Papermill Road, and the only picture with a blue sky
Fallen leaves
Yellowing field
I then headed up Whites Church Road, climbing about 240 feet in 1.7 miles. Nothing particularly remarkable about this one. From the top, I went rushing down the other side, through some woods, past a farm with cows, through some more woods, and finally to the end of Whites Church Road. I continued onto Lick Run Road and then Crouse Hollow Road (aka Crap Hollow Road). It had rained recently and the road was gravel, so the going was a bit muddy.
The field where I always stop at the top of Whites Church Road
Crouse Hollow Road
Crouse Hollow Road rises for a long way, but doesn't seem all that bad. Yet, it rises more than 300 feet in 1.5 miles. For a while, it goes through dense woods marred only by a power line crossing. But after a while, it goes past a few houses deep in the wilderness. I was ambushed by a crazy dog when I rode by on my way to Waller back in May. I rode carefully by and was not accosted by any dogs this time. Eventually the rode went past some fields and a pond before letting out at Fester Road, which was paved. Fester Road continued rising for a bit before meeting Bowmans Mill Road. There were some nice views of Knob Mountain.
Crouse Hollow Road
Dewy flowers
Field
Knob Mountain
Bowmans Mill Road descended gently for a while through open countryside before ascending briefly. I then turned onto Turkey Path Road, which soon entered the woods and began heading steeply downhill. At one point, I caught a glimpse of the Greenwood Valley through the trees.
Bowmans Mill Road
Field
Turkey Path Road
A glimpse of Greenwood Valley
The road again
After a long, steep descent, Turkey Path Road made a sharp left turn and crossed the Kramer Covered Bridge over Mud Run. Soon afterwards, I continued heading north through the Greenwood Valley, onto Thomas Road.
Chicory
Whence I came
I then continued north on Austin Trail, winding out of the Greenwood Valley. Despite its name, it's actually a two-lane, paved road. It rose gently for miles, heading through a wild valley with a few houses and fields. After a little less than 3 miles, I arrived at Laubach Hill Road, where the real hills began.
Austin Trail
Another field
Ridge
Patriotic sign made of license plates
Laubach Hill Road
Laubach Hill Road was hard, but not the monstrous climb that I had been expecting, even with the gravel surface. But once I reached the top, the descent was epic, falling over 300 feet in half a mile. By that point, Benton was less than five miles away. I turned onto Green Creek Road.
Summit of Laubach Hill Road
View from Laubach Hill Road
Woods
Green Creek Road
Green Creek Road wound through the woods for a while along the valley of (what else?) Green Creek. After about a mile, I came to a confusing four-way intersection, but I figured out the right way to go and made a sharp right onto Distillery Hill Road. Soon afterwards, the road began climbing. Nothing to interesting or remarkable about the hill. Neither particularly easy nor particularly hard. I did see a group of maybe half a dozen or more hawks circling around at the top of the hill. It took many attempts to get a half-decent picture.
Distillery Hill Road
Some hawks
Distillery Hill Road then went downhill for a while and I rode into Benton Township for the first time. I passed by a one or two confusing intersections and then glimpsed Benton.
Bend in the road
Tiny pond
Field
Looking northeast
Monster satellite dish, with Benton in the background
From there, I descended fast towards Benton. After going around a bend and passing some houses, I crossed West Creek and arrived in Benton. A few blocks later, I crossed Pennsylvania Route 487. At a street corner, there was an interesting tin sculpture of a fisherman. I guess that's what people do around there. I took a picture, but unfortunately I can't post it since freedom of panorama doesn't extend to sculptures in the US. Oh well. A bit liter, I arrived at the Benton Dam in Fishing Creek. There was a little park there with a few people milling around. I got a photo of the dam.
West Creek, a tributary of Fishing Creek
Benton Dam on Fishing Creek
After switching out my half-empty bottle for a full one, I pushed on, leaving Benton and turning onto Hill Road, which obviously had a hill. But it was nothing compared to Sunny Hillside Road, which I came to next. That was one of those deceptively innocent names. The road rose close to 200 feet in about a mile. And a dog who had apparently never seen a bicycle before decided to come out onto the road and followed me. I went slowly for a bit and then decided to get out of there and soon left the dog in the dust.
Ascending
Hills
Pied Piper Road, where I would be heading, goes from left to right. The winding road heading towards the horizon looks interesting.
Field
After turning onto Pied Piper Road, which was downhill, I made good time. There was a farm at the bottom of the hill and I crossed Davis Hollow before reaching Pennsylvania Route 487.
