Pennsylvania North to South | A Gravel Bike Adventure
Distance: 333 mi
Elevation: 27,369 ft.
4 Days - 3 Nights
Description:
Get ready for the ultimate gravel bikepacking adventure as we embark on a thrilling 333-mile fully self-supported journey that will push our limits and take us through some of the most breathtaking landscapes of Pennsylvania! Join us on this unforgettable 4-day, 3-night expedition where we'll explore the rugged terrain, test the best whoopie pies, conquer challenging gravel roads, and make memories that will last a lifetime. Inspired by The Impossible Route and @TheVCAdventures
Shot all with @DJI Mini 3 Pro and @GoPro Hero 9.
🚴♂️🗺️ Day 1: Lindley, NY - Mountain Top Provisions
Distance: 91mi
Elevation: 5,692 ft.
🌄🌿 Day 2: Mountain Top Provisions - Poe Paddy State Park
Distance: 73 mi
Elevation: 6,509 ft.
🌅🏞️ Day 3: Poe Paddy State Park - Bearcats Bungalow
Distance: 69 mi
Elevation: 6,348 ft.
🏁🎉 Day 4: Bearcat's Bungalow - Hancock, MD
Distance: 99 mi
Elevation: 8,825 ft.
Join us on this epic gravel bikepacking adventure, where the spirit of exploration meets the joy of cycling. Whether you're a seasoned rider or new to the world of gravel biking, this adventure is open to all who seek to push their limits and revel in the beauty of the great outdoors. So, hit that subscribe button, grab your trusty pair of pants, and let's embark on the ride of a lifetime together!
🚵♀️🏕️ Don't forget to have a good one!
#GravelBiking #AdventureCycling #333MileRide #PantsRiding #EpicBikeAdventure
#ExploreTheOutdoors #CyclingCommunity #rideofalifetime #padirtbags #cycling #gravelbike #pennsylvania #bikepacking #documentary #shortfilm
00:00 START
01:06 The Route
02:52 PANTS
05:29 Day 1
08:58 Pennsylvania Grand Canyon
12:30 Day 2
20:07 Poe Paddy
23:30 Day 3
31:07 Alan Seeger Natural Area
34:20 Day 4
45:06 END
GPX: https://padirtbags.com/
RWGPS: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/44169247
https://www.instagram.com/pennsylvania.dirtbags/
https://padirtbags.com/
Big Shoutouts:
Mountain Top Provisions
https://mountaintopandprovisions.com/
Flow Formulas
https://flowformulas.com/
Strava
https://www.strava.com/
Hush Money Bikes
https://www.hushmoneybikes.com/
Handup Gloves
https://www.handupgloves.com/
Canyon - Grizl
https://www.canyon.com/en-us/gravel-bikes/adventure/grizl/#section-product-grid
[Music] [Applause] until the 1700s Pennsylvania
forests were untouched but change came ashore wielding an ax [Music] all right [Music] by the beginning of the 20th
century Pennsylvania's forests were an ecological Disaster by uncontrolled
logging practices The Bleak Landscapes that often towns themselves were burned
repeatedly by raging fires [Music] 2K climbing yeah luck the route this isn't your typical bike
trip through Pennsylvania this is a four day three night Bike packing trip from n
orth
to south traveling 333 miles and climbing 27 369 feet that's almost the height of Mount
Everest that's if Mount Everest had gravel roads to the top of the summit so on day
one we packed up the bikes we crammed in the gear and we drove North to the town
of Lindley in New York where we started our journey day one 91 miles 5 692 feet going
through the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon day two 73.7 miles 6509 feet of climbing and on day
three 67 miles 6 348 feet our last day was the biggest 99 mi
les 8 825 feet of climbing
going through the abandoned Turnpike tunnels and ending in Hancock Maryland to complete the
pants route of 333 miles and over 27 000 feet foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] the pants are out wow what an adventure the route was designed a few years ago by
Darren Allman we took that route and changed a few things plugged it into our computers
from Strava and took off we had no idea how to bike pack we've none of us ever gone
bike packing I read online that y
ou should try one overnight a short one to see what types
of things you need but we disregarded that just Center a ratchet strap nothing that can't
hold a couple dry bags and uh figured it out pass by uh c c c camp where there was hundreds
of people that the government put to work and they built all these amazing structures
and some of the roads that we rode on uh the one fireplace was still there I think Andy
pooped in the uh porta potty next door Penns Woods was invented from William Penn
he tried to
prevent the colonists from ruining the land he made a rule that no one abide by that said for
every five acres that is cleared one acre must remain no one followed the rules through the
1800s the lands were ravaged pretty much all the trees that we went by were all cut down for
the lumber of Pennsylvania in the early 1900s a lot of the state parks and government agencies
that we know now Mr Rothrock who was the first president of one of the things the route
was just so sick it
was just 85 gravel so many historical things that we passed we didn't
have to push ourselves we didn't have any times to be we just had to get to the next Point without
dying refueling stopping everywhere we could we realized that you need a lot of food and a lot
