{"id":11046,"date":"2021-06-06T21:46:02","date_gmt":"2021-06-07T01:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/v2.mappyhour.org\/blog\/?p=11046"},"modified":"2021-06-07T10:02:11","modified_gmt":"2021-06-07T14:02:11","slug":"bikepacking-the-northern-central-rail-trail-from-maryland-to-pennsylvania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mappyhour.org\/blog\/2021\/06\/bikepacking-the-northern-central-rail-trail-from-maryland-to-pennsylvania\/","title":{"rendered":"Bikepacking the Northern Central Rail Trail from Maryland to Pennsylvania"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Since I started bikepacking last year, I\u2019ve been working on building – from mileage to elevation gain, to technical challenge. As I planned my first summer trip, I thought to myself, what would be the next logical phase of the progression?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The obvious answer: tandem bikepacking!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bikepacking
A loaded tandem bike ready for a bikepacking adventure<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A buddy of my offered to let me borrow his tandem bike for the summer so my partner Greg and I took it for a test ride on the Anacostia River Trail and determined it is indeed tour worthy. Given the bike is quite a vintage beast and balance is a challenge we decided to find a rail trail that wouldn\u2019t be too far from bike shops (just in case!) for our inaugural ride and settled upon the Northern Central Rail Trail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Route<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The route follows the old Northern Central Railroad which dates back to 1832 and ran until Hurricane Agnes destroyed the tracks. While much of the railway was turned into trail, there are sections of lightly active tracks running next the path on the Pennsylvania portion. The gravel ride combines the Torrey C. Brown Trail <\/a>and Heritage Rail Trail<\/a> starting just outside Baltimore in Cockeysville, MD and terminating in York, PA with the mileage split close to even across the Mason Dixon line. The route is the perfect weekend ride for new bikepackers with smooth gravel, grades of only 1-3%, and several small towns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Ride: Northern Central Railroad<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Total stats for the out and back<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Distance: 82 miles<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Riding time: 7 hours<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elevation gain: 1,454ft<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Average moving speed: 11.8mph<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pizza floats: 1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tandem crashes: 0!<\/p>\n\n\n\n