Campgrounds around bike trails

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ringaround

Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2010
Posts
6
Location
south of Tallahassee, FL
We are planning a trip from Tallahassee, FL to West Yellowstone, MT in September and hope to bike along the way. Any suggestions about trails to check out (no heavy duty mountain stuff here - paved rail trails or such) or campgrounds you might recommend would be greatly appreciated. This is our first real trip in our RV and we have never been to Yellowstone and have never gone anywhere in our 32 years of marriage for more than 3/4 days at a time so this should be a memorable trip! We have route suggestions from various places but are open to all suggestions. Thanks for any help!!
 
colton point state park in PA. or leonard harris state park. There is a 60 mile bike trail along a beautiful creek, it is rail trail nice smooth ride , area is scenic.
 
What's your route? There are lots of great biking trails in Colorado.

There's also a series of books "Bicycling America's National Parks" but the only one I have wtih me is California which appears to be a bit off your route.

A great way to find good bike rides is to stop in at a local bicycle shop when you get to a spot where you have time for a ride and ask them for help. Often they have maps they can give you.

Enjoy your trip, the first of many more long trips
Wendy
Silver Strand State Beach, California
 
Loads of possibilities between FL and MT.  Let us know how you plan to route yourself or are you going to do that after you see where the biking is?  We really like the Cowboy Trail in Nebraska which is the longest Rails to Trail conversion I believe.  Over 200 miles and there are many free campgrounds in the small towns that border it.  You can camp at one, and ride the trail in that area and then leap frog ahead and do it all over.  We also like the Michelson Trail in SD which is another long one at over 100 miles.  It goes through some gorgeous scenery and runs north-south from Deadwood to Edgemont.  A bit more challenging than the NE one but still less than 3% grades and the views are worth it.  Some areas are flatter than others and there are bike companies in the area around Custer who will take you and your bike 30 miles up-trail and allow you to spend the day riding back to their van (slightly downhill) and be picked up there.
 
There are entire web sites devoted to mountain biking and bike trails.  Start your search by looking for old rail lines that have been converted to bike trails.  Sites like Mountain Bike Review also have lost of good trail information.
 
It's a great question and we struggle to find decent riding paths when we travel.  Three of our favorites have been St Cloud, Mn where they have a paved path which is something like 65 miles long... James Island State Park in Charleston, SC where the paths wind out to the wetlands and all through the beautiful park... and at the Amana Colonies in Iowa they have a very nice path which winds around Lilly Lake.

Best of luck...

Rick
 
Wendy said:
A great way to find good bike rides is to stop in at a local bicycle shop when you get to a spot where you have time for a ride and ask them for help. Often they have maps they can give you.
Click to expand...

in addition to Wendy's comment - we have found great bike maps when we stop at the local Tourist booths / stops in various towns & cities

not being big on biking - but being big on running....
Runner's World has a great resource on their website; you can 'visit' a city and read "Where To Run" - So i wonder if there is an equivalent 'Bike World" resource out there!

regards, pdq
 
Hi,

Sounds like a great trip.

An RVing blog I follow has had some information about biking trails this past fall, I think in WV -- you may need to dig back a bit.  The blog appears here:  http://www.rv-dreams.typepad.com/ .

We recently camped at Hunting Island State park, which has probably 8 miles of groomed bike trails on an island off the SC coast near Beaufort.  Another biking spot we've been to recently was the VA Creeper Trail, which is rails-to-trails and a significant portion of which can be done by getting dropped at the top (of the mountain) and riding to the bottom (of that section of trail).  We camped in Raccoon Branch campground in the National Forest but were there in peak leaf season and didn't have lots of options (Raccoon Branch was great, but not the closest to the trail or the biking places that you can pay to drop you off, which are in Abingdon VA and somewhere else -- Damascus).

Sorry that's not a ton of help but maybe there's something useful in there.

-- bogart
 
bogart said:
...Another biking spot we've been to recently was the VA Creeper Trail, which is rails-to-trails and a significant portion of which can be done by getting dropped at the top (of the mountain) and riding to the bottom (of that section of trail).  We camped in Raccoon Branch campground in the National Forest but were there in peak leaf season and didn't have lots of options (Raccoon Branch was great, but not the closest to the trail or the biking places that you can pay to drop you off, which are in Abingdon VA and somewhere else -- Damascus).
Click to expand...

The VA Creeper Trail is great.  I try to go there several times each summer.  There is a small campground close to Damascus (Iron Horse Campground).  The campground is so-so at best, but it is on the trail.  So, you can access the trail without having to haul the bikes to the trail.

Between Damascus and Abingdon, the trail is flat and is an easy ride.  For an easier ride, as mentioned previously take a shuttle from Damascus to Whitetop.  Most of the ride is down hill, you can go for miles without having to pedal.  All of the trail is beautiful, but this section is incredible.  For a more challenging ride, bike from Damascus up to Whitetop, then enjoy the easy ride back down.  The ride up is a challenge that is not recommended for those who do not ride on a regular basis.
 
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