of water because the bikes were had to be 100 pounds had to be 100 pounds and the elevation
just destroys you there's no way around it you need to eat a ton of carbs and we calculated
probably 8 000 calories a day we were burning
Pennsylvania getting here didn't even get
on the out of the driveway got the pants ride coming up we're doing uh
322 miles from Lindley to Hancock Maryland but I've been telling everybody it's 400. uh we've
got about 28 000 feet of elevation population 25.5 famous pastor of this church well known throughout
the area Dandy Mart two miles away what else could you need what do you think about all this popsky
I don't know we gotta strap all this stuff down I think that's enough strapping to str
ap a car strap
your cart or top side of a trailer drive 100 miles and then check the strap it'll never come off look
at that cinching that strap down get it started in the pants ride Thursday July 20th 11 o'clock we
got Alex Let's Roll we don't have an in-game for him yet we got and he's already eaten ready to
go bike weighs about 150 pounds let's go [Music] Andy already had his first tire change discovering
a puncture getting the bike off the rack we change into our bike kick packed up the
bikes said some
nice things and ventured off to Pennsylvania [Music] and just like that we hit the road found ourselves
our first patch of gravel north of Wellsboro we started climbing up and down like a cork in
the ocean after the first real climb we were sucking air and still bitching about how heavy
the bikes were to our Discovery descending on an absurdly heavy bike was just difficult we
had one thing on our mind Dandy Mart [Music] yeah two slices of pizza uh one of each after a quick
pit stop at the world famous Dandy
Mart every flavor of Mountain Dew chicken bacon ranch pizza Hoagies you name it they got it
who left that place smiling with five Cokes and we found ourselves riding the Pine Creek
Gorge Rail Trail we were in search of the west rim trail which would take us to the top and
look down at Pennsylvania Grand Canyon [Music] thank you we waved goodbye to the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon
we met some tourists one gentleman told us I ain't riding no bike until they put
a tractor seat on
them not sure what that means but one with it how's that compare to the Grand Canyon
this is way better no reason to leave the state of Pennsylvania in my opinion was
it Grand the Grand desk [Music] [Applause] foreign Trail saw the Pennsylvania Grand
Canyon flying on the gravel Alex with a little low tire pressure Andy on the L
mariachi covering us with the jams flying finally reach the end of the west rim trail and Alex had
inflated his rear tire about 11 times since th
e beginning of the day The Descent off the west rim
trail was 1400 foot Delight of blue collar gravel and washboard turns about a dozen stops to tighten
up our luggage and pick up dropped GoPros [Music] oh [Music] I got a flat with my dad like a couple months ago and I was like oh I got to get home and like
put sealing in I don't think I ever did well this is a good time to do it oh yeah lather
up bud just gonna put a bunch of that in there so you know what might help go the cheater out yeah
ceiling is recommended you know after Alex added the most important component to our rear tire the sealant we hit the
rail trail again in hopes of baking to cut off time of 8 P.M to catch the last
meal at Mountaintop provisions [Music] oh dude that last climb [Music] foreign today we're starting from Donny's meat cabin
doing 70 miles 7 000 feet of climbing we're gonna have breakfast and then we're
gonna stop at a convenience store and then we're in the wilderness for what 50
miles until we
get to popati State Park we'll do a little creek hop in and then
maybe drink some whiskey go to bed [Music] oh yeah I think so yeah foreign bringing the tower outside oh yeah we awakened to a glorious morning of fog
and peeping sunlight our bodies were repaired with ipas hot showers and queen-size beds snack on
butterscotch print bits and set out to tackle day two starting on the crisp gravel roads leading
out a tiny belt or was it Amy Bell no one knows let's go day two baby heading to brea
kfast
getting an omelette some scrambled eggs [Music] [Music] thank you after descending
from Mountaintop Provisions We unexpectedly pass through Woolwich
PA home of the famous Woolrich jacket formerly known as the Pennsylvania
tuxedo there's the post office [Music] thank you you can sit in either room they're
both open okay all right thank you yeah American sliced cheese
oh my God hash browns yeah you get drones and everything yeah so you guys are how many how many pounds are you
peddlin
g gotta be a hundred so they're out there if you want to pick it up and head out between the
water the bikes and the stop yeah it's to be here two more years they do it three years in the same
spot okay didn't know that I learned a lot yeah you end up at Beaver Stadium okay
oh that's really cool it was very nice the guy finished in five at four hours
and something the girl did it in five hours so I think sell from breakfast we went
over to McDonald's and ordered three double cheeseburgers a
