Wknd Ride-Towanda Pennsylvania

Riding the Pennsylvania Backroads from Towanda PA

Most people who travel from Ontario to Pennsylvania for the great twisty roads base their stay in PA out of Coudersport, Wellsboro, State College or Dubois (pronounced as “dew-boys” by the locals). These are all good choices. Recently, we were invited to try riding out of Towanda Pennsylvania.

Towanda is further east than where I normally ride in Pennsylvania. So when our friend Josh Kreider suggested we ride from Towanda, it was like discovering a new place with new roads to explore.

Towanda is still technically in north central Pennsylvania. It is in an area with lots of twisty back roads and close enough to the well known 144, 44, Wyckoff Run, Hyner View and Grand Canyon of PA that you can do new roads and ones you have ridden before. Our friendly Wellsboro Canyon Motel owner suggested we give the Crystal Springs Inn in Towanda a try as a good place to ride from.

We were able to get to the Crystal Springs Inn in about 5 hours travel from the GTHA in Ontario. We did the superslab expressway to save some time but we could have done two lane back roads most of the way if we wanted to do the trip in scenic New York and PA.

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We rode for three days using the Crystal Springs Inn as our base. The Inn is modern, clean with spacious rooms and a “we like motorcycles” attitude. The Inn is just outside of the town on Route 220. It is close enough to three or four really great places to eat but far enough out of town that we could watch the mist rising over the valley while having our morning coffee. We stayed in for some of our meals as the rooms are equipped with a full kitchen. We made our own meals a few times to save a few bucks.

The first day we rode (two motorcycles and 4 people) a bunch of the back roads around Mt Pisgah State Park and then dropped south on HWY 154 into Worlds End State Park and the village of Eagles Mere PA. Tucked away off of HWY 42 is a great little twisty road into a great overlook that is part of the Worlds End State park. Be careful as the park has three great overlooks but two of them are gravel roads really only suitable for Adventure touring bikes or the fearless (not us). If you get hungry enroute, I highly recommend the Forksville General Store and Restaurant. It is just off HWY 154 at the covered bridge. When you have had enough of the state parks, a trip back north on HWY 220 takes you back to Towanda and the Crystal Springs Inn.

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The second day we rode some of the fun back roads on the east side of the Susquehanna River. All the roads were paved, twisty and went through forest or farm land. Hwy 187 runs south from the New York border to Hwy 87. We ventured off on a few of the side roads and got pleasantly lost. After a short jaunt east on Hwy 87, we rode back north on Hwy 6, 367 and 467. These were all roads that we had not been on before.

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The third day, we rode along hwy 6 (the Grand Army of the Republic Highway) from Towanda to Wellsboro PA (about 85 km). After a lazy Sunday Brunch at the Penn Wells Hotel, we rode outside of town to the west side of the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania (Colton Point State Park).The road to the top of canyon overlook is one of the best Pennsylvania has to offer. The road to the park runs off of hwy 6 and has every kind of curve. Why would anyone ride 3 days to do the “Tail of the Dragon” when this road is so close to Ontario is a mystery to me!

We rode south after our park visit. We got onto HWY 414 going east to our motel at Towanda. Hwy 414 has a few very challenging corners going east to add some zing to your ride. All in all, a great day’s ride with a combination of leisurely roads and a few tight twisties thrown in.

The trip from Ontario to our stay at the Crystal Springs Inn was a refreshing change. The friendly staff at the Inn supplied us with boards for under side stands and throw away towels to wipe down our bikes. They carry a few free road maps of the area and gave us an EatSleepRide welcome when we booked our rooms.

As with anywhere in Pennsylvania, I would recommend you don’t ride the back roads after supper time. Early evening is “deer on the road” time.