Old Reading Road

I did a 26.4-mile ride to the  small CDP of Slabtown on Sunday. It's already early September and the very first of the fall colors are beginning to show here and there, as you'll see from the photographs. I wanted to take a different way into Bloomsburg than usual, so once I turned onto Arbutus Park Road, I continued following it instead of turning onto the shortcut and going through Upper Campus. When I came to the end of Arbutus Park Road, I continued past the gate to the closed part of the road. It was a rough, rocky ride and the road was very narrow--at times the strip of gravel was less than a foot wide. Still, I made it through without wading through undergrowth. I went easy on the speed, even after it became paved again. I wonder what happened to Arbutus Park Road? I scoured newspapers.com for the answer, but couldn't find any mention of it.

 View from along the power lines

 Uncivilized territory

Marginally civilized territory

Upon reaching civilization, a beagle rushed out of a shack, barked at me once, and then got stopped by its chain. That almost always happens. I then rushed down to Millville Road and turned right (I used to turn left on Summit, but apparently that's slightly illegal). I continued descending down to the northern terminus of the Bloomsburg Rail Trail, which I turned onto. It was attractive, but nothing overly special. I rode over fallen leaves; I guess fall is approaching. I passed a couple of walkers and saw some people goofing off in Fishing Creek. Later, I rode past the cliffs and crossed the creek into Fernville.

 Branches in the mud

Following the trail

From Fernville, I did what I pretty much always to from there, riding up Red Mill Road and then up on Ridge Road to Welliver. From there, I went down, crossed US Route 11, and promptly began heading up again on Deussen. I stopped to look at a couple of swans in a  pond, but noticed after a while that they weren't moving. Apparently, they were fake, but there were a few real ducks in the pond.

Ghostly-looking fake swans

Deussen Drive was a hideous, twisting climb, as it usually is. But at the top, there was the usual epic view of Catawissa Mountain and the rapid plunge of 400 feet down into Catawissa. I reached almost 34 miles per hour at one point. If only the whole ride were that fast...maybe I could manage it in a car now that I kind of sort of know the basics of driving one.

 Deussen Drive. It's hideous.

 Catawissa Mountain

Foreshadowing. The descent to Catawissa is nearly as steep as it is in the sign.

After crossing the Susquehanna River and entering Catawissa, I headed through some industrial areas towards Creek Road, an unpaved road that (obviously) runs alongside Catawissa Creek. Along the way, I saw a group of rats scurrying to safety. First dogs, then rats.

  Very early fall colors on the Susquehanna River

 Where I was accosted by rats

My bike next to a strange stone structure

I then crossed Catawissa Creek and turned onto Schoolhouse Road, which climbed for a few tenths of a mile. I then turned onto Old Reading Road, where I would be for the next five miles. What I didn't know was that the first two miles would be pretty much entirely uphill, rising nearly 650 feet. I learned soon enough.

 Scenery

 Looking back towards Catawissa

Into the woods

Old Reading Road started out by twisting upwards through the woods, but after a while, I came to a power line crossing, where I stopped to rest and take in the nice vista. I then pressed on, mostly through open fields. The climb kept going on and on, but eventually it did end. It had taken me nearly 16 minutes to go 2.04 miles, ascending 643 feet in the process. That's almost as high as my first ascent over Nescopeck Mountain, but far easier since Old Reading Road was paved and not, you know, a glorified ATV path. Some pictures from the way up:

 Power line vista

 Another view of Catawissa Mountain

 Old Reading Road

 Meadow

Looking west

After I got to the top of that hill--which I hadn't even realized was there when I planned the route--it was mostly up and down for four miles. I passed through farmlands, with some forests in the distance. On my left, Catawissa Mountain looked a lot less majestic; I was passing by the lowest point of its ridgetop. Along the way, I passed into Locust Township and then Roaring Creek Township, neither of which I had visited on a bicycle before. Here and there, there were some yellowing and browning fields of corn and other stuff. As I have said, fall is coming. The days are already getting darker; in a few weeks they'll start getting colder too. And a few weeks after that, it'll be too cold to ride.

 Old Reading Road

 Old Reading Road, now a quadrant route

 Tall grass and distant mountains

 Yes, that's Catawissa Mountain

 Dying crops, with the, um, majestic grandeur of Catawissa Mountain in the background

 "Peanut hill", so to speak

 Yet another road picture

Is this too many pictures of fields and mountains?

After five miles on Old Reading Road, I turned onto Wagner Bridge Road. Old Reading Road goes on for at least another five miles, so it might be worth further exploration one of these days. After a few tenths of Wagner Bridge Road, I turned onto Rarig Road, which immediately began to descend steeply, first through cornfields and then through woods. I was looking for a certain Mill Road, but after a mile, the hill had bottomed out and I still didn't see it. I looked at the directions again and realized what I had done wrong. I was supposed to only go 43 feet on Rarig Road before continuing on Wagner Road. Oh well. I really didn't want to climb for a mile, so I decided to forge ahead on Rarig Road and see where it took me.

 Field

Rarig Road

Rarig Road eventually headed past a pond where a huge crowd of people were partying. It then took me to a covered bridge over Roaring Creek. Beyond the covered bridge was none other than Mill Road. A careful examination of the map and the direction of the sun convinced me to turn right and soon enough, I reached Slabtown.

 Snyder Covered Bridge

 Mill Road

Entering Slabtown

In Slabtown, I stopped for a few minutes to refill my bottle. I then began heading north on Slabtown Road, which crossed Roaring Creek and climbed through a wooded area. After a while, I approached Pennsylvania Route 42 and realized I had gone too far, so I headed back a short distance to a smaller road.

 Not-Roaring Creek

 Interesting bridge design

 Climbing on Slabtown Road

Dead trees

The smaller road rose steeply through the woods after crossing a metal bridge. I eventually made it out into the open again. Shortly after that, I turned onto Old Numidia Road, which descended through woods and farmland. In one patch of woods, I had yet another encounter with an animal, this one more serious than the other two: I saw a black bear slinking into the woods maybe a hundred yards in front of me. It was getting late and I didn't want to go blundering through bear country, so I headed back to Slabtown and arranged for a ride home. What irked me was that I was just a mile and a half from Catawissa. Stupid bear. Between 1999 and 2014, I had only seen one bear in the wild. And now in 2015, I've seen four. Strange.

 View

 Dirt field

Heading through the woods, with especially strong signs of fall.

After being turned around by the bear, I had to go up a 100+ foot hill. Stupid bear. But then I got to go down 300 feet, and then down Slabtown Road. Once in Slabtown, I rode around on some flat straight roads until my ride came.

 Returning to Slabtown

 Barn and road

 Scenery

 Tree growing on rocks

Where the ride ended

My time was 2:12:16 and my pace was 5:00/mile due to all the hills. It was partially due to the hills and partially due to the fact that I had participated in the Dandelion Run 5K yesterday. It was a hilly trail run, but my time was 19:47, which was good for 4th overall.

 2225 feet of ascending and 4450 feet of elevation change

   Route map. (source)(license)