Archives for October 2015

Word on Main Street in White Haven is that since the polling place has been moved to the White Haven Library, outta sight outta mind, so let’s go biking in the Poconos!

Voting vs. Biking in the Poconos this fall foliage season is a no brainer! This fall foliage season has been some of the best weather all year! With the Indian Summer coming a little early and giving us this awesome weather we currently have, according to weather.com it is forecasted to continue through next week!

Voting requires research, decision making and a high expectation emotional investment. It creates community division, arguments, divorce and ultimately voter failure as the rich are getting richer and the poor well they are still poor.

With trails for every ability, unlike voting the whole family can go biking in the poconos! The Jim Thorpe to White Haven, PA Poconos area is a great place to skip your “public duty to vote” and GO BIKING! Jim Thorpe and the surrounding areas of Carbon County, Pennsylvania are well-known as a Mecca for mountain biking to see the amazing fall foliage. Whether you’re a beginner, intermediate, advanced, or expert you’ll find your trail here and see the wonderful spectacle of the fall season. Biking in the Poconos is way more fun than voting!

This week’s Pocono Bike Rental Fall Foliage Blog report is once again summarized with information compiled from: The PA DCNR 2015 Fall Foliage Report, The Foliage Network Northeast Region Report for the week of October 29, 2015 and the Pocono Mountains Visitor’s Bureau Fall Foliage Report.

Nothing signals the advent of autumn in Pennsylvania like the changing color of the state’s landscape, when entire forests transform into glittering displays of reds, yellows and purples. This week brought some warm temperatures with cold nights and then a chunk of hurricane influenced rain gave us some added winds that forced some leave spillage and now the trail has an ample amount of color to ride alongside. Lots of color still exists on the trees and the more south you go towards Jim Thorpe the large Poconos Fall Foliage color palette is still vibrantly on display.

The other signal of fall, unfortunately is the 1,000’s of Political signs dotting the highways. The dichotomy of it all makes more sense as we begin to reflect on the cranial archive of the famous motivational speeches that veiled the corrupt political agendas. No empty promises biking in the crisp fall air, you know you are alive and you know what’s real and what is smoke and mirrors.

For more fun,take a journey back in time the way folks used to travel long distances post invention of the steam engine.

Next weekend be sure to check out the Scenic Bike Train November 7th and 8th spanning White Haven to Jim Thorpe! Enjoy this relaxing train ride the full length of the Magnificent Lehigh Gorge for 25 miles. After you reach White Haven come a block North to 322 Main Street is where you will go to get fitted for your bike rental, get your helmet, map and high five! We will give you a set of safety instructions and then you will pedal your bike back down the 2-4% grade to Jim Thorpe at your own pace (approx. 4 hours) along the Lehigh Gorge Rail-Trail. We will be there to retrieve the bike at the end. The last Bike/Train of the season occurs next weekend so get a train only ticket and come to 322 Main Street, White Haven, PA to rent your economy, sport, comfort or expert 29er’ bike and head down the trail! 

The Lehigh Gorge State Park in the Poconos, PA offers by far the best fall foliage views in the world!

America can claim a lot of things, some say it is the best country in the world to live in, other’s say that it offer’s the best opportunity for prosperity and happiness, one thing is for sure, we would all agree it is one of the most beautiful places in the world to live in. That being said making a statement as World’s Best Fall Foliage, as well the area in Pennsylvania known as the Pocono’s staking this claim as their own, makes for an interesting argument, but one in which offers the most compelling botanical evidence.

“Pennsylvania has a longer and more varied fall foliage season than any other state in the nation — or anywhere in the world frankly, and right now it’s in FULL SWING!” We made this claim last month and we stand by it. The evidence is clear we have the best region in the world (White Haven, Poconos, PA) hosting the largest fall foliage color pallette,  longest viewing season and easiest access across hundreds of miles of hiking and biking trails.

From White Haven to Jim Thorpe we are at the epicenter of the fall foliage and we are in it’s peak right now! The warm temperatures this week have extended the Pocono Biking season into November. Our brief overnight frost last weekend, we don’t think this was the one that predicates when the last breath of summer traditionally known as “Indian Summer” has passed us.  We think it will happen the first week of November (weather experts and reports tell us), these temperatures will stick around briefly, then carry us nicely into our next season of outdoor biking and winter adventure sports fun!

“The Peak has passed in New England, New York and Northern PA as well many of the higher and northern elevations in the Poconos region.  The best viewing is now shifting toward the southern Poconos of the Appalachian Mountain chain, the lower lying inland regions and the coast. Leaf drop throughout the region is mostly moderate, with higher drop where peak color has passed.” (This information provided by Marek D. Rzonca, The Foliage Network www.FoliageNetwork.com/.)

$19.95 Poconos Fall Foliage tours are offered in only one place, Pocono Bike Rental! 

The Poconos Fall Foliage peak is set for October 22nd, according to the Pocono Mountains Visitor’s Bureau website.

