Catawissa-Mainville-Mifflinville loop

There are two good routes to the small CDP of Mainville, which sits on Catawissa Creek just north of a water gap. One route goes there via Catawissa; the other via Mifflinville. I did a 32.2-mile ride to Mainville in the morning, riding out along the first route and back along the second. I had planned to do that route yesterday, but was too slow to get moving. I headed out along one of my usual routes, up Gray Street to Pennsylvania Route 487, and from there to Arbutus Park Road. I had intended to take the path to Upper Campus from there, but it was covered in unnavigable foot-deep grass. Hopefully someone will mow the path soon. Instead of trying to blunder through it, I rode along Arbutus Park Road before taking a steep unnamed road up to the tennis courts. From there, I crossed Upper Campus on some roads and descended towards Bloomsburg. The parking lots I saw while passing by the student housing seemed strangely empty; perhaps the students have already left for the summer.

 Mountains and student housing

More mountains

After descending out of Upper Campus, I rode into the main part of Bloomsburg, where I took First Street to the western part of town. The light at West Street and Main Street took forever to change. When it finally did, I rode down a hill on Main Street to Railroad Street, and then crossed Fishing Creek into Fernville. The ride through Fernville was flat, but after I reached Red Mill Road and Hemlock Township, the road began to ascent slightly. It eventually took me to Ridge Road, which crossed Hemlock Creek and began a climb at the foot of Montour Ridge.

 Hemlock Creek

Entering Montour Township and heading upwards

Ridge Road, the second major hill of the ride, climbed upwards through forests until turning onto Welliver Drive, where there were some fields and houses. Shortly afterwards, I reached the top of the hill. To the northwest, there was a wide view of distant mountains.

Distant mountains on Welliver Drive

Welliver Drive then made a steep descent to Valley Road. That took me to Deussen Drive, which took me to US Route 11. There, I had to wait for an endless stream of cars going in both directions. Once that passed, I crossed Montour Run and began climbing up the Duessen Drive hill, probably the hardest climb of the entire ride. There were a few turns one switchback, but it still managed to rise at the insanely steep rate of 350 feet in two thirds of a mile. 350 feet in one mile is pretty steep, and this was 50 percent steeper.... Somehow, I made it up without stopping, unlike the last time I went this way. There was a sea of Christmas tree farms at the top of the hill mountain.

 Christmas tree farm

Even better shot

Catawissa Mountain and even more Christmas trees

There were a few small bumps and dips over the next several tenths of a mile, a pattern which continued onto Grovania Drive. Soon enough, though, Grovania Drive plunged towards Catawissa and I hit 32 mph on the descent, but slowed down well before arriving at Route 42. That route had a bridge that took me across the Susquehanna River and into Catawissa.

 Susquehanna River

 The mouth of Catawissa Creek

I wandered westward through Catawissa, having to detour around some annoying one-way street signs. I should've just taken Creek Road to the outskirts of the borough. Also, there was an annoying hill much like North Street in Bloomsburg: it rose about fifty feet over the space of fifty feet. Had I run out of steam, I probably would've rolled uncontrollably back down the hill. Eventually, I found my way to Sycamore Drive, where I spent the next four miles. The road had a slight net elevation gain, but there were a lot of small uphills and downhills. For most of the way, it was cut into a cliff above the Catawissa Creek floodplain. There were some nice views of both Catawissa Creek and Catawissa Mountain. Oddly enough, I don't recall seeing too many sycamores along the road.

 Catawissa Mountain

 One of many small views of Catawissa Creek

Sycamore Drive

Sycamore Drive took me to a spot near Mainville, where I rendezvoused with my mom, who brought me a Vitawater. I really need to get one of those bags that I can attach to my bike so I can carry more an extra bottle or something. We planned to meet again nine miles further on, in Mifflinville. I continued onwards on a quaint one-land road called Maple Drive. That took me into Mainville proper, where I passed by a church and began heading north on Church Road. Church Road was the longest hill of the ride, but wasn't particularly steep, climbing a little over 400 feet in two miles.

 Catawissa Creek water gap: Catawissa Mountain is on the right and Nescopeck Mountain is on the left.

 Nescopeck Mountain

 Either me or the bike is slacking off. It's, um, definitely not the former.

Yellow-green flowers

 Just grass and sky. Green and blue.

 Looking back at the road and the Catawissa Creek water gap

There were a few farms and several dozen cows along the way. I didn't stop for any pictures of them, though. After a while, I got to the top of the hill and began heading east towards Mifflinville along East Hillcrest Drive. It was mostly flat with a few gentle hills and the scenery was textbook Northeast Pennsylvania, similar to what one might see on a postcard.

 Nescopeck Mountain

 View of Knob Mountain from the other side of the Susquehanna River

Knob Mountain again

 East Hillcrest Drive

After a few miles, I entered Mifflin Township and some time later came to a fork in the road. To the left was Peewee Hill Road and to the right was Houck Hollow Road. The former (despite the name) would've been a fast and fun descent, but it would have dumped me onto a busy part of Pennsylvania Route 339 right next to Interstate 80. For that reason, I took the more moderately sloping Houck Hollow Road down to Route 339. A short stretch on Route 339 took me to Mifflin X Road. I ran in this area once last year, but hadn't biked there before. Mifflin X Road took me across Tenmile Run to Jarrad Road, which was a shortcut of sorts.

Tenmile Run

I had thought that Jarrad Road would be mostly flat or perhaps gently rolling, but it went uphill almost all the way to Hofnagle School Road. It wasn't Deussen Drive or Church Road, but it still climbed a pretty substantial 150 feet. A lot of it was in the woods, but there were a couple of nice views.

View

Hofnagle School Road took me under Interstate 80 and then into Mifflinville. I rode straight town Market Street to the Mifflinville bridge before turning off onto a side street for the second rendezvous. After several minutes, I continued on my way, crossing the bridge to Old Berwick Road. The next five miles were pretty quiet and moderately fast.

 Water tower in Lime Ridge

Cemetery in Almedia

With about a little over two miles left in the ride, I turned onto Edgar Ave and crossed US Route 11 to Shaffer Road. From there, there was one last serious hill to contend with: Neufer Hill Road.

Last major hill...

It was hard, but I made good time on the way up. I stopped to rest at the top and then headed east along Tower Road, past Lionsgate, to Central Road. Central Road connected to Fifth Street Hollow Road, which connected to Shawnee Road. There was one last small hill on Shawnee Road.

 Small wetland

Shawnee Road.

A few tenths of a mile of flat ground on Shawnee Road brought me home. My total time was 2:29:15 and my pace was 4:38/mile. Maybe it would've been faster if not for the heat and the fact that I did a grueling 6.4-mile run at the Penobscot Ridge Mountain Bike Trail on Saturday?

2287 feet of vertical rise and 4573 feet of total elevation change. Highest point: 985 feet, lowest point: 449  feet.

Route map. (source)(license)