Pied Piper Road
After a few hundred feet on Pennsylvania Route 254, I crossed Fishing Creek and turned onto a side road. The road began heading up Kramer Hill on what would be the most difficult hill, rising about 550 feet. At least it was paved. The last time I rode of Kramer Hill was over a year ago, on a 36-mile ride to Stillwater. That time, I went in the opposite direction. The road went through the woods for a long time, but eventually came out of the woods. There were some spectacular views of North Mountain to the north and I thought I was close to the hill. I was not. I was more like two thirds of the way to the top. But I did eventually make it up there.
Tree on rocks
Looking back on Kramer Hill Road
Posey Hill Road, the last phase of the ascent
I then turned onto Posey Hill Road, which went up and down along the top of Kramer Hill for a while. I saw some more spectacular views of North Mountain, Knob Mountain, and Christmas tree farms. After a while, I made a short, steep
descent followed by a short, steep ascent. I was now on territory that I
had explored during this ride.
I then turned onto Martenas Road, a narrow road that was even more
rural than Savage Hill Road, which I was on. (Savage Hill Road might be
one of the few cases where the name is more intimidating than the road,
but I haven't seen its entire length).
Epic view of North Mountain
Almost-as-epic view of Knob Mountain
Christmas trees
Huge house surrounded by Christmas trees
Martenas Road started out paved, but it soon left the farmland behind and became gravel as it went into the woods. It made a long, spectacular descent for nearly two miles, falling about 600 feet in that time. Here and there, I saw a few outposts of civilization, such as abandoned houses and barns, but mostly it was just a narrow, gravel road through the woods, with a small stream visible in places. The road eventually dumped me onto Rohrsburg Road a bit south of Rohrsburg.
Martenas Road in civilization...
...at mile 28...
...at mile 29.
I crossed Rohrsburg Road, headed over the Patterson Covered Bridge over Green Creek, and began heading towards Round Top, which was just across a field from the covered bridge. After a tenth of a mile on pavement, I began ascending on Trump Road, a very steep, narrow gravel road. I don't think it's been maintained for a while, if ever. I wonder if it'll eventually go the same way as Arbutus Park Road, a closed, overgrown trail. But it's still navigable for the time being. But it was steep.
Round Top
Ominous warning
Heading into the woods
Climbing on Trump Road
Curvy and hilly
Really hilly
After a short while, Trump Road headed out of the woods, climbed steeply past some fields, and took me to pavement. I headed west on Kline Road for several tenths of a mile, looking for Oman Road. When I found it, it turned out to be an unpaved road much like Trump Road. I hadn't known it was unpaved, hadn't known of its existence except for Google Maps. After a while, the road entered the woods. At one point, surprisingly, I passed a car going the other way. We made it past each other without incident. The road then went into some fields before going into the woods again and descending. It was a rough, bumpy ride, and I veered and careened around most of the way down.
Knob Mountain
Oman Road
Ferns
Looking back on Oman Road
At the end of Oman Road, I turned onto Bowmans Mill Road, which was paved. A few tenths of a mile of gentle descending through the woods brought me to Green Creek Road (not the one near Benton), which I followed to Mount Pleasant Road. Several tenths of a mile later, I ascended Whites Church Road. At the top of that road, I continued ascending on Oman Road (a different Oman Road from the one where I just was) and saw some nice views of Knob Mountain.
Green Creek Road
Sumacs in glorious fall colors
Whites Church Road, heading south
Knob Mountain
Oman Road undulated up and down for a while, passing cornfields and houses, before entering a steep, fast descent to Back Branch Road. Having decided to try for a distance record a few miles back, I turned onto Ridge Road once I got into Lightstreet and for a few miles, I followed the old 20K (actually 12.2 miles) course to the radio tower. Pretty uneventful, and the hills were mild compared to where I had been earlier.
Simple shot of corn and clouds
View from Ridge Road
Briar Creek watershed
Fence on Horse Farm Road
Radio tower. This isn't black-and-white, it just looks like it.
At the radio tower, I called home and explained that I had decided to take a small detour. I then continued straight on Horse Farm Road along rolling hills to Baileys Road, which went downhill to Ridge Road. Along the way, I checked out a small subdivision where I had gone running once before, several years ago. Ridge Road took me back to Lightstreet and from there I headed to Papermill Road, up Dennys Hill, and home.
Horse Farm Road
Meadow
Cemetery
Papermill Road
My time was 3:43:33, which might be the longest time I've ridden for. My pace was 4:47/mile.
A pretty crazy 8541 feet of elevation change, including 4268 feet of climbing. The highest point was 1282 feet on Kramer Hill and the lowest point was 515 feet, crossing Fishing Creek in Lightstreet.
Xenon and I were doing our Sunday long run in Lewisburg just as you were doing this epic ride.
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