Giro del Jersey: Stage 5 - Long Beach Island

   I knew that this middle segment was going to be a bit of a drag, not because the pan-flat route of 18 miles in each direction would be particularly challenging, but because it is in a much more isolated location than the other segments. Long Beach Island is separated from Brigantine to the south by 9 miles of wetlands and the Jacques Cousteau National Estuary, and to the north by the inlet to Barnegat Bay.
   There is only one way onto the barrier island, about 6.5 miles out Route 72 from the Garden State Parkway and out the causeway and bridges. Instead of making the trip by myself, I invited Sue to come along during one of our stays at her family’s shore house in Stone Harbor.
   Back when we were young adults, Sue and I would visit Brant Beach on L.B.I., when there were big summer multi-family get-togethers at a friend’s house there. Thirty years on, we doubted we could even remember where that house was!
   We parked in Ship Bottom Township, just a couple blocks north of Route 72 near Jacobsen Elementary School, and headed south on the island along Barnegat Avenue. The road surface was decent here, and the traffic was typical of a secondary shore road, but after about a dozen blocks, we were forced onto the very busy Long Beach Boulevard.
   Luckily this only lasted a few dangerous blocks, as we turned left to reach the much more pleasant Ocean Boulevard. We found it interesting that sidewalks were not common on the island, so instead there were marked walking/cycling lanes. We appreciated that there were also signs directing pedestrians to walk (properly) against traffic direction, which makes them much more aware of cyclists!

   One small concern was that, because there is very little grass at the shore, many folks’ pea gravel “lawns” were migrating a bit out onto the asphalt, cyclists with narrow tires need to beware of possible pinch flats. There were relatively few people crossing the street to head to the beach on a Thursday afternoon, so were zipping along without much interruption.
   Although the street name changed to Beach Avenue just outside of Long Beach Township, and the walking lane was now bordered by a single white stripe, the riding conditions were pretty much the same. We only encountered the occasional jogger and one or two leisurely bike riders, as the road doglegged to the right, at the area where the island widened a bit to allow for three parallel streets.
   Not wanting to repeat the same route down and back, we remained on Beach Avenue instead of riding on Atlantic Avenue to the east, and we noticed the homes were now more of the older, Victorian style as we neared Beach Haven. At the borough line we were delighted to find the two aforementioned roads became one way in each direction, allowing for the widening of the bike lane, with broad green painted markings at each intersection.

   Atlantic Avenue ended about two miles from the end of the island, so traffic was again bi-directional, and we were soon diverted onto the boulevard again, but traffic was very light this far from the end of the line! The asphalt was a bit more worn in some sections this far south, probably just suffering from less road crew attention.
   We took a brief look out over South Beach and the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, just to see Brigantine and Atlantic City way in the distance, then turned around to enjoy the windward leg north. The one-way riding on Atlantic was very similar to that on its parallel sister road, though we had noticeably more cycling company.
   At one point we passed a young man on a hybrid bike, and a few miles later he pulled up alongside us at an intersection. He commented to my wife about the pace we were doing and his struggle to keep up, and my wife mentioned how she was actually holding me back. A little while later, when we returned through Ship Bottom and were zig-zagging off of the busy boulevard over to Central Avenue, we noticed our buddy was still back there a bit, trying to keep up.
   Sue rode with me through Surf City,“Where it’s two to one” (look it up, if you aren’t a fan of Jan and Dean or the Ramones), then decided not to push it, since her back had been tightening up. There was a nice row of shade trees on the school lawn near our car, so she had plans to roll out a towel for a nap while I continued on.
   Central Avenue merged with the boulevard, but at this point the busy route was a pleasant four-lane road with a grassy median separating the two directions and welcoming, wide shoulder for bicycle travel. As I neared the borough of Harvey Cedars, I noticed that many residents had unique mailboxes or markers adjacent to their driveways, perhaps to better show visitors their property location? Some were more elaborate than others:

   There wasn’t too much to highlight the remaining four miles or so out to Barnegat Lighthouse, as the boulevard became a four-lane undivided highway. A decent shoulder still remained, though the traffic was very light. The size of the road actually seemed rather silly, but I’ve heard that Saturday mornings, when the rental cycle turns over, can be hectic, and I’m sure during evacuation situations the two lanes are much needed!
   I rode out to Barnegat Lighthouse State Park to catch a close-up view of the 172-foot structure, which was built in 1879:

   Heading back, I had to laugh when, about a mile back south down Long Beach Boulevard, I saw our tag-along buddy still grinding his pedals towards the lighthouse. I made sure to give him an enthusiastic wave!

