Trail Help For Luzerne, Schuylkill, Carbon (Etc) Counties Of PA

Hello, fellow inmates!

I've been riding for a long time, but have basically zero off-road/unpaved experience. I bought a new F800GS in July and am looking for some beginner-type dirt roads to familiarize myself with the bike and get comfortable with riding off-road.

I live in the Hazleton area of Luzerne County, PA. Does anyone have some routes/gpx routes they could help me out with or just some old-fashioned written directions and/or maps?

Thanks!

The TET runs about 15-20 miles southeast of where you're at.

It runs almost to Vermont north from there, and (along with TET-S) all the way south to Carabelle, Florida.

You should be able to have a little fun on that!

The central PA and NE PA stuff has a mix of paved back roads and gravel back roads. Pretty easy stuff and good to start off on. Good fun indeed.

It crosses NW NJ through High Point and the Delaware Water Gap - you should be familiar with those areas.

Get the route, head over to it, pick a direction and GO! Your 800 will be just fine... Get a sunny day, ride to mid afternoon, then slab it home. Next time pick the other direction....

Thanks for the reply!

I'll download some of those gpx files and give them a try.

Thanks again!

try tower city . now named rausch creek trail riders . go and talk to bud at matto honda in carbon stclair . tell him you are a friend of me (HAL) .
THEIR is alot of offroad near you
oh and get a permit at the anthracite mining co and they will give you a map of their parcels .
also check out centrailia .

Thanks, Hal. I appreciate the help!

go to google maps and find Park Place PA (13 miles SW from Hazleton).
Zoom in and find Tower road where it goes north out of Park Place PA.
that is a fun road to play on. the Trans PA Trail goes across that road :)

I did drag a couple guys over it on street bikes (in the dry) but I would not try it on your stock tires when it is raining.

Thanks! I really want to try out that road!

I actually went there last week (I take all back roads, including the Delano road, on my trips to Hermy's BMW/Triumph (my local dealer) which is about 45 minutes SW of me. I only got a little ways off the blacktop and there was a huge puddle that was the whole width of the road which reminded me of Lake Pontchartrain.
Anyway, I'd never been on the road before and didn't know how deep the waterhole was, so I decided to wait till we had a dry stretch before I went back. I'm definitely going to explore that road, but we're in the midst of the rifle deer season now and going into the woods of PA now can be hazardous to your health. :)

June 2010, here we are on the north side of the hill that starts out of Park Place.
If I recall, the road was hard to find, it looked like it was a dirt driveway that went behind someone's garage.

I was riding my Buell, we also had an F800gs, Vstrome 650 and 200X bmw R 1200 ST I think.
note we were all riding tires that typically come on ADV bikes (no knobbies) accept the R1200 had total street bike tires :huh

We were taking a break, that is my sleeping bag laying on the ground, I needed do get something out of my top case.

Looks like a fun trail!

towpro, after looking on google maps, are those all trails and gravel/dirt roads around the park place area?
recently was out that way and never knew they were there.
any gps maps or routes?

thx

All I have done is ridden through the area once while on the Trans PA Trail.

Here is the gpx for the trans PA trail. It was part of day 1.
removed, was wrong URL
If you ride any of the Trans PA Trail, I have tested it through Emporium PA, next summer I will test from Emporium south.

anyway, I have seen other posts of people showing me some kind of (no longer used) railroad tunnel near park place. I think it was NE a little. i don't know if this area is patrolled for ATV/Dirt bike riders, but the maps show tower road goes through, so I followed it :)., of course on Legal tagged bikes. This time of year I would tend to stay away because of hunters (who should be out of the woods on Sundays).

Edit, actually it was part of Day 1, so I edited this post.

That's Lofty Tunnel.

Never been there myself, but I've heard it almost always has standing water in it and that at times it can be get pretty deep. Personally, I'd only try tackling it during a dry stretch.

Here is a picture I found on the internet of Lofty tunnel

Caption from website I found picture on:

The old (Tamaqua to Berwick) turnpike ran along the left side of the tunnel. As late as the 1960s one could drive a car all the way through. Obviously, floods have wrecked the old roadbed. For whatever odd reason, the railway approaches to the roadbed over this tunnel were dynamited in the 1960s

I live in Blakeslee... Near the Race Track... There are lots of cool dirt road you can ride real close...

Do you know where Eckly Miners Village is?

Google it if you dont... Out of the Parking lot, where the old Mine car is.... Go Staight...towards what looks like a pit/mine area.

Stay to your Left... You will see a dirt road going down and then to the Rigt. Follow that all the way across the mountain, you will wind up on valley Rd... Continue straight for about a mile past the campground... look for Caplos Rd. Take a Right... Ride that over to Lehigh Gorge Rd.

This is a video of a tunnel you can ride though in Near Hazleton... (Just watch out.....Often Lots of Deep Water...) I see lots of post talking about Lofty Tunnel.. I am not sure this is it or not. I had it tagged on a GPS and road through it twice, but since lost the data and have not been able to find it. I think if I focused on it.. I could..

http://youtu.be/Ip7j4xR_SlE

The Attached image is the start of the Ride from Eckley's

Trans PA Trail!... Cool... I was talking to some guys on another thread about creating one... I know the way from Milford to west Luzerne moslty off road... I will check that data out... Thanks!

Hey, thanks a TON for this info! Yes, I know all that area like the back of my hand; Eckley, Buck Mountain, Tannery Road, Hickory Run, etc, but only the paved roads. This is a BIG help and I really appreciate it!

I was just at Hickory Run State Park on Monday (from 61F on Monday to a fracking snowstorm Weds night ), stopped at Boulder Field, and rode over that low water bridge on the way out. It had about 8" of water flowing over it and my 90/10 Pirelli Scorpion Trails spun a bit on the wet rocks, but they handled the hard-pack dirt and loose gravel surprisingly well. I'm going to try to wear these out as fast as I can and replace them with a set of Heidenau K60 Scouts. I think they'll be enough of an off-road tire to suit my needs.

Thanks again!

Here's a pic of me at Hickory Run State Park with Boulder Field in the background.

The TPAT picks up in Frenchtown NJ where the Trans NJ trail ends, then heads NW towards PA grand canyon, west to Emporium then south to Michaux state forest where it picks up the Trans WV trail.

The towns you name are north of where the trans PA traiil goes.

BUT, :) we need a route from Hancock NY to PA grand canyon (or Wellsboro). For the campgrounds to work out, you need to eat lunch in Wellsboro. This allows riders to bypass the Trans NJ Trail if they want.

If your interested, PM me and I can send what I drew on the maps.

Will

Well, I finally did the Tower Road portion of the TPT yesterday which is located in Schuylkill County. After I got deep into it, I was wondering what in hell I was doing there , but I got through the whole length with no problems and I have to say it really built my confidence and gave me a sense of pride when I finally hit tarmac again in Brandonville in one piece.

I also have to say that I'm genuinely impressed with my F800GS. Even with its 90/10 Pirelli Scorpion Trail tires, wherever I pointed it, it went without complaint. If it started to feel a little unstable, I goosed the throttle a little and it got right back into shape.

Sixty might not be the best age for someone to start their off-road riding adventures, but I'm stoked!

Glad to hear you enjoyed my route (the Trans PA Trail or TPAT). This summer you need to ride more if it.
The rest of it is also fun. The rest is a little more maintained stone road type tower road, but great views and fun is hell.

I will be finishing the western 1/2 this spring/summer

I'll be looking forward to it and thanks for all your efforts! I'm a little sore today, but I had a blast!