nd three McChickens
we then embarked on our largest climb of the week a 1400 Foot Road climb through
Pine Logan and bald eagle State Forest at the summit we expected to bomb down a
paved road but to our surprise we were soon on a blistering descent than white collar gravel
covered in a canopy of oak trees with fresh manure Plastering our nostrils the gravel continued
to fill our hearts with Love by quickly turning into a deep forest single track and eventually
leading us to a downed tree C
rossing [Music] foreign [Music] single Track Trail the chunky gravel making
our way to a convenience store it's a mountain thousands of feet of climbing oh yeah
smooth gravel now real smooth Sandra bot thank you as planned we arrived at a
lonesome Valero gas station the banner outside advertised it as the All-American
gasoline for the Great American highway so we knew we were in good hands with the old
red white and blue on our side foreign [Music] exhausting search for beer with Noah we
r
e-entered the great Pennsylvania Forest ready to tackle one big climb the beautiful
Vista at the top this turned out to be three brutal 700 foot climbs and no Vista at the
top regardless we got to the top to send it into the beautiful RV winter State Park and
enjoyed a double cheeseburger from Alex's pocket mile 45 00 feet of elevation it's hot
sweating we every mix of gravel asphalt gravel shale chunky gravel grassy
single track they're climbing Sand Beach Road headed to the Overlook and b
ombing back
into Woodward it's hot foreign [Music] we reconnected with the unpaved group and
started our classification of gravel roads we were traveling on gravel roads that
you expect the board himself to create a beautiful brownish fine packed clay
Rock gravel that brought cheer to all of us it was coined God's gravel and nothing
could be ranked above it thank you [Music] we took on the last climb of the day out of
Woodward one we remember fondly from unhaved once we got to the top we h
eaded down the best
descent in all of the state Cherry Run Road that dropped us into the rail trail that would lead us
through a PO Patty tunnel and into our campsite oh pants day two started at Donny's meat cabin
a little chilly 62 degrees some Primo gravel the sanded picked
up breakfast at the Restless Oaks talk to some good local people and uh we got
pancakes to go Andy licked his plate clean and uh biggest climb of the day of the trip 1400
feet up the Old Pine Logan Road and uh turned
into some Primo gravel mixed terrain chunky gravel
even got uh some single track and bombed down dude best Valero American made American Born
American serve Valero gas station Janice was a doll Alex gossen Pennsylvania Birch
Beer we carried on Spirits were super high and uh we just rolled rolled into bald eagle three
climbs back to back 700 feet legs are Juiced Arby winner double cheeseburgers on the bench kept
going screaming downhill the spirits were high we hit Woodward Gap climb and he
says if it says
Gap it's never good chewed up bomb down into Cherry Run here we are pants day two what do we
do 160 miles so far 12 000 feet that's why [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign all right so here's my theory on
PO Patty so back in probably 1800s pretty small community around here
new Irish immigrant named Patrick obviously you know coming from Ireland
named Patrick everyone calls him Patty now unfortunately Patty he had a string or
bad luck he had a pretty hard life died y
oung and all the whirlpools whenever he had like a
new string of bad luck they always had a poor Patty you know we'd feel bad for him oh the accent
around here is pretty thick so rather than calling him a poor Patty I call him Poe Patty so after
he died they wanted to do something nice for the family there's a little campsite opening it up
here and they decided to name it after and go Patty camping National Park that's how that's
how the story lives yeah good enough for me we started a fire
with McDonald's rapper two
things learned on the parents ride bring a blanket and use McDonald's wrappers and star effects Fire
Starter but for the most part Pennsylvania was tree covered all 29 million acres in southern
Pennsylvania [Music] um was primarily Oak and a band across the northern part of
Pennsylvania what we call the Northern Tier counties today it was primarily a beach Birch and
maple picture everything you see is stumps like just picture Stomps that's everywhere as far as
y
ou can see like picture looking in that Canyon that you rode through stumps just stumps this
High you know and so like you'll you're probably not going to get Greenwood furnace I'm trying
to think if you'll hit any other furnaces but um they were burning wood like crazy to you
know uh smell to do all sorts of stuff and make furniture build houses I mean wow screws
would just come through and clear-cut get it down get it to whatever River so you know
you're going to pass through Poe Valley a
s well yes so when you go to the Holman's so
homans will be on your left is that a road no no the gas station oh yeah world famous
world with the infamous sandwiches uh with the with the Penns Valley renowned sandwiches
