Coburn - Grand Canyon PA. More pictures!

We rolled out of Coburn to Milheim. Milheim was a medium sized town on the Delorme map. We figured that it would have a diner. Wrong. Gas station breakfast and gas station coffee. Such a let down after a long day the day before.
We were prepared for a mountain, but there was a "narrow" that found its way between a pretty serious ridge. Sweet. We rode lots of Amish farm roads and crossed over another mountain, into a more isolated valley of more Amish farm roads. These were a few of the best roads that I have ridden. PA state routes 192 and 880. We crossed under route 80 and headed for Jersey Shore, PA.
Yes there is a town called Jersey Shore, PA. It doesnt consist of much, but is the southern terminus for the Pine Creek Gorge (aka grand canyon of PA). If this attraction was in most other places, upon entering town, a tourist would know. Not the case here. We had to seek it out, and eventually found it. We headed north on the rail trail.

At one point we were riding along and I was like "dude a bear" pointing at one of those things that people use for archery practice. It was like 30 feet away. Mike slowed and confirmed that it was actually a bear. He looked like a cartoon!

We met up with a bike tourist riding from Florida to Erie. Mike and I slowed down our pace by 5 or 6 mph to enjoy his company. He was a 60 something retired school teacher. He and Mike went to the same elementary school. Then as a teacher, he taught a bunch of hell raisers that I knew from BMX in Erie. Small world.

We stopped in the late afternoon at a rad campground. It was right on Pine Creek, had a water pump and bathroom. The creek water was super warm (compared to Penns creek the previous day it was nearly boiling). I was amazed at how alive the river was. There were Blue Heron, tons of red faced ducks (no idea what kind they are, just they had red faces), tons of fish that you could see in the water. While swimming you can see fish all around you under water. It was pretty amazing.



We were in an amish valley for a long time. Stubna had met Amish kids on a bike trip before, and they talked about how they would leave a voice message for the whole community. This is apparently where the whole valley checks their voicemail or makes emergency calls? Neat.



Check the township!



Hey look a fake bear. Oh wait.



Blue Heron.



Super old cemetery.



1791 - 1891



Big rattlesnake.



Blue Heron




Our new friend.



Bikes, cookies and Stubs taking a bath.



view upstream



view downstream



water so clear we could see schools of fish



About 30 ducks spent hours swimming upstream then flying back down. I think they were getting dinner?



Glad Dr. Stubna engineered this dynamical bear bag.