by WorldCrosser Admin | Nov 20, 2015 | Destinations, Explore, Pennsylvania
Ricketts Glen State Park is a great place ride your motorcycle to in Pennsylvania. There are some awesome windy roads and great mountains to go up and over. After a day of riding around Benton PA, you have to camp out at Ricketts Glen, they have very nice facilities and best of all a great hike where you will see some beautiful waterfalls.
It is best to make a reservation online prior to just heading up there as they can fill up fast. There is a nice large lake, which as of summer of 2015 was drained for maintenance, so please check if this is important to you. But even if lake is not there you will hike the waterfalls and love your time at Ricketts Glen.
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- 22 Waterfalls you can walk around a nice trail to check out.
- The forest service puts on little events and info seminars or walks to educate – a great little amenity
- Pick up Wood before you get to camp as it is not available there and you are no around the corner from well, anything.
Picking up some wood for tonight’s fire.
- 245 Acre lake
- Cabins can be rented as well.
It is a great destination to ride to, there are also snowmobile trails too, so I would assume you can ride your adventure dual sport bike during the warm weather there, but I did not get a chance to check them out.
Couple tips:
- Cell service is very spotty or nonexistent in the park.
- There are supposed a lot of bears in the area- although I did not see one.
Here is a link to PA state park info – Click here
Thanks for reading and ride safe!!
by WorldCrosser Admin | Nov 8, 2015 | Destinations, Explore, New Jersey, Roads, Routes
Dual sport motorcycle in NJ Pine Barrens
In the most congested state there is is still an area the has not been developed and is great for dual sport and adventure motorcycle the Pinelands. Also know a the Pine Barrens. There are a few state parks that encompass the Pinelands, the largest is Wharton state park, there are plenty of fire roads and dirt roads throughout the pine barrens, plenty of stream crossings and lots of large puddles, unless it hasn’t rained in a while. A couple cool place to check out are Apple Pie Hill – a forest ranger tower that on a clear day you can see Philly and Atlantic City. Batsto village an old glass making town or village that has a great lake , visitors center etc, also ride along the mullica- some great roads there, Atsion Lake and Goshen Pond are a few more areas to explore. There are so many roads and trails that you could spend weeks going through it all and still find cool places to ride.
There are trails for all type of adventure riders, there is a lot of single track, although rumor is Hiking club is trying to stop all single track riding, there are some nice “quad size trails”, say double track, these are my favorite, and of course there are dirt roads that are not inundated with sand that the big Adv bikes will love. So bike choice, small dual sport, 250cc-400cc for single track, KLR or DR 650-ish bikes for medium trails and sandy forest roads are perfect, and big bikes are best on the forest roads and some packed trails/roads. Okay, Okay, I hear you yelling, now there is always the exception, where you can ride your big bike down a single track that is a blast and fun but that is the exception not the general rule when riding the Pines. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of miles to ride and explore in the Pines, and there it would take a number of days to see just get the highlights. Always a nice serene place to ride, that I ride often.
Couple tips when riding in the Pines:
- Make sure you are running low pressure and knobbies as there is a ton of sand, but it is a great time.
- If you stop for lunch our in the bush- bring bug spray they grow mosquitos big in NJ
- Always ride with a buddy
- Plan you ride, ride you plan (I know that goes against the adventure spirit)
- Let a loved one know where you are planning to go.
- Bring your GPS, as cell service works but it’s not very strong
- Remember some areas of the Pines cell service is limited or nonexistent
- There can be some deep and big puddles, be careful
- Watch out for the Jersey devil!
And after it rains there are some serious puddles!
[message type=”Be Warned”]Supposedly Rangers are cracking down on single track riding in the Pines, and they have released a “Motorized Access Plan” or MAP for roads that one can be one. Here is Wharton State park’s “MAP” Map that shows legal roads for motor Vehicles.
Click on Wharton State Forest map to see larger version or see original on NJ website here.
