East Coast Bike Tours
Thursday, April 21st, 2011There is new offering for East Coast Bike Tours from our friends at Adventure Cycling to cycle from Philadelphia to Washington DC. The mid atlantic and Chesapeake Bay Area offers some great cycling.
Philadelphia, Bike Philly ride through the Wissahickon Valley, 20 miles. Philadelphia is much more than a place where history took place. It’s a city of colorful neighborhoods, incredible architecture, and a rapidly expanding bicycle network. What better way to begin a week of bicycling than taking part in the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia’s BikePhilly festival? Later in the day, you’ll have a chance to hear a talk by a Philadelphia historian and ride to Chestnut Hill along Forbidden Drive in Philadelphia’s famous Wissahickon Valley.
West Fairmount Park to French Creek State Park, 55 miles. We’ll follow the Schuylkill River Trail through the hip Manayunk Main Street, home of “The Wall,” and an integral part of the U.S. Pro Cycling Race that takes place in Philadelphia. Next we’ll loop through Valley Forge National Park, and continue west on the trail to Phoenixville, from there venturing into rural Pennsylvania. We’ll pass by vibrant sustainable-farming communities, a quarry village with a good bakery, and an iron plantation called Hopewell Furnace, as we spin toward our campsite at French Creek State Park.
French Creek State Park to Pequea, on the Susquehanna River, 50 miles. Can families really live in the country and get around by bike and scooter? Yes, as you will see. Lancaster County, known for it’s fertile and scenic farmland, is home to many small-scale farms that provide high quality heirloom produce to Philadelphia, New York, and much of the Mid-Atlantic region. At this time of year, the fields and farm-stands will be bountiful; we’ll see men and women harvesting crops by hand or with the help of horse teams. We’ll ride through towns like Intercourse and Strasburg, home of the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum. You’ll appreciate the care that was taken in planning this route, which was designed to pass through several covered bridges while bypassing urban sprawl and development.
Pequea to Codorus State Park, 50 miles. Where might the nation’s capital be if it were not Washington, DC? History tells us that it could have been in Columbia, Pennsylvania, on the Susquehanna River. On today’s ride, our route crosses the Susquehanna at the Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge — the world’s longest concrete, multiple-arch bridge. We’ll then head west toward York, an important city in U.S. history known for its well-preserved architecture. On the western edge of town, we’ll access the Heritage Rail-Trail, which will take us through more beautiful countryside to Codorus State Park.
Codorus State Park to Cotoctin Mountain Park, 50 miles. With so much to see and do today, we’ll need to get an early start. Highlights include Gettysburg National Military Park and President Eisenhower’s farm, and we’ll skirt Presidential Camp David and the towering hardwood forests of Catoctin Mountain. Starting out, we’ll ride through the town of Hanover, before arriving in Gettysburg, where we’ll spend a few hours exploring Civil War history and the July 1863 Battle of Gettysburg. The rest of the day we’ll enjoy quiet farm roads and wooded mountains, before arriving at Sugar Notch Cabins, built in 1936 by the Civilian Conservation Corps and now listed on the National Historic Register.
Cotoctin Mountain Park to Brunswick, MD, via Harpers Ferry, WV, 50 miles. Today is marked by long downhills on roads with names like “Pleasant Walk.” The route crosses the Appalachian Trail and then passes storied Antietam National Battlefield, where you’ll learn how geography, a lost letter, and ill-timed attacks led to a staggering 23,000 deaths in one day. From there, we’ll bike through Sharpsburg to the car-free C&O Canal Towpath, and on to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. The National Park Service’s mapping headquarters are located here, and the head of cartography will speak to us about how these beautiful maps are made. (Don’t forget to ask: “Do you travel to all of the national parks that you map?”)
Brunswick, MD to Union Station, Washington, DC, 60 miles. Is there a better way to enter the District of Columbia than by the C&O Canal Towpath? If there is, our intrepid researchers haven’t found it. Free from car traffic and boasting a bounty of natural beauty, the trail follows the north side of the rocky Potomac River into DC. Once in the city, we’ll pass Georgetown and see rowers on the river on our way to the Lincoln Memorial. (In many respects, we will have traveled in Lincoln’s footsteps over the course of the week.) We will then bike past the Washington Monument and the National Mall, winding up at Union Station’s fabulous Bikestation. From there, our bikes will be transported to Amtrak’s 30th Street Station in Philadelphia — and so will we, capping a great bicycle tour with a relaxing train ride. If you flew into Philly, you’ll be glad to know there’s a bike shop two blocks away from the 30th Street Station that can box your bike and ship it home. There’s also train service directly to the airport from the station, or you can bike back to where you’ve parked your car for the week — or you can ride home, for that matter!