Washingtonville

I did the longest ride of this year and the second-longest of all time yesterday morning: 40.1 miles. My route took me deep into Montour County, to the tiny borough of Washingtonville. I knew it would take over three hours, so I was on the road shortly after 9 AM. It was very cloudy/foggy and there was a chance of rain around noon, but I figured I could take a little rain. The first few miles were one of my standard routes: to Upper Campus via Arbutus Park Road, and from there down Country Club Drive and into the main part of Bloomsburg. There was some kind of soccer meet on at Upper Campus; hundreds of people were on the fields.

 Cloudy morning

 Bike lane on the way into the urban part of Bloomsburg

Once in Bloomsburg, I rode along First Street for a while. At the West Street/Main Street intersection, the light always takes several minutes to change and this time was no exception. Once it turned green, though, I rode down Main Street and then across Fishing Creek into Fernville. After passing by a few houses, I began heading north on Creek Road, out of civilization.

 Looking forward

 Placid waters of Fishing Creek

Rock outcropping

After briefly passing by a house or two and crossing the Interstate 80 bridges, Creek Road began to descend alongside Little Fishing Creek. At one point, a stick got caught up in my spokes, but somehow that didn't lead to a painful crash. As I slowed down to extract the stick, it popped out on its own. Strange. At the bottom of the steepest part of the hill, I turned onto Schoolhouse Road and began ascending towards Buckhorn.

I-80 bridge and Fishing Creek

There were a few nice views of hills and pastures from Schoolhouse Drive. The climb was also not as bad as it has been in the past. Shortly after passing the Ivey Road intersection, I reached the top of the hill and descended past the old Schoolhouse Garden Market to Pennsylvania Route 44.

 Pastoral scenery

 More pastoral scenery

After passing a few houses and leaving Buckhorn, Route 44 took me to Dahl Road, which I would follow all the way to its end. I crossed Hemlock Creek and began the gradual climb up the West Hemlock Creek valley. At this point, I was in a large, triangular range of hills roughly bounded by the Frosty Valley, Little Fishing Creek, and the Chillisquaque Creek valley. I don't know of any name for these hills, so I'll call them the Columbia Hills, after Columbia Hill Road. It was fairly easy, and made easier still by the occasional brief downhill. Along the way, I noticed that the cloud cover was beginning to break up, but it was still overcast.

 The bike, loaded up with supplies

 Dahl Road

Impressively large skunk cabbages

At the end of Dahl Road, the Montour County line came upon me out of nowhere. At the county line was a confusing five-way intersection and I stopped to consult the map. After that, I continued ascending--this time steeply--for half a mile before reaching Columbia Hill Road and the highest point of the ride.

View from Columbia Hill Road

I crossed Columbia Hill Road and enjoyed a long and fast descent into the Mahoning Creek valley. Unlike many of the descents I've done recently, this one was paved, so I was able get close to 30 miles per hour. I stopped for a couple of pictures on the way down.

 Power lines crossing Stone Road

Field

I then came to another steep hill on Diehl Road and Blee Hill Road. This hill rose roughly 200 feet in a little over a mile. Tough hill, but I've managed tougher. I stopped at the top and then began heading downhill through the woods.

Heading downhill on Blee Hill Road

There were a couple of interesting bends on the road, but I still cracked 30 miles per hour on the way down. When I came out of the woods, I almost missed the turn, but I hit the brakes hard and managed to stop in time. By this point, I had left the Columbia Hills and the next few miles would be almost entirely flat. I rode along the northern border of the hills on Hillside Road for a while. I saw beautiful views of the plain and the Muncy Hills beyond it.

 First glimpse of the Montour County power plant. Unlike the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, this one is coal-fired, not nuclear.

 Farm, with Hillside Drive heading off into the background.

Looking north towards the Muncy Hills

A little more than a mile of mostly flat riding on Hillside Drive brought me to Steffens Road, a very flat, straight road running through fields. At one point, I came across five goats walking along the road. As I approached, their owner called them, and they went back into their yard.

 Fields and part of the Columbia Hills

 Steffens Road looking back the way I came

Steffens Road dead-ended into Pennsylvania Route 254, but I wasn't on that for very long before turning onto PPL Road. I've been there several times on the way to the Montour Preserve a few miles north, but had never ridden there before. The shoulder was tremendously wide, almost like an extra lane. On the other hand, there was horse excrement all over the shoulder. I guess the Amish come this way with their horses and buggies a lot. Soon after turning onto PPL Road, I crossed Mud Creek. Soon after that, I made my closest approach to the power plant.

The power plant

Soon after passing the power plant, I turned onto Strawberry Ridge Road, another flat road that took me straight into Washingtonville after several tenths of a mile. I stopped for a few minutes to refuel and then rode around Washingtonville for a bit.