Get your very own NJ ADV Pine Barrens Sticker – click the image below:
by WorldCrosser Admin | Oct 18, 2015 | Adventure Moto News, Adventure Motorcycles
New for 2016: Kawasaki has introduced the KLR 650 CAMO Version!!
Thanks Kawasaki for introducing a cool dual sport to the mix of adventure motorcycle market. The KLR is a staple in the industry and has a huge fan base of adventure riders and I’m really glad they are keeping it fresh, functional and still relatively simple. First off the digital camo graphics look just awesome and is one bad ass dual sport bike.
Okay for some specs on the Camo KLR650:
- 651cc, which is the same for this bike
- Nice tail rack
- 21′ front wheel
- 6.1 gallon gas tank
- fair windscreen – they advertise it as large but I’m not so sure – I’ll have to ride one!
- 41mm telescopic fork
- and of course the Matrix Camo Graphics option for $300 extra
Check out more specs in WorldCrosser’s Bike list or check out:
Kawasaki’s Webpage on their new dual sport adventure bike.
Kawasaki offer a few farkles for it’s Camo KLR:
Panniers / top case, Cool trans handlebar bag and Trans Tank bag too
Here is link to OEM Kawasaki KLR accessories.
Now what is the difference between the KLR650 and the KLR650 Camo?
Just the color / graphics? I did a side by side on the specs and don’t see anything that make the Camo version any different. Please reply below and let me know what I’m missing, if anything.
Camo seems to be the coolest color but Kawasaki alos offer this bike in – Candy Lime Green & Ebony colors as well.
Thanks!
2016 KLR650 Camo Close Up
by WorldCrosser Admin | Sep 8, 2015 | ADV Camping Gear, ADV Gear, Food
So you are looking for the perfect water filter for you overlanding or adventure motorcycle riding exploration. There are many filters out there ranging in price from very cheap to very expensive. If you are doing couple day or week long adventures you may be in the market for a personal small water filter. You have a couple choices here but the two to that most gravitate towards:
The Sawyer Mini Filter or the LifeStraw Personal
The Sawyer Mini Filter
This unit is rated very high by many users all over the internet. In short, people just love it, it can filter over 100,000 gallons and come with a plunger for backwashing it. It is small, light and compact, it costs around $20 and you can even pick it up at Walmart. The package contains 16-oz squeeze pouch, drinking straw and cleaning plunger. Comes is number of cool colors and only weighs in at 2oz, but after you use it for the first time, it will have water in it increasing the actual weight. Packaging states it can filter 100,000 gallons of water. More details on the Sawyer Mini Filter.
The Lifestraw Personal
Lifestraw personal was the original, small, chemical free water filter. Lifestraw donates clean water to developing countries through a program they call “Follow the Liters”. It also weighs in at 2 oz dry and filters up to 1000 liters
The Lifestraw is the original but it is larger and the specs seem to give the Sawyer Mini Filter a leg up on the Lifestraw. But this could be just marketing, as it should be duly noted that there are claims that are considered over the top marketing, and at one point Sawyer changed their marketing from claiming the device is good for 1,000,000 uses to 100,000 — but either is plenty for a $25 product. More details about Lifestraw Personal.
Most of the time when I am traveling on my bike, I can get fresh water from a gas station, store, campground where ever, but I have run out of water or didn’t 100% trust the source. So I always keep a water filter as part of my travel kit. I personally use a filter on all my primitive camping outing which is real camping in my opinion. LOL!
In conclusion, both are great affordable products and take away the need for chemical and the need to carry large purifying systems. You won’t go wrong with either one, but I think the Sawyer has a leg up due to it’s size and ability to connect to any standard water bottle. It is simple to use and convenient.
Let us know which water filter you use and if you are not already remember to sign up for our newsletter, it will keep you up to date with great content and helpful info that will keep your overlanding the best it can be.
Ricketts Glen State Park is a great place ride your motorcycle to in Pennsylvania. There are some awesome windy roads and great mountains to go up and over. After a day of riding around Benton PA, you have to camp out at Ricketts Glen, they have very nice facilities and best of all a great hike where you will see some beautiful waterfalls.
