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.

Site icon of electric bike rider

Spiky plants grow along a dirt road in the forest

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.

a lonely road through a forest

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.

Rustic wooden bridge over a stream in Franklin Parker Preserve.

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.

More e-bike routes you might like:

A lone cyclist on the Empire State Trail Maybrook segment, with a hilly background

An Empire State Trail Loop Ride: The Maybrook Trailway Past Whaley Lake

Ride the newly-opened Maybrook Trailway segment of the Empire State Trail; then, return via peaceful rural backroads, creating the perfect 17-mile loop for your electric bike.

A brilliantly colored forest road

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.

Sunrise streams through a large stone gatehouse -- the Testimonial Gate -- at Mohonk Preserve in New Paltz, New York.

Mohonk Preserve E-Bike Route

A magnificent ride through the jewel of the Shawangunk Mountains: The Mohonk Preserve. With tempting carriageways, rocky cliffs, whimsical gazebos perched at the edge of shimmering Mohonk Lake, this ride is all about quiet beauty and vivid landscapes.
A close up view of a grain silo with wooden slat siding

The Omega

Go slow on these gentle country roads. No big hills, just pretty farms and classic mid-Hudson Valley scenery.