Ride - French Creek State Park, PA

Rocks, rocks and more rocks (it is PA, after all). That’s about all anyone needs to know about this section of the park. The trails are strewn with them and often resemble a dry river bed rather than a trail as is evident from the photos below. The trails aren’t particularly steep but the ever-present rocks turn any climb or descent into an exercise in line navigation and very active front wheel management. The latter is particularly important.

I came accross a tree infested with spotted lanternflies which I initially mistook for moths. The tree was covered in them from top to bottom. A friend pointed out their true identity and it appears they are a real pest. They were first detected in the US in Berks County, PA in 2014 2014. It may present a threat to the state’s grape, fruit tree and logging industries. The LHS picture taken from the handlebar-mounted camera gives more of a sense of their number but still doesn’t realistically portray the extent of the infestation,

Other than nbattling with rock-infested trails and invasive plant-killers, everything went well. I’ve replaced all but the rear deraileur on the drive-train and it all worked well. I’ve ordered a new deraileur because somehow the one on the bike was bent during last week’s ride. I did my best to twist it back into shape but may as well replace it before it fails again. I’ll leave you with a shot of the spillway at the end of the dam close to the trailhead.