ezdoesit

Hello everyone,
It long time since I have been on but back and reading up on lots of posts.
I want to do the Atlantic Coast Tour from either Bar Harbor ME to Key West Florida or Key West Florida to Bar Harbor Me and would like to know which direction would be best north to south or south to north?
This will be my first long tour and I am ready for it.
Have a 2008 Fuji touring bike which I bought brand new in 2008 have all the Panniers.
Any information on places to stay and especially campgrounds would be great.
My biggest question is using my hammock I love it I am having a custom hammock made from DreamHammock at https://dreamhammock.info/
Ever since my last thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail when I bought a Hennessy Hammock I have never slept on the ground again
So I guess anything you can tell me or help me with would be very much appreciated.
Open to all suggestions and may I say upfront thank you for taking the time to read this and for your help.
EZDOESIT
Thru-Hike A.T 2001, 2002, 2003

indyfabz

Worthington State Forest along the route in NJ is great. Sites 11and 12 have trees and private river access. Very busy on the weekends, so best to avoid them. Plus, weekends require a two-night reservation. Watch out for bears in the DWGNRA and at Worthington.

Avoid the Deerpark KOA in Goddefroy, NY. Just priced a tent site with no electricity for an upcoming tour next month using part of the route. They want…wait for it…$81. There is a cheaper place off route a bit on CR 7 north from where NY 211 ends at US 209 in Cuddebackville.

Mills-Norrie SP, a few miles north of Hyde Park, NY, might work with a hammock.

Dogwood Haven, just off route from Milford, NJ, might work with a hammock. Site A.

staehpj1

I haven't toured in the East other than finishing coast to coast tours there. I have car camped, backpacked, and canoe camped a lot there though since I lived there my whole life. Maybe it is because I grew up in the mid Atlantic region and lived there my whole life until just a few years ago, but touring there never interested me too much. Camping options and prices are another reason I have chosen to go elsewhere for my tours. I generally find that $6-10 hiker biker camping on the west coast, free camping in national forests and other public lands out west, and free camping in plain sight in town parks and so on in the middle of the country quickly offset the cost of air travel to get away from the east coast.

Of course you can stealth camp, but my preference is to avoid the need for stealth unless it is necessary. Camping for free in plain sight is great, but I reserve stealth for when other options don't pan out.

So, just food for thought, but I find the Pacific Coast or one of the coast to coast routes more diverse and interesting scenery and and probably cheaper to do. At least it was and would be again for me. If you just love the idea of the Atlantic Coast, go for it, but if proximity or cost are major reasons for choosing it, you might give more consideration to other choices.

mev

I did the Atlantic Coast quite a few years ago, from Key West to Halifax.

i went south to north for two reasons: (1) there seemed to be slightly more prevailing winds from S to N than the other way. Not a huge difference in most places though and (2) I had the ocean on my right while I was cycling along the right.

While I did it within one year, I also broke things up into segments to optimize some of the seasons:
- Over the week including Christmas+New Years, I started in Key West and cycled up the coast to Savannah
- In April, I went from Savannah to Atlantic City
- Over 4th of July, I went from Atlantic City to where I was living (Chelmsford, North of Boston)
- In August, I went from Massachusetts to Yarmouth NS by way of Calais ME
- Over Labor Day weekend, I went from Yarmouth to Halifax

indyfabz

Campgrounds in the NE are definitely going to be expensive compared to out west.

OP: I can give you a couple of detours in NY that avoid what I think are unnecessary mileage, including one trail that was boring and had a bad surface when I rode it in 2018.

I’m planning to ride the section between N. Canaan, CT and Philly next month as part of a longer trip. I’ll let you know of any issues. I’ll be coming down from St. Albans, VT through MA and into northwest CT.

jpescatore

Whether to start in the north or south would mostly be driven by what time of year you were going to be on the road - whether you were aiming to avoid the heat in the south or cold in the north. As someone else mentioned, more often winds out of the south and the the northerly winds are rarely out of the NE - slight advantage to starting in the south.

I admire anyone who get in and out of a hammock, let alone sleep in one! I tried it once on a weekend camping trip and ended up sleeping on top of a picnic table.

raybo

While I have ridden the entire Atlantic Coast, I have ridden from Charleston, SC to Lambertville, NJ and from Lehighton, PA to Bar Harbor, ME. Both of these rides I rode mainly on the ACA Atlantic Coast Route. I started from Charleston in May and from Lehighton in September. I wrote detailed journals of both: Charleston, SC to Lambertville, NJ and from Lehighton, PA to Bar Harbor, ME.

While I took camping gear, I didn't camp often, as I prefer to stay in cheap motels or use warmshowers/couchsurfing, which were plentiful. I found the ride north from Charleston a bit monotonous as the scenery didn't change all that much. When I got along the coast, it wasn't really possible to see the water for all the big houses. On the other hand, the ride up into New England during the fall was fabulous and I would recommend timing your ride to be there then.

staehpj1

Yeah, the fall colors can be a huge plus in New England or even the mid Atlantic and Southeast. More so away from the coast a bit in the mountains or at least the foothills. Depending on the season detouring more inland the fall colors can be optimized by route selection. If you plan it right you might be able to greatly extend the amount of fall color by selecting direction of travel and choosing when you are at higher elevations vs ridiing in valleys or on the coast.

That would be one reason I might choose to tour in the east.

ezdoesit

thank you

Pratt

Sounds great. Adventure Cycling has a set of maps for the East Coast called Atlantic Coast. It runs from Key West to Bar Harbor.
New York City presents lots of options, going right through, skirting around on the West side , then turning East via Tappan Zee, or Poughkeepsie bridges, or onto Long Island and then a ferry to Connecticut, or Block Island. CGOAB has some journals on similar trips..
As mentioned, New England scenery in leaf season can be spectacular, so you could make that the end of a late Summer trip, or the beginning of a Fallone that follows the foliage.
Please keep us posted.
​​​​​​​Good luck.

Thulsadoom

Highest possible recommendation to get the Adventure Cycling maps. They will pay for themselves many times over. I would definitely go south to north.

indyfabz

I am assuming he’s talking about that route. No need to go near NYC. It crosses the Hudson at Poughkeepsie using the skywalk or whatever it’s called. Nice bridge. It then makes it’s way to the Delaware River at Port Jervis, NY, which is basically where NY, PA and NJ meet. Follows the river, alternating between NJ and PA, to New Hope, PA then heads towards the outskirts of Philadelphia.

People often bust on NJ, but the NJ mileage of the route is very nice, particularly the mileage through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Had a bear cub in camp back in 2018. There is also some optional trail mileage on both the PA and NJ sides below Easton, PA and Milford, NJ. Getting through Philipsburg, NJ is the least desirable part, and even that is not really bad.

Thulsadoom

Have you actually done the entire AT three times? Three years in a row? That's amazing.
Or did you split it up over three years?

ezdoesit

did it three years in a row and it just gets in your blood.

ezdoesit

yes the Atlantic Coast from adventure cycling site

ezdoesit

just what I was planning on doing Adventure Cycling maps

indyfabz

One thing to be aware of if you decide to go north to chase foliage: Don't make it too late. Some campgrounds start shutting down in September to mid-October. I looked at a few off the top of my head. Two state parks on or close to the route in ME close 9/15. 10/15 for a key one on route east/north of N. Canaan, CT and the one in Cuddebackville and Mills Norrie outside of Hyde Park mentioned above.

Alson, don't expect much legal camping opportunities (stealth or otherwise) south of the New Hope, PA area due to land use/development, although I can think of one opportunity in Spring Mill, PA (where you lick up the trail that you might be able to get away with.