so uh across the street when you're there is a place that used to be called the Utah house
and it was a hotel and restaurant 1800s so it's been around forever Edgar Allan Poe's family
would come up here to hang out Edgar Allan Poe did a bunch of stuff in this area so the fam
ily
you know did a bunch of stuff it's named after the poe family of Edgar Allan Poe I don't know
where the Patty came from I get po valley but it's Buddy Patty from Ireland actually
Edgar Allan Poe's dad name was Patty and uh yeah because we would have talked about
that for a lifetime or take one yeah I thought so nobody has to look
at my hairy ass chest [Applause] so this is they don't teach us an engineering
school but we got a rack pretty small put this bad boy on here and then you
gr
ab your strap that's almost too short put that in there get her in there
slider in get her lined up on top second layer second layer it's like an
upside down pineapple cake [Applause] put that on there oh yeah squish it pretty good [Applause] [Laughter] they're perfect size you might say struggling my week from 120 miles of ride all right then you got a little nub
there that's how you know you're good what was the advantage of this non-arrow
non-arrow positioning it's more about weight distr
ibution ah yesterday we got a little
lobster trigonometries I don't have to hear any Leaning Tower piece of comments today so
I'm going to make sure it's perfectly centered what we got here this is a bike packing this is
a husky 500 pound load limit ratchet strap from Home Depot [Applause] do is very carefully
cinch this on here it says one side down [Applause] get it get it in there all right all right pants day
three we're starting out at the famous po Patty State Park um doing a big big
climb to start out
they were rolling through Rothrock and then we've got a famous Sandwich Spot the most famous in
all of Penn Valley we heard from our neighbor then we roll down do some descending do a little
bit more climbing go to uh I think we have one big massive climb before we end up with Bearcat
and then bearcat's got some dippas waiting for us apparently and that'll end out the day our morning
began with the Redemption on the dehydrated meals from the night before after discovering
the
lasagna soup had not been properly prepared by Chef Jake Jake had added too much water and
didn't properly seal the meal packaging so we dialed in directions for the breakfast Skillets
and packed our bellies full of 700 delicious and solid calories our campsite neighbor joined us
for our farewell breakfast and we got to chatting this is where Alex's po Patty
theory was devastatingly debunked our neighbor also told us our first bits of
Pennsylvania's bloody history of deforestation acc
ording to our neighbor all the trees we would
ride through today were one stumps except for the Allen Seeger area in Rothrock due to logging
disputes that area was left preserved and the deforesting efforts were abandoned once breakfast
was finished we set out for another glorious gravel track through Pennsylvania's forests it was
a pleasant ride out of bald eagle State Forest and across 322 into Rothrock State Forest but first
we had to restock supplies at the famous homan's General Store
homans is for everyone selling all
of the gravel Travelers essential kit including Coca-Cola macaroni salad beanie babies and quick
start guides to picking wild mushrooms [Music] we began passing a significant
amount of mountain bikers and later learned the Wilderness 101 was
taking place the Wilderness 101 is an ultra endurance 101 mile mountain bike
race held annually in Late July foreign Roosevelt hard work Pride Spirit education
Recreation Sports camaraderie and Heritage the CCC Civili
an Conservation corpse we rolled
into Penn Roosevelt State Park where Andy had to take care of nature while Alex and Jake
learned about the Civilian Conservation Corps the chimney from one of the camps still
stands next to the modern day porta potties as we rode the Primo gravel roads and reap the
benefits of the work put forth many years ago here we are now in Seeger this is the old growth forest
so what we think we think I think yes definitely what we were told is that back in
the day th
ere was some regulation litigation and nobody ever had a
chance to cut this bad boy down so these trees are older than the 1800s which
is when they did all the logging up here this is a beaut [Music] let's go pie review Homer's whoopie pie vanilla can
you see that Handmade by Christina herself man it's been sitting in there for 10 miles what
flavor did you get we got vanilla whoopie pie we're gonna give it a test wow
yeah Philly one bite one result oh my God soft cake the ice cream is like
a baby's
poop of buttery smoothness to lose my cane with it nine out of ten nine out of ten we're
gonna have to send that into homies [Music] [Music] thank you in Huntington we stopped the sheets
to stash next morning's breakfast sandwiches a nature break and sugary drinks we soft
pedaled through the streets of Huntington and disappeared back to gravel in search of
the steepest climb of the trip Corbin's Road climb maxing out at nearly a 20 grade we knew
