Trans PA Trail

[TowPro]

Originally Posted by Wiggus

Do as much as you can, ignoring the road out of Poe Paddy to Penn's View (that's just for interested riders)

If someone was to want to ride that poe paddy Hero section, would they ride the whole poe paddy loop? Or go to where your red line connects, then ride in and back out to the same spot?

[madmaximum]

I'm going to try to ride the course section that Wiggus laid out in the am. I am testing out a new wing sauce recipe at the moment, and this process requires a fair amount of beer consumption, so I make no promises.

[TowPro]

Beer is good. It is full of carbos.
And as long as you drink about 1/2 gallon of water before you go to bed you wouldn't be as dehydrated in the heat tomorrow.

[Wiggus]

Originally Posted by towpro

If someone was to want to ride that poe paddy Hero section, would they ride the whole poe paddy loop? Or go to where your red line connects, then ride in and back out to the same spot?

I changed the name from Hero Section to Rough Section; Hero might have been misleading. And I changed the text to "This road out of Poe Paddy up to Penn's view is barely maintained two-track. We rode it on a Tiger and an F-650. Rough, many rocks, and sandy when you get up top, but there are two additional vistas along the way to Penn's View to reward you. I'd suggest riding up out of Poe Paddy before deciding if you want to ride back down or continuing on to Pine Swamp."

From Cycle Shots

Here's us at Penn's View after climbing out of Poe Paddy.

[rockinrog]

Something you may want to add in the notes or map is camping at Poe Valley State Park.. just a mile or so from Poe Paddy. It re-opened this year with modern bathrooms and showers. If someone is on a multi-day run a hot shower might be welcomed.

[Wiggus]

Will do.

[madmaximum]

I was able to go out today and run the portion that Wiggus set up. I'm not sure if it is day 3 or 4, the email said day 3, but the file said day 4. I'm sure he can clear that up.
I think his ride is great! Wiggus really did a good job with the route. Not to much pavement, and what there was of it was fun to ride. It took me about 6 hours total including stopped time.
Here's what the GPS tells me.
142 miles
4 hrs 12 minutes moving time
1 hr 28 minutes stopped
Moving average 33.7
Overall average 25.0

The gps shut off on me a few times when I hit some rough stuff, so those numbers are off slightly. I also shut it off once when I thought I would have to abandon the ride.

A few issues I ran into, none related to the route layout, all were from my equipment.
I use a small handheld unit, a Etrex Legend. It does not tell me what direction the track is traveled, so I had an issue when I came out at the bottom of 7 Mtns and there were 3 tracks showing. I fired up the laptop to see the correct way to go.
At mile 68 the track stopped showing up. Once again I fired up the laptop. I tried reloading the track but it still wouldn't showup. So I continued to the next intersection and tried again. It turns out the track is too big for my gps, so I cut it in half and then loaded it, which worked. At mile 127 the track disappered again, so I stopped to cut the track into 3 pieces. That's when I noticed the center stand was wet. UH OH. Yup, it's oil, all over the bottom of the engine, back tire, etc. Banjo bolt for the one oil cooler line is leaking, looks to have taken a hit from a rock. I had heard a pretty good whack a while ago, that was probably it. Luckily nothing was broken, the rock had only knocked it loose. I tighted it, oil level was right at the "L" in the sight glass, so off I went.
The last issue was the gps display. Mine is only grayscale, so at times it was hard to see the track, which showed up the same shade as streams and some other stuff.
So if you use a small unit like I have, chop that track in 3 pieces before you load it, and be prepared to do some squinting to see if you are really going the right way.

Thanks for the great ride Wiggus!
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go top off my oil..................

[madmaximum]

[TowPro]

This is great Madmax. Thanks.

Now that I see where you live, maybe we can talk you into riding up to Emporium and following the route south to black moshannon?

I tested from Crossfork to Emporium and it was nice. I had around 50 miles to that point, so there is around 100 miles left to test ride.

[madmaximum]

I'll gladly do it, no problem. I will be away next weekend but after that I am free the following 2 weekends as well as the entire week before the labor day weekend.

[Wiggus]

Nice Max! Your Strom looks chipped and tarred now. Around here, we get out our Tagging Mats at 4PM, kneel on them and bow down in the direction of Max's houes.

That was indeed Day 4.

[TowPro]

TPAT word document has been updated and Day 4 has now been added to the tpat.zip file (as linked to earlier in this thread). I included 4 .gpx files covering the main track, 1 optional section (tram road), 1 shortcut (Boal Gap Road), and one poe paddy rough section.

Now onto finishing Day 3, and creating Day 5.

Thanks again for the help! This route would take years to complete without your help. (and would not be near as good)

[madmaximum]

Is there a day 3 gpx file I can look at?

[TowPro]

Originally Posted by madmaximum

Is there a day 3 gpx file I can look at?

http://w3wjr.rosenberry.us/tpat.zip
download it, open the zip, and you want file named Day-3-testedToEmporum.gpx

[craigman]

So Wiggus directed me over to this lil project. My question is...How can I help with or ride this trail. Do I need a gps or is there a mapquest version? I like paper and books... Don't run out of power and I can print backups! I live on the south side of Bald Eagle Forest right at the foot of the mountain.

The PortMatilda rider "Madmaximum"..Do you know a guy named Fleck that rides?