 Church and cemetery on the edge of Washingtonville

Strawberry Ridge Road

I rode south through Washingtonville on Church Street. I was going to explore a side road branching off from the southeastern edge of the borough, but it turned out to be a dead-end, so I returned to Strawberry Ridge Road via Grape Alley, a one-lane road flanked by buildings. After that, the route was open space and rural territory for many miles. For the next few miles, I made good time as I retraced my steps to Hillside Drive.

Mud Creek. For once, an accurately named Pennsylvania stream.

From Hillside Drive, I turned right onto Indian Run Road, once again entering unexplored territory. Indian Run Road passed by a few houses before entering the boondocks and climbing through the Columbia Hills. After a few tenths of a mile, I veered off onto Fossil Run Road, which continued ascending, but not as steeply as Indian Run Road. After a few tenths of a mile, Fossil Run Road emerged from the woods and made its final ascent to its intersection with Cameltown Hill Road.

Leaving civilization on Indian Run Road

After consulting the directions (again) I rode for a bit on Cameltown Road. The scenery was typical of northeast Pennsylvania uplands: fields nearby and mountains in the distance. After a short distance on Cameltown Hill Road, I turned onto Rhodes Hill Road and began another amazing descent with several curves.

 Looking back on Fossil Run Road

 Fields and mountains

 Beginning of Rhodes Hill Road

Rhodes Hill Road abruptly dead-ended into Spike Blue Hollow Road, which I began following. That was the first unpaved road that I rode on during the ride. I usually encounter gravel before covering 25 miles. Spike Blue Hollow Road alternated between being flat and downhill as it rode through a hollow (why doesn't that surprise me?) Since it had rained recently, the road was muddy, but not terribly so.

 Spike Blue Hollow Road

After I while, I reached the end of Spike Blue Hollow Road and was on pavement once more. After another few tenths of a mile of riding through the woods, I reached Pennsylvania Route 642 again. I stopped and had a long-ish break of several minutes before riding up Route 642 to Creek Road, crossing Mahoning Creek in the process.

Mahoning Creek

Creek Road was paved and not particularly hilly. A few tenths of a mile along it brought me to T353, which I had already ridden on last fall. This section had some gentle ups and downs as it ran along the northwesternmost corner of the Frosty Valley. There were some decent views of Montour Ridge along the way.

 Montour Ridge

Another view of Montour Ridge

At the end of T353, I briefly rode east on a flat part of Columbia Hill Road before turning onto Kashner Drive. Kashner Drive began with a short, steep descent. On the way down, I noticed a small turtle sitting in the middle of the road. I stopped for a closer look. I thought about moving it to the side of the road, but didn't; it probably wouldn't have understood what I was doing and tried to tear my arm off. I've got no idea what species this is, but I hope it made it off the road before a car came past.

"Maybe if I pretend nobody's home, he'll just go away and stop taking pictures."

 After a while, Kashner Drive took me back to the Columbia County line. I turned left and explored a section of County Line Road that I had never been on before. It climbed up a little hill and then down the other side before forking off into a pair of driveways. I retracted my steps back to the intersection with Kashner Drive.

 County Line Road

 Montour Ridge looking southwest

 Montour Ridge looking southeast

I rode along County Line Road across Interstate 80 to Frosty Valley Road, which I took back into Columbia County. The 3+ miles I spent on that road were uneventful, as they often are. There wasn't anything worth taking pictures of that I hadn't already taken pictures of, so I rode along, mostly uninterrupted. After crossing Hemlock Creek, I rode up the hill past Goodwill to Pennsylvania Route 42. After crossing that, I rode downhill on Red Mill Road into Fernville. After Fernville, I crossed Fishing Creek--where I noticed a few fish (trout perhaps?) swimming lazily around--into Bloomsburg and turned onto the Bloomsburg Rail Trail.

Hemlock Creek near Fernville

Fishing Creek

From the Bloomsburg Rail Trail, I rode to Summit Ave, and from there to Arbutus Park Road, the last major climb. I only stopped once on the way up, and that was for a picture. Along the way, I wondered about who (if anyone) maintains the closed part of Arbutus Park Road. If no one maintains it, how long will it be before it becomes impossible to ride there?

 Sea of green

Hidden clearing

 At the end of the closed, trail-like part of Arbutus Park Road, I rode around the gate and continued along the road-like segment of the road. By this point, the clouds were lifting and the sky was becoming visible. I immediately began a descent and ended up accidentally riding through a few water-filled potholes. Somehow I managed to not get too soaked. From the bottom of the hill, there was a slight climb up to Route 487, which I took to Gray Street. Gray Street dead-ended into Shawnee Road. Instead of stopping at the house, I rode down to the end of the road and back up to make it 40.1 miles. All in all, it was an interesting route. It might be worth extending it as far as Turbotville, which would make it 52-53 miles (the farthest I've gone in one ride is 45.5 miles). My time was 2:59:34 and my pace was 4:29/mile (13.4 miles per hour). I could've easily continued another 10 miles, or maybe more.

 Elevation gain: 2681 feet, total elevation change: 5362 feet (over a mile!). Highest point: 1094 feet, lowest point: 474 feet.

 Route map. (source)(license)