Overnight Bike Ride from Jenkintown and Philadelphia to New York City
My daughter Kate wanted to go bike camping, so we decided to bike to New York City via Philadelphia. We left from Jenkintown, and the route goes through Philadelphia. If you were to bike from Center City, the mileage would be about 3 miles further on the first day.
Here is our trip map in google:
On Friday, Oct 9, after school (3:30), Kate and I left home for New York City on our bikes. Our plan was to bike 100+ miles to New York City and take NJ Transit back on Saturday. 39 miles Friday. 68 miles Saturday.
We biked to Mercer County Park, which has 10 beautiful campsites and is a model of what towns, cities and counties everywhere could follow. The walk-in campsites have soft ground, Adirondack chairs, wood for campfires stacked at the site, and a picnic table. Even the trash and recycling area is well thought out. Some sites have lean-to structures as well.
Honestly, I want to advocate for high quality micro-campgrounds like this. The sites are all walk-in. You can make an online reservation for just one night for $20.
We left Mercer County Park a little after 7:00 am and biked to the D&R Canal Trail in Princeton. The towpath gets a lot of use by runners and people fishing. Most cyclists in the area seemed to ride on adjacent roads, and we ultimately moved off the trail.
I have a hard time sticking to a plan. In Trenton, we changed our route to accommodate dinner. The next morning there was a road construction detour. At Millstone (along the D&R Canal), we changed our route altogether and headed towards New Brunswick.
By 11:30 am, we had a relaxing Vietnamese lunch somewhere in Middlesex County. After lunch, we crossed over the myriad of expressways on our way to the Goethals Bridge and on to Staten Island.
We caught the 3:30 Staten Island Ferry (which was FREE) to Battery Park, biked up the Hudson River Greenway to 34th Street, and made our way to Penn Station to catch the 4:54 NJ Transit train to Princeton Junction, where Sandi and Jessica picked us up. They had spent the afternoon in Princeton, kayaking and walking around.
By 7:30, we were home, enjoying pasta with homemade pesto.
If you want to try this and have questions, feel free to ask. The cost of this trip without food was $52.
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- Kate biking on the Pennypack Trail by Lorimer Park
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- Path next to Fox Chase Farm between the Philadelphia Pennypack Trail and the Montgomery County Pennpack Trail.
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- Grant Avenue, Philadelphia
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- Bristol Pike, Bicycle PA Route E and East Coast Greenway.
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- Delaware and Lehigh Canal Towpath (D&L) between Bristol and Morrisville
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- Kate getting a bug out of her eye
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- Walkway on the Trenton Makes bridge between Morrisville and Trenton.
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- Selfie, with Trenton in the background.
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- Biking at night on NJ 535, Edinburg Rd
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- Camping at Mercer County Park campground.
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- Trash area for the Mercer County Park Campground.
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- Morning sky at Mercer County Park
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- Bike lane on Ediburg Dutch Neck Rd
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- Culvert tunnel along the D&R Trail
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- Changing out of bike tights.
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- Fall colors along the Delaware and Raritan (D&R)Canal Towpath
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- Lock along the D&R Towpath. There were several pumps along the canal.
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- Quite road near the canal
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- Bikeshop on Amwell Road and Demott Lane
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- Lunch in Edison, NJ
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- Elizabeth Ave in Rahway
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- View approaching west end of Goethels Bridge from Brunswick Ave.
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- View approaching west end of Goethals Bridge from Brunswick Ave.
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- Biking onto West end Goethals Bridge from Brunswick Ave.
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- Goethals Bridge bicycle and pedestrian path.
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- Goethals Bridge bicycle and pedestrian path.
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- Looking north from Goethals Bridge bicycle and pedestrian path.
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- Heading beneath the Bayonne Bridge.
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- On the Staten Island Ferry.
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- Kate, standing next to our bikes near the bow of the Staten Island Ferry.
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- Ferry and Statue of Liberty
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- NYC Skyline
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- Henry Hudson Bikeway, just north of Battery Park.
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- View from the Henry Hudson Bikeway at 34th Street near Penn Station.
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- Bikes bungee corded in NJ Transit train. The seats fold up.
