Pine Creek Rail Trail Bicycle Ride - Wellsboro to Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania

 June 23 & 24, 2026

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll know that we enjoy riding our bicycles on rail trails. In June we decided to celebrate this writer's retirement by riding the entire length of the Pine Creek Rail Trail from Wellsboro to Jersey Shore in Pennsylvania.

Double click on the image for a larger view of this map

The trail is 65 miles long, and we planned to ride it over the span of 2 days. We chose to camp at the Pettecote Junction Campground, which is almost exactly at the halfway point of the trail. That way we could sleep in our camper after the first day, and then pick up our truck and drive back to the campground on the second day. The only problem was how to get our truck from Wellsboro to Jersey Shore. We looked into several options, and the best one for us was to pay Pine Creek Outfitters to shuttle our truck for us. It wasn't cheap, but it was definitely worth it. All we had to do was hope the weather would cooperate.

We kept a worried eye on the weather forecast before leaving home for our trip and sure enough, rain was forecast for June 22, the day we originally planned to start the trail. So we called Pettecote Junction to see if we could add an extra night to our stay so we could start our ride on the 23rd instead. The folks at the campground were very helpful and we were set to go.

On June 23rd we got up early to a light misty rain, but the sun was expected to make its appearance later in the morning, so we ate a good breakfast, packed a lunch for the trail, and drove up to Wellsboro Junction where we would be leaving our truck.

A new trailhead had recently opened in Wellsboro, extending the length of the trail a little more than 3 miles. We rode our bikes into Wellsboro, determined to ride the entire length of the trail. 

Patterson Trailhead Visitor Center	Patterson Trailhead Visitor Center

The Patterson Trailhead in Wellsboro has a new purpose-built visitor center across the street from the old railroad station. Inside you can find lots of information about the trail and the history of the area. Outside, at the start of the trail, is a functioning railroad crossing light that is supposed to light up with sound effects when a rider approaches the crossing. Sadly, it didn't work for us. Disappointed, we made our official start just a little after 9:00 a.m.

Original train station	Beginning of the trail

Most of the trail is a very wide crushed gravel and the grade is only about 2%. I imagine we would have felt it somewhat in our legs if we'd chosen to ride from south to north, but even though we had to pedal the entire distance north to south, we didn't have any trouble making the few slight climbs up to bridges passing over the creek and roadways.

Some areas of note we passed through on our first day were the Darling Run Access Area, which is one of the most popular places to start a ride on the trail. The 16 mile long section between Darling Run and Blackwell is the most secluded portion of the trail and is known both as the Pine Creek Gorge and the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon.

Darling Run Access Area

This section is also where you can often see covered wagons from Ole Covered Wagon giving rides to tourists on a track alongside the trail. We didn't see any when we passed through.

Sign for Ole Covered Wagon Tours

Another point of interest is the Turkey Path, a trail that takes you off the rail trail past waterfalls and up to the overlook at Leonard Harrison State Park. Unfortunately, due to the drought in Pennsylvania, the waterfalls weren't running fully and were a bit disappointing. We didn't follow the trail up to the lookout on this trip, but have walked the Turkey Path to and from the lookout on two other occasions.

Bridge at the Turkey Path	Waterfall at the Turkey Path

At Tiadaghton we stopped to have some lunch and give our legs a break.

Our picnic lunch

After another 8 or so miles we arrived in Blackwell where we stopped for some ice cream at Miller's Store. After enjoying our ice cream we continued on another 1.8 miles to Rattlesnake Rock. We got off our bikes again to follow a narrow path off the trail to a large flat rock area this sits in Pine Creek. It's likely a favorite spot for rattlesnakes to warm themselves on a sunny day.

Miller's Store

Rattlesnake Rock

In approximately another 3 miles the trail passed over a train trestle over the creek and then along the edge of Pettecote Junction Campground in Cedar Run. We had ridden our bikes 36.25 miles in 4.5 hours on this first day. Our legs were tired, but otherwise we were feeling good. We were looking forward to finishing the trail in the morning. 

We started day two of our ride around 9:00 a.m. again, leaving from the campground. We passed above Cedar Run and its General Store before heading into the woods. The store is another great spot for an ice cream break!

Cedar Run General Store

Although this half of the trail was less wooded, had a lot more road crossings and small communities to pass through, it was no less scenic. We actually saw more wildlife on this half, coming across 8 deer on our way. At one point we saw two deer crossing the creek.

We stopped to explore the historic Tomb (rhymes with comb) cemetery which is located just off the trail. The Tomb family were one of the first to settle in the valley created by the Pine Creek.

Tomb Cemetery

When we stopped for lunch in Bonnell Flat and we were delighted to find some ripe berries to munch on for dessert.

	Bonnell Flats trail access

After passing by some farmland and over 3 train trestles, we arrived in Jersey Shore. Here the trail was paved asphalt, which was very welcome to our tired legs. We followed the trail to the main trailhead where our truck would be delivered, having arrived much earlier than we planned. However, the trail doesn't end there. It actually goes about another mile along railroad tracks to a switchback leading down to the end of the trail. We followed that to another parking area and a nice little pavilion where rested in the shade before heading back up to the top of the trail and to our truck. 

Farm along the trail One of many train trestles along the trail	Scene along the trail   View from a train trestle Caboose at the main Jersey Shore Trailhead

By the time we finished the trail we had ridden our bikes a total of 71 miles in about 8.5 hours over the two days. That included the two loops from our truck into Wellsboro and from the parking area in Jersey Shore to trail's end. Not bad for two senior citizens!

We enjoyed every minute of our ride on the Pine Creek Rail Trail. You don't have to ride the whole trail as we did. There are plenty of access points for out-and-back shorter rides, and shuttle services are available through Pine Creek Outfitters and even Pettecote Junction Campground. We highly recommend this trail and would definitely ride it again!

If you'd like to view our YouTube video which contains much more photos and views from our ride, you can find it by clicking here.

* All photos and videos are the property of the blog owners unless otherwise noted. *