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Last weekend, myself and 4 of my buddies went and did a bikepacking trip from Denville to Port Jervis, NY to Mount Bethel, PA and back. It's amazing how things can and will change and like everything else it's good to roll with the punches. Our original plan was to leave from Denville and ride up to Port Jervis and then down the Delaware on the PA side to the Beach River Campground. Then day 2 was going to be riding from that camp to the Jugtown Mountain campground in Asbury, NJ. Day 3 was from Asbury to home. The best part about bikepacking is that everything we needed was on us. So a lot of the pretrip planning we never even used. 3 of us were on gravel bikes and two of us were on MTB's. It was a nice mix of gear and most of us were on our second bikepacking trip so we had a "little" experience doing this before. I should also say that we we weighed our setups before we left. Weight's ranged from 45 lbs to 70 lbs. Let's just say that some of us "may" have overpacked...lol.
On day 1 we rode from my place onto Randolph Trails and Patriots Path over to the West Morris Trail. Jumped on a little piece of the Columbia Trail, the cut through Stephens State Park and got to the Sussex Branch where we would spend a bunch of miles. Actually this is where the one bit of pre-planning really helped. We noticed a line of nasty thunderstorms coming through the area that Friday and they were expected at 2pm. Sure enough at 1:50 we saw the skies darken and the sounds of thunder were getting closer by the second. We jumped off of the Sussex branch for our first pitstop at mile 37 at the Newton QuickCheck. Perfect timing! We got some food and drinks, and refueled as the torrential rain and lightning crashed all around us. It was bad for about 20 minutes but we didn't mind hanging out under their roof. We finished our stuff and it lightened up a bit and we headed out. It was still rainy but we needed to get some more miles in if we were going to make it anywhere near where we wanted to camp for the night. We opted for the road instead of remaining on the Sussex branch as we knew it would be flooded and just not fun in sections. We kept on it and started to plan out our camp. We wanted to stop in Port Jervis for a beer and a burger and we did just that. Fox and Hare was great as usual! While we were there we found out the campground we wanted to stay at was closed - as in they closed for the day. So to avoid going there and possibly not having a place to stay we met up with Deejay from Action Bikes and he convinced us to stay in the new campground up in Elks Brox park up the hill. He gave us a guided tour along the way and it was a perfect camp. New wooden tent platforms, porto johns, and running water. That's all we needed. Day 1 was 70 miles in 6 hours flat. After we relaxed and got camp all setup, we took a late night stroll to the flagpole to check out the stars/overlook and it was worth the slog up the hill. The next morning we packed up and headed on our second leg with a decent night's sleep and ready for more.
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Day 2 was interested to say the least. Let me sum up the day...HOT. It was a scorcher out there. When we woke up it was warm and humid so it was only going to get worse from there. Actually it got worse I the first downhill. I talked the guys into taking Cosmic Charlie out the the campground. If anyone knows that trail it's downhill, fast, and rocky. It was essential to pick good lines with these heavy bikes. 4 of the 5 of us did well. The other banged a rim and needed a little TLC at Deejay's shop. So we grabbed some bagel sandwiches and threw them down and got the wheel fixed. Getting a little later start just meant it was getting hotter fast. The first leg was down 209 into Milford which wasn't bad. It had some traffic but at least the shoulders were big and it was no issue. Down by Milford we jumped on the McDade trail. Ahh back to gravel. It was good but not exactly the flattest as we were hoping. It definitely had some punchy sections that hurt the legs on those heavy bikes. It started to take a toll and then we figured out how little water was available there. At Dingmans we hopped back on the road to make some time and get to water quicker. We made it to Bushkill to get some lunch. After that we wen't a few miles down 209 and that road SUCKS. Shoulder got smaller and littered with everything and the traffic was fast and furious. We refilled our water at Wawa and wanted to get the hell out of there. We left 209 just before Stroudsburg and got to some quiet road to cross under 80 and start going south along the Delaware on the PA side. As we started looking at the time and the want to get to Jugtown...it wasn't happening. At All. So we started doing some googling and found Driftstone Campground in Mt. Bethel, PA. That was our new target. We just needed to keep on it and get there. That was the best call of the weekend. It meant our route for day 3 would have to be figured out, but at least we could get to camp, cool down in the river, and get some real food. Day 2 was 55 miles in 4:45.
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Day 3, I worked out a route on the roads I have ridden before coming back through Belvidere, NJ. The only issue was tired legs and climbing. There were at least two big climbs to get over to get home. We actually got an early start on Day 3 as it was supposed to get hotter than the previous day. It would have been a little earlier, but as we were gathering up everything at camp, I found an issue with my bike. The front tire had grown a tumor. It looks like the rubber delaminated and was bubbling outward. That wouldn't be good. Any piece of rock or debris could make me lose the front end which would not be pretty. Good thing I brought a spare tire! I threw the new rubber on with a tube and off we went. We were still on the early side so we headed out to get it done. The two big climbs were Jane's Chapel road in Oxford and Old Mine Hill road in Hackettstown. We crept over those and they weren't actually that bad if you took your time. Legs were soft but still moving. We got back into familar territory and the spirits picked up as we knew there was cold beer close by. We got back to my place and cracked open a few and enjoyed finishing this trip. Day 3 was 42 miles in 4 hours flat.
Final stats were 3 states, 2 taylor ham egg and cheeses, lotsa coke and snickers, 172 miles, 9600 feet of climbing, 14:45 riding time. Not a bad weekend. We all had our ups and downs. A few were ready to sell their bikes and call for an uber. The good news is that talks have already started about when will we do this again.