I did a ride that’s becoming one of my usual routes. I go up Bunker Hill Road and down the other side, then take Carverton to 8th to Mt. Zion for some more climbing. Then down Schooley Road and finally back on the West Side Trail. Here’s a map.

View Bunker Hill and Schooley 06/23/2009 in a larger map

Even though this ride is becoming fairly routine, the scenery is constantly evolving. I was surprised how many wonderful wildflowers I saw during this ride. In Indiana, May is prime wildflower time — but here, the flowers seem relatively inactive until June.

I saw quite a few Tiger Lillies, which are Sarah’s favorite flower, but didn’t get any particularly interesting photos of them.  They are lovely.

Heading toward Bunker Hill

My favorite view from Bunker Hill Road grows more and more green and vibrant

A patch of wildflowers enhances the view

I hadn’t ridden in probably a week. We spent part of last week, and last weekend, on the road and in Bloomington, getting an apartment lined up. The Bunker Hill climb was harder than usual.

A neighboring ridge, as seen from Carverton Road

Carverton Road

Wildflowers

Closeup

Frances Slocum Lake

Some nice landscaping by the lake

As I was climbing on Mount Zion Road, I saw some absolutely beautiful clustered flowers. Some were pink/purple and the others were white. My handy wildflower book let me down a little bit here. My best guess based on the book is that these are some kind of Beardtongues, but nothing in the book quite matched what I saw. Any help identifying these would be appreciated. In some of the photos, you can see a little hair inside the flowers.

Mt. Zion Road

I rode over to Schooley Road, took a few photos and then made the awesome descent down the mountain. I’m a little less than pleased with the way my new brake pads are working out. I have used the salmon Kool Stop pads quite a bit in the past, but on this bike they feel too squishy. I think these pads may be shorter than the black Kool Stops I had on there before, and that might contribute to the problem. Anyway, I went slower than usual since my braking power is not quite ideal.

I rode over to the West Side Trail and took it most of the way home. It’s weird to go from climbing a mountain, to making a blistering descent down it, to riding on the perfectly flat roads in the valley, and then this trail. The feel of the ride goes from gueling to intense to a walk in the park in very little time.

Well, spring is finally in full effect here. I think we’re going to have a shorter spring than I’m used to. Back in Bloomington, Indiana, spring lasts a long time — trees and flowers bloom in stages, for weeks. Here, we’ve seen some things blooming but many trees flowered for a day or two and then turned green. And I’m just not seeing as much spring color around here.

That said, I love spring. Especially now — since we moved to PA in October, we have never seen this place green. It sure feels like things have been dead and dreary for a long time. So I glad to finally see things coming to life.

Here are a few shots from the Back Mountain Trail from a ride I did last week. It sure looked different than it has in past rides.

I found another bike path, the West Side Trail. It starts a little ways from the Forty Fort end of the Levee Trail and heads northeast, following the Susquehanna River. The roads between the two trails were a little high-traffic for my taste — I wish there was a better way to get from one trail to the other. Maybe there is; I will see if I can find an alternate route.

View West Side Trail 04/09/2009 in a larger map

The trail is pleasant enough, it’s smooth and flat and has some nice views of the river, some mountains, and the small, private Wilkes-Barre Wyoming Valley Airport.

Arriving at the West Side Trail

Eighth Street Bridge

Susquehanna River

Wilkes-Barre Wyoming Valley Airport

Mountains

The trail runs for about 2.5 miles before joining up with the sidewalk along US Route 11/Wyoming Avenue (know locally as “The Avenue”). Now, The Avenue is a busy four-lane road. I have seen plenty of people riding their bikes there, but I wouldn’t want to do that. It’s a very busy road, and I encounter a lot of idiotic motorists when I drive there.

At the intersection is the Wyoming Monument, which commemorates the Battle of Wyoming, which took place back in 1778. According to Wikipedia, “More than three hundred Patriots were killed in a battle followed by a massacre, in which the Iroquois raiders hunted and killed fleeing Patriots before torturing to death thirty to forty who had surrendered.” It was more than a little weird to be riding along and suddenly come across an obelisk and a couple of canons. And weirder still to imagine a massacre occurring in what is now a park.

Battle of Wyoming Monument

I rode on the sidewalk for about a block or two and then got on Susquehanna Avenue. This is a pleasant, low-traffic road through mostly residential areas. I found an interesting-looking side trail/dirt road and followed it. I followed it down by the river, where I could see a small island. There were side roads branching off of it, but I did not take the time to explore those.

Pond

Grasses

A makeshift snowboard, now abandoned

Susquehanna River

The Trucker, with fields and mountains in the background

Power lines

Cattails

The Trucker again

Small island

The rest of the ride was on roads, most of which were not too memorable.

I’m glad I found the West Side Trail, and Susquehanna Avenue. These could both be useful as parts of a longer ride. I wish the roads between the Levee Trail and the West Side Trail were safer.

In general, it can be a little frustrating trying to find routes through town. In some places, there are large areas with no through streets aside from the major thoroughfares. The West Side Trail and Susquehanna Avenue give me a good east-west route, but I have to go a bit out of the way to get to them.