

Day 1

Neither of us are morning people. We originally planned to drop our car off at noon but arrived closer to four. Pine Creek Outfiitters’ was out rescuing a bike which had blown out its wheel sidewall and we had to wait a little bit until they returned. We finally hit the trail around 4:30 pm, leaving us two hours of light to ride 24 miles in the late fall. This also meant we missed some of the more scenic parts of Pine Creek canyon in the dark. As a boy scout, I learned that hiking in the dark was only an option in times of extreme necessity. But watching Adventure Archives, I saw how the guys used LEDs to light up my boy scout preconceptions. Rail trails are especially easy to navigate at night and we had little trouble on this trail too.

I highly recommend Pine Creek Outfitters’ shuttle your car service. Leave a key with them and for $130, they will drive your car to the start. They also rent bikes, boats, and have other services. Their store is fully stocked with camping supplies and camping food. The convenience of driving your car to the starting point (the Outfitters’ store is just 15 minutes away) and driving it away from the end point is hard to beat.

Camping

Unlike the Greenbrier Rail Trail, free permits are required for campsites along Pine Creek. Two state agencies issue two different permits over the phone and via email (they cannot issue one for the other). There are also several RV parks right off the trail which offer amenities such as showers. There are a few B&B’s along the trail or nearby.

Our first night at Hoffman campground has took a bit of effort to find in the dark because it was a small spur trail marked by a small sign. Fortunately, we were the only ones, having our pick of the 8-10 sites in a small field, surrounding an outhouse. There were poles to store food on, picnic tables at each site, and a canopy shelter with more picnic tables underneath (great bike storage when raining). The water pump was out of order. The noise of Pine Creek filled the night although occasionally permeated by sounds from nearby homes (the campground was adjacent to a small hamlet). However, that noise was quickly drowned out by torrential rain which had sprinkled on us intermittently as we pedaled in. Unfortunately, my old North Face tent began to leak as the waterproof lining along the seams did not do well in long-term storage. My attempts at applying new sealant were overrun by damp droplets falling onto our sleeping bags.

Day 2

Our second day was about 34 miles. Compared to the Greenbrier, there are more homes, hamlets and corner stores. We stopped at a gas station right next to the trail to bolster our sweat and soda supplies. While more people means more amenities, it also means more grade crossings. Unfortunately at every single grade crossing, an engineer decided to put up two staggered gates which by design, slows cyclists to slalom through before crossing every rural road or driveway. It is old thinking that cyclists need some kind of warning before a grade crossing, some use stop signs, others use gates, and a few use slaloms such as these. While no vehicle could access the trail without a gate key, slaloming with a load of gear and clipless shoes was not safe. Bikes with trailers would have to slow to a crawl. The Dutch have begun removing bollards on cycle paths because they found many more cyclists were injured by bollards than the occasional errant car. I strongly suggest removing gates at all crossings, perhaps replacing them with plastic bollards. Someone will eventually sue over an injury and I suspect that design does not align with current best practices at FHWA, NACTO or even AASHTO.

The highlight of our second day was lunch at the Waterville Tavern, located just off of the trail in Waterville. The bar and restaurant served a delicious meal to celebrate passing the halfway point. Waterville has an unusually large, new playground for a town of its size. We got to explore it a bit more than expected due to an unexpected trail closure. A guy flipped his kayak in Pine Creek and ended up on a small island. That required an entire squad of rescuers and a platoon of vehicles including an ambulance, fire truck, and several personal vehicles. There was no safe detour and much to my consternation, the crews decided that people on bikes could not even walk by. Fortunately, the only injury was a few bruised egos and eventually, we were allowed to follow the vehicles until they left the trail. Our last campsite was less than 2 miles away.

Our last campsite at Bonnell Flats was a disappointment. Located a few minutes walk away from the water pump and outhouse, the five sites were in a small field but with plenty of tree cover. They each had picnic tables. Unfortunately, they are located on a creek bend and a state highway partially surrounds the bend on the other side of the creek. There was also a hill so we listened to trucks accelerate loudly up the hill all night. Despite the tree cover, the sites felt open and exposed. Little wonder the boy scout camp sold the property to the state (none of the buildings remain). Perhaps moving the sites back towards the trail would reduce noise. Unfortunately, there were few other options close the southern terminus.

Day 3

Our last day was a short bike ride to Jersey Shore, the trail terminus, which is nothing like the infamous television show, not being in New Jersey or along the ocean. Our car was waiting in the parking lot. I rode the last 2 miles to current trail end in town and circled back to the car. We enjoyed a hearty breakfast in the Shore Line Diner.

I preferred Greenbrier’s trailside campsites to Pine Creek’s trailside campgrounds because while many of the former were remote and quiet, many of the latter were close to roads, hamlets, or even had drive-up access. Tiadaghton was the first campground we passed. It was pretty and remote which also meant it was popular, but we will probably stay there next time anyways. Another campground, Tombs Flats, was car-oriented and had little tree cover, just a field with a paved driveway in each site. It also lacked water. Another campground in Black Walnut Bottom had plenty of shade but was close to the road, swampy and very buggy.

Overall, I recommend the Pine Creek Rail Trail for its beauty and amenities. I prefer the quiet, remote trailside sites along the Greenbrier. Pine Creek’s larger campgrounds were not busy enough for permits anyways (except Tiadaghton). The car shuttle was icing on the cake and I wish more outfitters offered one.