Abel To Take On the Knox and Kane

   Years ago my wife had read about a tornado taking out one of the tallest railroad trestles in the world, the Kinzua Viaduct just north of Kane, PA. Being a railfan, I had known about a tourist railroad that once traversed this impressivestructure, but it wasn't something I was even remotely interested in checking out.
   It is a bit of an understatement to say that I am not big fan of heights, and I generally avoid ladders, exposed elevators, ferris wheels - anything that doesn't have a solid, earthbound floor. I don't have a real problem with scenic overlooks, but you defintely won't catch me dangling my feet over the edge of a cliff!

   Anyway, a tourist attraction has been made of the few remaining support towers of the bridge, about 600 feet long, complete with a viewing deck 300 feet above the creek valley. Since the viaduct was right around the corner from Pine Creek, Sue immediately worked a visit to the structure into our "PA Wilds" vacation itinerary. The Knox and Kane Trail, which was built on the former railroad bed, was an added bonus!

   Before ending up there, we stopped in the small town of Galeton, to see the Larimer and Norton lumber facility. I'm not sure if it was just a slow period, or if the site had been abandoned, but there weren't any employees around and the yard was rather empty of vehicles and logs. The company used to supply billets of white ash for Louisville Slugger baseball bats, but most pro players have switched to maple.

   We also took close-up photos of the warehouse and office signs:

   We also visited the borough of Coudersport to see their really impressive station, especially considering the small size of the Coudersport and Port Allegany Railroad. My "collection" of railroad stations visited and photographed all over the country is nearing 700!

   Upon our arrival to the impressive Kinzua Viaduct visitors center, we found out the collapsed structure was actually the second built on this site, erected in 1900 to accommodate the heavier locomotives of the time. The original bridge was built in 1882 by the Phoenix Iron Works, which was located just a few miles down the Schuylkill River from Royersford, in Phoenixville. The original bridge was constructed of patented hollow iron tubes called "Phoenix Columns"!

The viaduct before it was struck by a tornado in 2003, when 11 of the 20 towers collapsed.

   As we walked out to the viewing platform, I considered playing it safe by walking down the middle, but I found out you could see down through between the ties holding the simulated tracks in place, and I quickly jumped over to the solid walkway! I was actually enjoying the scenery out to the horizon on each side, but when my view dropped to the trees below, and the wind was moving the leaves, I started to get a little woozy. At the platform, I grabbed the handrail and fixed my eyes on objects that weren't moving!

   Little kids were jumping on the glass floor of the platform, and I kept thinking, "When it cracks and they fall through, they'll be sorry!"

   We were staying in a nice-sized apartment in downtown Kane, with easy access to the trail, which will eventually be a full length of about seventy-four miles. At this point the route is in three disconnected sections of about forty-eight miles, and the next day we set off to explore the middle portion, which stretches to the southeast about twelve miles to the community of De Young.

   The trailhead is on U.S. Route 6, right at the former Kane station (photo below) for the Knox and Cane Railroad, and in a couple hundred yards we reached a wye, where the trail branches off to the east or to the south. We veered to the right and headed through a residential neighborhood and past Kane High School campus.

   It was a bit warmer this day than we had experienced at Pine Creek, but there was still very low humidity, and the trail was nicely shaded nearly the whole length by a thick canopy of trees. The trail ended, rather unceremoniously at a dirt drive in someone's back yard, and we simply turned around.

   There wasn't a whole lot to see out in the middle of nowhere, but there were a good number of crossings at small roads and dirt driveways. We thought the access gates that marked these crossings were a bit narrow than they needed to be, and we imagined some lesser-experienced bicycle riders might have problems, especially if they had wider, mountain bike-type bars.

