PA Wilds

I’d originally put this trip together as a long-way-there kind of trip to get down to Thanksgiving in the Fall of ’24, but life and weather got in the way and I had to skip it. After a hectic winter and early spring at work, a few days out in the PA Wilds seemed like a great option to disconnect and start shaking the rust off for the ’25 riding season.

The route largely follows the .gpx tracks for the PA Wilds BDR-X, but I decided to start with a highway bomb to Corning, NY and complete all of section 9 of the Mid-Atlantic BDR before continuing on the BDR-X loop clockwise through Bald Eagle State Forest, State College, and St. Mary’s. Both the MABDR and PA Wilds BDR-X are pretty easy routes (with just a few harder alternate sections in Bald Eagle State Forest) so I wasn’t expecting anything challenging in terms of the riding, just a nice few days of enjoying being in the woods and camping.

As you can see from my tracks below, I ended up bailing on the last day and skipping the Northwest corner of the loop due to weather and timing/logistics, but the overall route made a great first trip of the year.

Since it was my first overnight trip in ’25, that also meant that this was the first proper test of my new Leatt riding gear (Multitour 7.5 jacket and pants, 7.5 boots, and their 7.5 HydraDry and X-Flow gloves) and Touratech Adventuro Pro helmet I’d picked up over the winter. I’ve pretty much always used Leatt’s armor and braces for harder dual sport rides, so I was stoked when they came out with the new 7.5 Adventure line right when my own adventure touring gear needed a refresh.

In addition to the new gear, I’d been playing around with the Norden’s suspension settings and was looking forward to testing them out on some off-road sections. I also decided that this would be a good trip to play around with the “Explorer” custom ride modes for the fast gravel, especially the “rally” throttle response and variable slip control.

The ride out to Corning on Tuesday afternoon was pretty uneventful other than the unseasonably warm weather and the short but severe thunderstorms after I got settled into the Holiday Inn.

The first day on the route was essentially just Section 9 of the MABDR ridden backwards, with a little bit of extra road riding to get to my campsite in Bald Eagle State Park (which is distinct from the State Forest).

Weather was a chilly 40 degrees in the morning, so I bundled up in my warm mid-layers and headed out from the hotel around 9. I also had to stop at Walmart to grab some cheap camp shoes — I’d somehow left mine behind while shuffling around my luggage as I finalized my bag setup. After a brief bit of pavement to get to the start of the BDR tracks, the road was mostly dirt farm tracks before eventually heading into and bouncing back and forth between service/access roads in PA’s State Game Lands and State Forests & Parks (which is the pattern for most of this route).

None of the riding was too challenging and PA’s dirt & gravel roads are pretty well maintained by the DCNR, but there were a few slidy moments of loose gravel on hard-packed subsurface. Those moments were enough to keep the speed from getting too excessive, but overall it’s a pretty fast route if you’re comfortable on gravel. The views through the river valleys and gorges were spectacular, with the only downside being the blunt signs reminding pet owners why they need to keep their dogs on leashes near the cliff edges.

It was a warm evening at camp with little shade and plenty of sunshine. Despite the camp looking mostly full when I booked, most sites were unoccupied other than a few quiet, older couples in campers and one other rider on an R1200RS camping solo on the other side of the loop. The temperatures got down into the 40s overnight and the dew was heavy in the morning, but the sun came out to warm everything up and I was able to get the tent mostly dry before packing up and heading out.

The second day on the route was the main one I’d been looking forward to — I’d heard great things about the trails in Bald Eagle and Rothrock State Forests, and it’s the only section of the BDR-X (and I believe MABDR) to include Alternate Hard sections. While I was stocking up on coffee, snacks, and water at a gas station on my way out of camp (the camp water was not the best tasting, despite being potable) the employees warned me about downed trees and power outages in the area from Tuesday night’s storms (Tori had also texted to give me a heads up the previous night). There forecast was calling for more storms overnight, so I wanted to make sure to make good time and get set up before the weather rolled in.

While most of the day was easy, fast gravel like the first day, the alternate sections started early in the morning. Walters Road was the first trail and ended up being steep and rocky ascent up tight switchbacks. It was a great test of the new suspension settings and I was pleased with the results — the increased damping to match the pre-load helped to keep the big bike controlled in the rough stuff without much sacrifice in trail feel or comfort.

