by WorldCrosser Admin | Sep 30, 2016 | Pennsylvania, Destinations, Dual Sport, Explore, Roads, Routes
Great Ride. Great Views.
The PA Grand Canyon is an incredible location to ride your motorcycle– no matter what type of bike you ride. On a nice day riders are everywhere, because the roads, trails and scenery in this area of Pennsylvania are awesome for motorcycles. Whether a dual sport, big adventure bikes or even sport bikes and cruisers. I recently rode a ADV bike up there. It was a full day of riding to get there from my house in New Jersey and when I arrived you could hardly find a spot in either of the two relatively large designated motorcycle parking areas. Both areas were packed full of bikes– all types. There must have been 75 bikes there if not more. The majority were cruisers but there were also adventure motorcycles, dual sports and the one that really caught my eye was a cool traveling scooter with traveling soft bags and the whole package. Looked like they were doing some serious cross country travel on the scooter. It is called the PA Grand Canyon by all and the souvenirs and shirts, all tout “PA Grand Canyon” as well, but technically it is the Pine Creek Gorge. And it is beautiful. There are two sides to the Gorge and each is a separate Pennsylvania State Park and, if you are into hiking like I am, the Turkey Trail connects the two parks together. Please note, if hiking the Turkey trail, you will need to cross the Pine creek to hike the whole Turkey trail from one side/park to the other, there is not a bridge and depending on the water table it can be an obstacle.
One side of the gorge is the Leonard Harrison State Park and the other is the Colton Point State Park. The Leonard Harrison side is more popular, as it has a visitor center, food truck, camping, bathhouse, ranger station, running water, and some other signs of a popular destination. The Colton Point side is much more subdued, it offers primitive camping and much more remote, although amenities do include pit toilets. ; ) So it depends on what you are after in your visit to the Pine Creek Gorge.
ADV Motorcycle Camping in Pennsylvania.
I camped on the Leonard Harrison side and it was a great spot, nice trees to hang my hammock tent, and only about a quarter mile from the trail entrance, lookout point and visitor center into the Gorge, campsites were clean and spacious, and the staff was so nice and friendly, for that matter so was everyone up there, visitors I met, as well as a local neighbor who sold me some wood for great price. It was a clear night and the stars were amazing up there, so bright and so many, I forgot how unbelievable the night sky can look when you are nowhere near a city and up in that higher altitude. There is cool phone app called Skyview that lets you identify stars, galaxies and constellations. See Skyview App.
The roads are amazing, twisty, and some steep hills that were like roller coasters on the bike. I advise planning a few days there, one for hiking, one for dual sporting and one for riding the wild PA Grand Canyon roads!
There are so many great roads and trails , but one great road in PA Route 6, also 414, and a cool water crossing at (41.573041, -77.335406), and there are just tons of great dual sport dirt roads and trails to ride around all day on. In short, the great roads and awesome tracks all around the area, make it an overall awesome adventure/dual sport location that you should put on your list to ride.
Awesome Photo courtesy of
Awesome Photo courtesy of
Awesome Photo courtesy of
I forgot to take picture of the onslaught of bikes parked up there at the PA Grand Canyon overlook, so if anyone happens to have a pic of all the bikes that are there on a nice day, please be so kind as to send one along for me to post. (feedback)
Thanks for reading and, as always, ride safe and have fun!
by WorldCrosser Admin | Sep 29, 2016 | ADV Camping Gear, ADV Gear, ADV Product Review
Okay I wanted to buy a relatively small lightweight backpacking or hiking chair for motorcycle camping for a while now, but the lightweight chairs on the market were upwards of $100 and I just didn’t pull the trigger. But then when I was at REI before a recent motorcycle trip I saw REI’s own brand of light hiking chair – the Flex Lite chair. Only $79, which was more reasonable in price, plenty lightweight for motorcycle camping and would fit fine right in my panniers. So I bought it and took on recent ADV outing and damn was I glad I did. After a tiring day hike being able to relax in that chair by the fire was just awesome. The chair packs small, goes together easily, seems strong and solid, has a lifetime warranty, and most importantly is a comfortable nice chair that fit me well. I am 6’1″ and 200lbs. It has the simple to assemble pole technology that you see in modern backpacking tents which has the elastic rope guiding each pole to snap into place, so in short it is a great lightweight camp chair that is a snap to set up (pun intended).
I have now taken the camp chair on a few overnight motorcycle adventures and it is by far my new favorite item in my ADV and Dual-sport motorcycle camping kit. I just love! And now I’m trying to figure out how I managed without it in the past. It’s a definite keeper.
Weight: 1lb 10oz
Seat Height: 11″ off ground
Back Height: 26″
Capacity: 250lbs
by WorldCrosser Admin | Jul 17, 2016 | ADV Riding Gear, ADV Gear, ADV Product Review, Adventure Tech
The Sedici “HotWired” heated vest from CycleGear is an affordable heated motorcycle vest that is worth consideration.
My experience is fair with this vest, I tried on the XL size and it seemed very short in the front. I realize when I am riding my legs will be bent bring the vest lower to abdomin, but it looked short. I am 6’1 and around 200 pounds. I then tried on the 2XL and that fit much better in length. So I bought it on sale for $99, normally $139, and it came with a “free” controller, which I think it should, but they sell it separately for $60!
Installing the connector to the bike’s battery and then plugging in the controller, was a simple task. 
Now it was time for testing out this baby, I used it couple times, and it worked fair but not overly impressed with the heat output, I must say. After some investigation, I realized the issue was that the vest was not tight enough up against me so I was not real snuggly and warm when it got cold late at night. There is a draw string on it to tighten bottom to stop air from getting under the vest, so I did that but it still wasn’t tight to my body and was below my expectations.
After a week or so, I went back to the CycleGear store and figured I am not a 2XL guy and would try the shorter length XL size hoping it would be a little tighter or more snug on my torso, but it seemed to be the exact same diameter or snugness, just shorter in length. So I ended up keeping the XXL size. The salesperson suggested I take it to a tailor and get the elastic sides hemmed in. Which would probably work, but I am a busy person and haven’t had the drive to investigate that yet and I wouldn’t want an internal wire in the vest to get sewed over and cut in the process rendering my new vest unusable, which would just be my luck. ; )
Don’t get me wrong, the vest is not horrible, it does the job but it definitely has room for improvement and could do the job better with better design or some straps or something to keep it snug
Also there are a few setting for temp on the controller, but I have never taken off high, as it never felt too warm for me, probably because it is not snug as I mentioned. It is on high or off for me. Maybe once I get it snug on my torso the levels of heat may come into play and I’ll update this post, but for now the heat settings are useless.
The big benefit is the vest is priced fairly, especially if you get it on sale, but all in all the Sedici Heated Vest leaves me wanting more from it.
Thanks for reading and ride safe and warm!