at the top of the mountain we would
reach the day's Final Destination Bearcats Bungalow as
expected Bearcat was at his Bungalow overly prepared and greeted us with warm Bush light
hand-ups as we reached the Bungalows driveway give us a thumbs up homie got it got it [Music] that's day four we're doing Bearcats
to Pennsylvania Turnpike tunnels and then what Hancock Maryland I don't even know
what's in between we got 100 miles the tower has been dismantled so we're gonna be light we're
gonna be fast it's gonna be a good day [Mu
sic] we awoke to a Brisk morning air with a
touch of fog after engulfing yesterday's sheets breakfast sandwiches we
embarked on the 100 mile day a beautiful sunrise melted her Hearts we talked
with the cows and wished them a dupe fine gravel roads led us along the south side of Raystown Lake
and eventually to our new security guard front down to Breezewood through the Turnpike tunnel
and then down to Hancock Maryland we got a car waiting for us and we're gonna drive back then
you ride back
well now we're done in Maryland we're getting to ride in the car back
to Philly back to Philly Philadelphia what is this place this is uh this is a resort
it's a resort yes wow you go out there you'll see a green on your right go past that you'll see the
pine cabin got 250 cabin sites we've got like a motel down here and uh Villas we got a 250 camping
sites my maple cabins Pine cabins oh my God is this Lakefront somewhere Lakefront is this on
the lake yeah it is well once you won't be able
to see it yeah like down here the uh Villas and
stuff they're on the left right next to the lake campgrounds are next to the lake to come back for vacations yeah
yeah come on back all right man later all right have a good day
hey careful all right [Music] oh [Music] we vanished back to the countryside
zigzagging through the Bedford County with little to no traffic as it appeared
everyone had been parked at church for them it was a day of worship but for us
it was finding the perfect whoop
ie pie there we are all right Whoopi prior review the
old sheet gobs how's that texture looking name's already wrong it's a whoopie pie not a Gob
but you know survived in a bag for a few hours one bite says it all [Music] um Josh as hell crunchy sugary cream nowhere hmm four out of ten ouch
it's a Gob what can you ask for when we made it to our first stop of the
day Linda's General Store it was a unique building yellow painted cinder block
construction figures of men from the Civil War and
plywood blocked Windows to
match the yellow cinder blocks nonetheless the front door said open and we would
discover Coca-Cola and white gobs [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] with only 30 miles left in our adventure and
a few more thousand feet of climbing left we entered the abandoned Turnpike tunnel it was
a peaceful place filled with the local artist work and surprisingly the road through
the tunnel was in good shape we tested The Echoes of our voices and huddled around
Andy's
Bar Light to make our way to the end in case you don't need it [Music] this is the last creeper
than I expected good job good job what wow a treat [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] thank you day four suffering supper class
day four I almost just fell over on the side of the road because I wasn't paying
attention I'm still washed out by the ground but natural gas up here how you feeling be all right
got some gels a big bag of Chex Mix at the lookout blue pills had
three soap
s today I think [Music] thank you [Music] we bumbled our way through the final
miles of the journey a sign Maryland six miles and deer Parts disposal only sign gave us
hope we finally came to what seemed like the Pennsylvania Maryland border but there
was no sign fortunately just up the road a few hundred feet we would find the smallest
welcome to Maryland Sign anyone could create foreign for day four in the books pants ride is over we uh
where do we start I forget already we started in uh
Bearcat oh yeah we started at Bearcats and
then did a long downhill for their butts off and then rode through the abandoned Turnpike
tunnels it was super dark there were two of them uh took a lot of pictures in their first one
and then didn't even realize there was another one got through that then we went up
this brutal climb up a highway saw a beautiful Scenic Overlook and then
came downhill into Hancock saw the smallest welcome to Maryland Sign you could ever see
we got here all right w
e got the uh white gob eggs flour oil everything you would expect
it's expensive oh good texture feels good consistency heavy one bite Linda's got good people working nine out of ten oh
yeah pants ride that's a wrap 330 miles how many how many feet of elevation twenty seven thousand
seven twenty seven thousand sixty nine feet dude four days Pennsylvania's Wicked brutal 85 gravel
we're doing this again in 20 52 later [Music] [Music] cold I don't know we gotta strap all this stuff down I think
that's enough strapping to
strap a car how many dudes did you sleep oh dude that last one
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