The next two alternate sections, Red Tounge and Tea Knob Trails, came up pretty quickly. Red Tounge was even rockier than Walters Road but fairly flat, while Tea Knob was a fairly tame unmaintained dirt road that was starting to be reclaimed by the woods. Sadly, I hit my first downed tree close to the start of the fourth optional trail and decided the best option was the turn around and stick to the main route instead of trying to force my way around.

The rest of the day was back to fast gravel through Bald Eagle & Rothrock State Forests and some State Game Lands. I skipped the finally two harder sections — Sharpback Hollow looked pretty flooded out (confirmed with a quick scouting hike down the trail) and I just totally missed the turn for Flag Hollow. It ended up working out for the best, since by the time I hit my last fuel stop and made it to my camp at Greenwood Furnace State Park it was nearly 3pm. I had enough time to get camp set up, showered, and make dinner before the clouds started to darken and I settled in for a cozy night inside the tent to ride out the storms.

The forecast for Friday night and all day Saturday weren’t looking great, so I’d decided to book a hotel for Friday night and head home a day early. Sunday was my birthday anyway, so I figured I’d be better off giving myself an extra day to relax at home (and clean & air out all my gear) vs. slogging it through the rain all day and having to rush home on Sunday.

The riding on Friday was similar to the previous days — winding dirt & gravel roads following creeks and rivers through various state land, broken up by the occasional scenic vista as the route crested a mountain or skirted along a ridge line. It was perfectly lovely riding through scenic areas, and other than one particularly sketchy corner where I came in a bit hot into loose gravel on hardpack and very nearly had a close-up view of the nearby creek. Overall it was a wonderfully uneventful day of being out in the forests and enjoying the quiet.

While the rain came later than forecasted on Friday, it did come down hard over the evening and was a soggy, dreary morning on Saturday as I prepared for the long ride back to CT on the interstate. Overall the route was a good shakedown test for the new gear and a great first trip of the year.

Not every ADV/motocamping trip needs to be hardcore and challenging; riding some nice, mellow dirt roads and camping for a few nights is a great way to relax and recharge.

Overall I really liked the new Leatt gear over my previous adventure touring set up, and it’s also my first touring gear with layered waterproofing. While having to pull over to put on or take off the liners isn’t as convenient as just having a GoreTex shell, the increased breathability when working hard off-road and just general riding on hot, humid days seems worth that hassle. Most of my ride home on Saturday was chilly and raining until I hit high 80s and humidity when I got into CT — the liners were breathable enough for that last hour that it wasn’t worth pulling over to take them out. Off-road would have been a different story, but in that case pulling over is also a lot more convenient.

Overall, I’d take the Multitour suit for anything up to intermediately difficult ADV riding on big bikes on all but the hottest days, but I think it’s probably still a bit heavy for hardcore dual sport riding in the summer. I was impressed enough with Leatt’s quality and thoughtful approach to ADV gear that I pulled the trigger on their 5.5 Rally suit to replace my Klim Dakar gear when I’m doing harder riding where I’d want in-the-boot pants, standalone armor, and knee braces/guards (honestly Leatt getting the CE A-rating for street abrasion resistance was a big part of that; Klim not certifying the Dakar suit was surprising and disappointing).

The gloves and boots did well enough that I didn’t even have to think about them most of the time, which says enough on its own. Their boots are definitely stiffer and more protective than most “adventure” boots, but still not quite an enduro/motocross boot, which is fine for me for most ADV riding I’d be doing. For harder for trail and dual sport riding I’ll stick with my Tech 7s, but I definitely like the 7.5s over the Sidi Adventures on anything harder than a dirt road. Their adventure gloves share a lot of DNA with their enduro & motocross gloves with some additional reinforcement for the street.

The only gear that really disappointed me on the trip with the Touratech Aventuro Pro (based on the Nexx X.Wed 3). I had both of the previous models, the Aventuro & Aventuro 2 (based on the X.Wed and X.Wed 2) and they were both great helmets that I had zero issues with. While the newest model has the ECE 22.06 safety rating, it’s heavier and lacks ventilation compared to its predecessors (even for interstate riding behind a wind screen, which was particularly disappointing). More importantly for me, though, is that I get a hotspot on my forehead and ears after about 2 hours of riding, which I never had from the previous versions. All-in-all it feels like a significant step in the wrong direction and a helmet I’ll likely retire early unless it breaks in significantly more.