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River Line to D & R canal towpath

Tancredi, Sue M.
Mon, 15 Mar 2004 11:31:15 -0800

What follows is a ride report from a BCP ride from the Trenton Light Rail station to 
the D & R (NJ) and Delaware (PA) canal towpaths. Directions to each from the station 
are given.

-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, March 15, 2004 2:07 PM
To: Tancredi, Sue M.
Subject: [bcp] River LIne AdHoc Ride Report (fwd)




--
*********************
Sue Tancredi
Old City Construction
327 South 43rd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Phone/Fax 215.243.2029
----------------------  Forwarded Message:  ---------------------
From:    tgeigel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To:      [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [bcp] River LIne AdHoc Ride Report
Date:    Mon, 15 Mar 2004 14:06:05 +0000

Given the fact this was an ad hoc ride, I wasn't expecting too much response, 
but I did get 4 e-mails before the ride :-o, so I figure a report is in order.

Overall, we had 5 bikers total: the two ride leaders, my wife, one BCP-er, and a 
couple we met on the train. The train ride was cool. Everything was clean and on 
time. No real snags except that because the fare was "free" (differing stories 
about whether it really was, but nobody from NJT was really checking tickets), 
the ride back from Trenton was crowded and we had to stand for half of the trip 
(I don't expect that to be a problem in the future).  The bike hooks were very 
convenient (3 per passenger car section, 4 car sections per train) and easy to 
use if you could lift your bike. The only bad thing I will say about them is 
that they swayed on stopping and starting, but that was easily solved with a 
bungy cord.

The trip through Trenton didn't go as originally planned, but still resulted in 
a pleasant ride.  It was fairly straightforward to get from the RiverLine 
terminus to the Delaware River Tow Path, but I turned left toward the Delaware 
River at the Calhoun St Bridge (staying on the Jersey side) instead of right 
which would have put me on the path in a block. So instead of the canal path, we 
found a bike trail just north of the bridge on the other side of the water 
treatment plant that I thought was the canal path. It disappeared a mile later 
and left us in a suburban neighborhood on the wrong side of Rt 29 (Rt 29 is a 
multilane highway through Trenton until you get to Scudder Falls). We carefully 
crossed 29 (luckily no real traffic on a Sunday morning) and rode through Ewing 
on Morningside Dr and River Road that paralleled 29. When that road ended in 
front of the Villa Victoria Academy, we made a right on Rt 175 and found the 
canal path about 1/2 mile from where we were all along!

We took the path to Washington Crossing and crossed into the Pennsy side of for 
lunch at the snack place just underneath the souvenir store (suprisingly good 
stew). We even got to see the Drum and Fife brigade in the State Park play a few 
tunes. We turned around and took the tow path all the way back into Trenton to 
see where I should've turned in to pick it up.


Here is a cue sheet for those who want to get to the tow path directly from the 
RiverLine station:

North on Clinton
L at State
(pass city hall & the capitol complex)
R at Calhoun
L onto path in a block

Alternately,

X Calhoun St (bridge on left. do not go there :-))
R at Prospect St
L onto the path at corner of Hanover Prospect & Spring





Here is a cue sheet for those who want to follow our adventurous route:

North on Clinton
L at State
(pass city hall & the capitol complex)
L on Calhoun
(get off road just before entrance to the bridge. walk to water treatment plant 
parking lot)
N through parking lot to rickety pedestrian bridge
X bridge. Pick up Bike trail.
Trail ends. Pick up Riverside Dr.
X Rt 29 at Rodgers Av exit ramp from 29. (no real crosswalk)
Stay on 29 for 200 ft until Glen Afton exit (Morningside Dr)
Stay on Morningside Dr.
L at T at Afton Av
R at River Rd.
R at Lower Ferry Rd. (Rt 175)
L at the tow path


I hope everyone had as a good a time as I did. I plan on doing this again, maybe 
going north east to the Delaware & Raritan Canal to New Brunswick, so stay 
tuned.

Tom Geigel

________________________________________
http://www.phillybikeclub.org
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