Large bank of vetch
Tower Road
Cornfield
After I crossed US Route 11 and the railroad tracks, I was in the village of Espy. At this point, I diverged from my usual path and turned onto Lackawanna Ave, a quiet road that is just five to ten feet from the railroad tracks. Along the way, I passed the Press Enterprise building, which had a nice garden and a pond with a couple of fountains.
Lackawanna Ave
Around here, "Let's call Press Enterprise" means "Whatever". I've got no idea why. It's a pretty large and respectable newspaper.
At the end of Lackawanna Ave, I briefly rode on Tenny Street before turning onto an attractive little one-lane side road called Ann Ave. From there, I zigzagged south and west through Espy, sometimes on one-lane roads, sometimes on two-lane roads. I mostly just passed houses, but I did see one or two churches. Eventually, I got to Old Berwick Road and began heading west. This was actually the first time I had explored this part of the road by bike, though I've been there running and in the car from time to time. Old Berwick Road was a lot busier than usual, though I'd say that that was mostly because I don't usually ride there during rush hour. At one point, I took a detour onto Yocum Drive, a short side street with a lot of upscale townhouses. Other than that, I stayed on Old Berwick Road all the way into Bloomsburg.
Passing by 13th-century England on the way to Bloomsburg
The path to the old town compost heap, with beautiful forests and cliffs beyond.
As I rode into Bloomsburg, the houses became interspersed with more industrial buildings, some of them a bit run-down. After a while, I crossed Kinney Run, which really looked more like a sad puddle. Some time after that, I turned onto a narrow one-lane road called Naylor Ave that ran past some houses.
Abandoned building
One-lane road
Naylor Ave and several other minor side streets (some of which had two lanes) passed by some fields and more houses before eventually dumping me onto Pennsylvania Route 487. Ninth Street continued on the other side, but it had an angry Do Not Enter sign, so I rode down to Tenth Street and took that to Cathrine Street. There weren't many businesses/industrial buildings there; it was mostly houses. Eventually I reached the town swimming pool and took a sharp right onto a stretch of asphalt that took me to a packed gravel trail in the Bloomsburg Town Park. I followed that around a field to a small lake with a massive fountain in the middle and stopped for a look, but couldn't find a good angle for a picture. There were geese, everywhere. Dozens of them, including some young.
Horde of geese. I don't care that the correct term is "flock"; everything sounds more amusing when you call a group a horde.
In the town park
I then rode across Kinney Run--which was much larger and in fact a respectable little stream in this reach--on a narrow footbridge. The path wandered through the woods for a bit before going out into open fields and past the refurbished playground. I turned onto Market Street for a bit and then went onto Fort McClure Boulevard, where I rode down to a grove of trees next to the Susquehanna River.
Packed gravel trail
Grove by the river
After I left the grove, I headed along Colonial Ave and past the Bloomsburg High School before riding up a little hill to 11th Street. I had planned to follow 11th Street to a gravel road that looped back to Fort McClure Boulevard, but the road was closed. Oh well. I turned back and headed to Fort McClure Boulevard via Colonial Road, then headed southwest along the former road. Fort McClure Road went alongside the Susquehanna River, though it was hidden by a lot of undergrowth most of the way. Even though it was technically within the town limits of Bloomsburg, there was virtually no development, just fields. I made better time here than in the more urban part of Bloomsburg, even doing one mile in 4:00. I passed a sewage treatment plant along the way, but fortunately wasn't bombarded by vile odors.
Sewage treatment plant
Eventually, Fort McClure Boulevard turned sharply to the right as it reached the mouth of Fishing Creek. At this point, veered off to explore a little trail that went down to the confluence of the creek and the Susquehanna River. I could see the developed part of Bloomsburg in the distance.
Fort McClure Boulevard, with Bloomsburg in the background
The bike slacking off again, this time at the mouth of Fishing Creek
Susquehanna River
The trail
After I got back onto the road, I began heading north on Fort McClure Boulevard, this time along Fishing Creek. I briefly saw a couple of other cyclists on this stretch, but they went in a different direction. I also passed by the Rupert Covered Bridge Number 56, which is the longest remaining covered bridge in Columbia County, according to the informational plaque next to it.
Cornfield
Rupert Covered Bridge Number 56
After that, the road turned again and after crossing under a pair of railroad bridges, I actually passed through a wooded area, even though this was still technically in Bloomsburg. Just a couple minutes further on, I came to another diversion (there were a lot of those on this ride), the Boone Dam. I climbed down to the creek bank to get a closer look. It had rained recently, so the water was really rushing. I tossed a few stones and sticks into the creek and watched them rush over the dam before they even sank to the bottom.
Boone Dam. Falling in would be bad.[citation needed]
Bloomsburg Fairgrounds. In about two months and change, it'll look a lot less desolate.
Industrial building
I-80 this is not.
Church on Market Street
Montys building. (definitely not Monty's Hall...)
Robert B. Redman Stadium
After a while, I rode around the Bloomsburg Fairgrounds and into the more urban part of town again. I was briefly on US Route 11 before turning off onto a narrow side street called Pine Ave. It ran right along the edge of the fairgrounds.
Pine Ave
For a while, I meandered around Bloomsburg, eventually reaching Railroad Street, which I then took to Fifth Street. I followed Fifth Street for a bit before turning onto Murray Ave, yet another one-lane alley. Murray Ave dead-ended into Fourth Street, where I stayed for a while, crossing Pennsylvania Route 487 and eventually beginning to climb. At the end of Fourth Street, I stopped to take in a nice view to the south.
View from Fourth Street
The climb that began on Fourth Street continued on Oak Lane and Second Street. Slow going. It wasn't very long, though, and it was probably one of the easier ways to get up College Hill. Certainly easier than the Spruce Street climb. I rode along the outskirts of Lower Campus before crossing Pennsylvania Route 487 and riding the grueling climb up Turkey Hill to Upper Campus. I took a detour past some halls on Welsh Circle. The sky was pretty interesting: blue sky and puffy cumulus clouds to the south and ominous gray thunderclouds to the north. There were a few amazing rays of sunlight shining through the cloud cover.
Tennis courts, hills, and dark clouds
From this point, the ride was pretty straightforward and typical. I rode down to Arbutus Park Road and from there down to Pennsylvania Route 487, and from there to Gray Street and Shawnee Road. I noticed that the shortcut to Upper Campus is navigable again. I'll use it next time. Well, hopefully I've now given the readers (how many are there? 5? 10?) a good look at some of the more obscure parts of Bloomsburg. My time was 1:11:40 and my pace was 4:47/mile. Very slow for the terrain, but that wasn't really the point of this ride. As an aside, this was my last ride as a 15-year-old.
Very flat ride. The vertical rise was only 670 feet and the total elevation change was only 1344 feet.
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