Week of Thursday, October 15, 2015 – Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Northern Tier: The Northern Hardwood forests are in full color. The Oaks should be in full color this week and will hail the end of the color for the northern tier. While you are out mountain biking, make sure you look out for the bright orange of the Red Oaks and dark red of the White Oaks. The Wyoming Valley and Lower Wayne county area should be in peak color by the end of the week into next weekend so check out the rail trail biking with a bike rental from Pocono Bike Rental!

Central Region: All of the trees in the region should be at their peak fall foliage color this week. The Oak trees have really started to show their colors in the last few days. They are displaying a wonderful array of pigmentation. From russet orange to deep bronze, and auburn reds to a crimson hue.

Southern Poconos: Autumn’s coloration is nearing its glory. The reds of the Red Maple and Virginia Creeper, the deep maroons of Black Gum, oranges of Sassafras, and the brilliant yellows of Black Birch and Cherry provide striking displays along the roadways and across the landscape.  Most of the landscape is covered with Red, Black, Scarlet, Chestnut, and White Oaks which are just beginning to reveal their autumn colors. Over the next week or so, the Red and Scarlet Oaks will turn red, Black Oaks will show a russet brown along with Chestnut Oaks, and the White Oak leaves will turn to a purplish red color that is one of the favored colors of autumn. The mountains around Jim Thorpe and the forests in Hickory Run State Park provide excellent opportunities to see, to explore and  to enjoy nature at its finest! The projected date for peak color is October 22, 2015.

Fall Foliage Activities:

The Pocono Food Truck Festival with over 20 food trucks, a food network celebrity, live music, scenic chairlift rides is at Shawnee on the Delaware this weekend. There is always stuff going on in Jim Thorpe for the Fall Foliage Festival that happens there the first 3 weekends in October and concludes October 18th. Bushkill Falls is truly an amazing experience this time of year during the fall foliage! The Lake Harmony area brings you up close to the water reflecting the full spectrum of color during the fall season.

The Lehigh Gorge State Park is by far the best place to view the fall foliage up close and in all it’s vast glory by biking in the Poconos! Check out the White Haven area to stay and go see the fall foliage while mountain biking with us here at Pocono Bike Rentals.

The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Bureau of Forestry Weekly Fall Foliage Report: October 14, 2015

Some information used with permission by the DCNR and was excerpted from:
Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau and more fall foliage information can be found on their website. Their Fall Foliage Peak map can also be found on our fall foliage bike tours page.
The DCNR Penn’s Woods Fall Foliage Webpage
Why Do Autumn Leaves Change Color?
Penn’s Woods Fall Foliage Interactive Story Maps

Poconos Fall Foliage tours are offered in only one place, Pocono Bike Rental! See the fall foliage and stay in shape at the same time!

Pennsylvania has a longer and more varied fall foliage season than any other state in the nation — or anywhere in the world frankly, and right now it’s in FULL SWING!

This is no empty boast. Only three regions of the world support deciduous forests that display fall autumn color: eastern North America; the British Isles and parts of northwestern Europe; northeastern China and northern Japan. Forests in other regions are either tropical or dominated by conifers. Poconos Fall Foliage we feel is the best because of our unique mountainous Pocono Plateau.

Pennsylvania’s location between 40° and 42° North latitude and its varied topography from sea level on the coastal plain to over 3,000 feet in the Laurel Highlands supports 134 species of trees and many more shrubs and vines that contribute to the display of autumn color.

Pennsylvania is the meeting ground of northern trees that flourish only on mountain tops farther south and southern species that are at the northern limits of their range.  Gray and paper birch, mountain maple and mountain-ash from the north share Penn’s Woods with southern red oak, sweetbay and umbrella magnolias, sourwood, persimmon and sweetgum from the south. This influences the Poconos Fall Foliage enough to create the most diverse color palette in the world. Ohio buckeye, bur oak, and shingle oak, common to the Mississippi Valley, have eastern outposts on the Allegheny Plateau also providing an awesome fall foliage experience.

For years, scientists have worked to understand the changes that happen to trees and shrubs in autumn. Although we don’t know all the details, we know enough to explain the basics and help you to enjoy nature’s multicolored autumn display. Three factors influence autumn color — leaf pigments, length of night, and weather, but not quite in the way we were told as children. The timing of color change and leaf fall are primarily regulated by the increasing length of night. None of the other environmental influences-temperature, rainfall, food supply, and so on-are as unvarying as the steadily increasing length of night during autumn. As days grow shorter, and nights grow longer and cooler, biochemical processes in the leaf begin to paint the landscape with nature’s autumn palette so this year’s longer winter, wetter summer and brief cold spell we just got really has little effect on the peak color palette and it’s timing.

The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Bureau of Forestry Weekly Fall Foliage Report: October 14, 2015

Some information used with permission by the DCNR and was excerpted from:
The DCNR Penn’s Woods Fall Foliage Webpage
Why Do Autumn Leaves Change Color?
Penn’s Woods Fall Foliage Interactive Story Maps

Poconos Fall Foliage tours are offered in only one place, Pocono Bike Rental! See the fall foliage and stay in shape at the same time!

PoconoBikeRental.com is a proud member of the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau and more fall foliage information can be found on their website. Their Fall Foliage Peak map can also be found on our fall foliage bike tours page.