The Pine Creek Rail Trail

We slept late this morning enjoying the bed’s cozy warmth against the chilled morning air. After arising and eating a hearty breakfast, we packed up the toad and left for a bike ride.  Our route to the trail took us through the park along Little Pine Lake and its swimming beaches, boat docks, bath houses, playground, and then by the shooting and archery ranges. We also passed over the swinging bridge that we detoured around yesterday in the RV. A work crew was re-asphalting part of the road so we were briefly stopped in front of the bridge by a blonde crew woman. Lulu said that we could not return via this route until after 3 pm to allow the asphalt to cool. While waiting to proceed, we told Lulu about our detour around the bridge. She dryly replied, “A lot of ‘em go over it, you can tell by the pile of air-conditioners over there.” With Lulu’s permission, we again proceeded and arrived at Blackwell Access for the Pine Creek Rail Trial in about 45 minutes. 

After unloading the bikes and getting ready, we had to ask another couple in the parking area where how to gain access to the bike trail which was about a hundred yards down the main highway. The wide rail trail paralleled Pine Creek winding through northern hardwood forest. The outbound leg was gently uphill (upstream) and the inbound leg downhill (downstream).  After 8.5 miles, we stopped for lunch at Tiadaghton where there was a grassy picnic area along Pine Creek. At one time, Tiadaghton had been a booming logging town but was abandoned when the area’s timber resources were exhausted.  After lunch, we continued another 4 miles through Pennsylvania’s “Grand Canyon” to where the Turkey Path crosses the trail. On a past RV trip, we had stayed at a private campground from which I had hiked to Harrison State Park and down the Turkey Path to Pine Creek, crossing the bike trail. The Turkey Path marked the turnaround point for our bike ride. Despite being tired and saddle-sore, we made good time on the return leg of our 25-mile ride.

On our drive back to the motorhome, we circled through Happy Acres, a private cabin and RV campground adjacent to the state park. This afternoon, Nancy and John were checking into one of the cabins and we unsuccessfully searched for Nancy’s car. As we drove back into Pine Creek State Park, we spotted her car at our campsite and Nancy and John enjoying a bottle of wine at our picnic table. Between bouts of socializing, Jane and I made successive trips to the shower house to wash off the biking sweat and change clothes. 

After we were presentable, John drove us three miles into Waterville where we had beer and ate a good meal at the only eatery in that tiny village, The Waterville Tavern. I ordered fried corn fritters with maple syrup dip as an appetizer and despite her original objections, Jane really enjoyed them. After dinner, John drove us back to our motorhome and they departed. Jane and I were quickly in bed exhausted from our biking adventure.