Fun, fun fun...........(May 29)

After a couple of relatively easy days we're back at it today.  We knew about the distance (77 miles), but we didn't know about the hills!  Since this is the first time Woman Tours has run this trip we often have surprises of some type during the day.  Today's surprise was multiple hills upwards of 15% grade.  One, in particular, seems to be etched in everyone's mind.  It was both steep and long.  It's good to have a challenge each day and today the challenge was the hills.

We started out in Easton PA and immediately returned (via a bridge over the Delaware River) to Phillipsburg New Jersey.  We paralleled the Delaware River pretty much all day.  Very pretty ride, mostly in forests, state & national recreation areas.  There were signs of civilization intermittently - small farms, older homes and perhaps some cottages.  At one point there was an interesting juxtaposition - nuclear power plant on the PA side of the river and a huge field of solar panels on the NJ side.

At about 15 miles, after going through the small town of Belvidere, we crossed back into PA for a while.

Even though we're riding close to the river on both sides, it is surprisingly hilly.  The hump below is actually on an island in the Delaware River.

At about 30 miles we crossed the Appalachian Trail.  Being a hiker as well as a biker, I have a huge amount of admiration for people who take that on.

We (and the AT) then crossed back into NJ on I80 and entered a long stretch of beautiful riding in Delaware Gap Recreation Area.  The road surface sometimes left a lot to be desired, but there was next to no traffic, the birds were chirping, the sun was shining and the hills were fun (and challenging).  Although the day was quite warm, we had lots of shade at least until noon.

Stopped at a nice old restaurant in Layton and had a smoothie along with some lunch out of my bag.  We were feeling quite accomplished at that point - 3800 feet of hills so far.  We were chatting with some local motorcyclists there and they said the ride into Matamoras would be quite easy after we got over the mountain - what??  It turned out to be no big deal.  We were on a more major road (US206) and those roads are built with truck-friendly grades of about 6%.  Piece of cake after what we had already done today.

It was such a pleasant rural ride.  I saw two deer (at different times) just walking down the middle of the road.  One of the other ladies saw a small black bear.

Coming back to civilization to find our hotel for the night, we saw evidence on the bridge that New York State is not far away.

Matamoras PA seems to be right at the corner of PA, NJ and NY.

Stats for the day:
124 km from Easton PA to Matamoras PA.  4800 feet of climbing.  A warm day - 13C to 33C.