Further Afield: Our Favorite Distant Routes
Ebike Routes in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York State
These self-guided bike routes — through pine barrens, hemlock ravines, mountains and marshes — require a little more driving to get to. But they’re undeniably worth the trip. Here are our favorite electric bike rides, further afield.
Further Afield: Franklin Parker Preserve
Old cranberry bogs, twisted pitch pine forests and remarkable wetlands teeming with animal life and rare plants are the enchanting backdrop for this electric bike ride through the Pine Barrens of New Jersey.
Further Afield: Brendan T. Byrne State Forest
Late winter is the perfect season for this pine barrens adventure in Brendan T. Byrne State Forest. Unlike other pinelands routes, this one is mostly paved, but the roads through the forest and along the wetlands are remote and isolated.
Further Afield: Stokes State Forest and Tillman Ravine
The off-season is the perfect time for this electric bike adventure in Stokes State Forest. In winter, the gated roads are off-limits to cars, but not to your electric bike. This is when the sense of isolation is deepest, and the hillsides, thick with hemlocks, provide a welcome contrast to the blahs of winter.
More e-bike routes you might like:
The Steep Rock
This isn’t farm country, but rolling woods and dirt roads for miles. Streams and the Shepaug River flow under bridges at several turns, and in the fall, the rivers are lit from above by the golden leaves of massive sugar maples and yellow birch. 11.5 miles.
The Whitlock
A Mid-Hudson ride past country laneways, farms and horse pastures, with a sweet diversion to Millbrook Vineyards and Winery. Start at Whitlock Preserve, in Clinton Corners.
The Macedonia: A Western Connecticut Ride
The Macedonia Brook tumbles alongside the start of this 16-mile ride in Kent, Connecticut. With plenty of hardpack and gravel, hybrid e-bikes are well-suited to the route.
The Cary: A Mid-Hudson Route
This farmland loop through an area of quiet beauty connects the gardens of Millbrook to the Cary Institute grounds in the Mid-Hudson Valley.