   Sure enough, on our return trip, we were closing in one of these barriers with a pair of older women in front of us on cruiser bikes. One of them came to an awkward, swerving stop when she panicked that she wouldn't fit through the gate. They apologized sweetly for holding us up and let us slip by on our way.

   At the wye we turned east from Kane and soon reached an old wooden trestle (photo below) that stretched across a low spot next to the highway. Unfortunately, the structure was currently closed to cyclists, and posted signs directed trail-users to use the parallel road. Soon after the short detour, we were pedaling into some open areas with nice views of farmland.

   Soon we were riding through the Kane Country Club. Although I felt rather safe from where I snapped the photo below, there were a couple spots that paralleled fairways, and one section of the trail actually cut right across between the tee and green. I not only wondered if anyone had been bonked by a golf ball, but also if there was anywhere else in the country with this strange arrangement.

Note the green and golfers putting behind the trees on the right.

   At the crossing with U.S. Route 6, we reached the “official” end of this section, as the there was a sign informing users of the current contractor for construction towards Lantz Corners. We could see that the clay base with fine cinders was in place, but the finishing top layer of crushed stone had not been spread.
   There were some bicycle tire tracks, so I thought later in the week I might investigate how far work had been completed. For this day, we had done plenty of distance, and still faced the return to Kane.

   After Sunday's shaky weather, we were considering where to ride, but being rather tired of loading/unloading our bikes from the car, we decided to pass on driving out to the lower twenty-eight miles of the trail, between the communities of Marienville and Marianne. We opted to do our own individual routes, with Sue checking out some of the rural (and rather hilly, she found out) roads around Kane and me heading out the fifteen miles or so back to the Kinzua Viaduct.
   It was a bit warmer Monday, which contributed to the weariness I felt when I reached the little uphill at the eastbound leg of the wye near the Kane Station. I pedaled through the fatigue and eventually settled into a good rhythm through scenery familiar from our previous ride.
   This time I carefully continued across Route 6 and headed into the section of the trail still under construction. Sadly, it only lasted about a mile, and the trail dead-ended at a farm fence. I rode along the fence line and used the farm driveway to reach West Brick Road, which ran parallel to Route 6 for about a half mile. I was having a bit of Tour of Flanders feel, though I knew the cobbles in De Ronde weren’t anywhere near as smooth as these red brick pavers!

   Alas, the fun ended, and I had to return to the highway. Although having cars buzz by at high speed is slightly intimidating, Route 6 is Pennsylvania Bike Route Y, and it has a nice, wide shoulder in good condition. I soon rolled into Lantz Corners, veered left briefly onto U.S. Route 219 and connected again with the trail.
   The path was steadily climbing up to Mt. Jewett, and I had hit it a bit too hard, as pro racers say “going into the red”. I laughed to myself, since I was literally* in red, wearing my late-1950s Faema-Learco Guerra throwback jersey (that squad had legends like Charley Gaul and Rik van Looy).

*Note, this is the CORRECT usage of the word “literally”, which currently has to be the most overly- and incorrectly-used word in the English language!

   I dropped down to a lower gear and spun for a few minutes of recovery before hearing a locomotive horn. I was surprised to see a BNSF Railway locomotive leading a passing train on the parallel Buffalo and Pittsburgh line (more trackage belonging to the Genessee and Wyoming system). Burlington Northern and Santa Fe was a ‘90s railroad merger of two national giants, but you may be wondering why a locomotive from a predominantly western company is on a Pennyslvania train.
   Today’s modern railroading features the pooling of locomotives across the country, so that power is always available for trains connecting routes through hubs like Chicago or Cincinnati. Pooling power also eliminates the time wasted to switch out locomotives from trains that are travelling intact from coast to coast.
   As expected, the trail crested in Mt. Jewett, and I ratcheted up the pace for the descent to Kinzua Bridge State Park. I had a brief conversation with a little boy who was checking out the viaduct with his family before turning around for the climb back up to Mt. Jewett.
   After miles of enduring the vibration over the gravel, my hands and arms were appreciating the smooth pavement when I eventually returned to Route 6. However, I was soon buffeted by a lumber truck going by at 55 mph, and I not only remembered the serenity of secluded trails in the woods but also the safety of those paths, away from aggressive and/or distracted drivers!