Dushore - Forkston Circuit
45.5 miles | 4,772’ | 52% unpaved
Ride the peaceful back roads surrounding Dushore, where gravel roads wind through State Game Lands, picturesque farms, historic cemeteries, and the valleys below Dutch and Bartlett Mountains.
Roll through a landscape shaped by generations of farming, where quiet backroads pass historic cemeteries, working farms, and the remnants of communities that once thrived in these hills. Heading west out of Dushore, the route circumnavigates several prominent mountains and hills of the region. The southern half rides through State Game Lands, ending with a whooping descent to Forkston. The northern half returns to Dushore via a winding tour of the area's farmland with picturesque views and roads running through the middle of farms. Expect a few rough and steep stretches in the final quarter of the loop.
The route circles some of the area's more iconic mountains, including Dutch Mountain, once home to a coal mine, and Bartlett Mountain, the tallest in Wyoming County. With much of this activity and industry gone, the area is secluded and most of its population left years ago. Today, the landscape remains and reclaims, with many of its streams desirable for fishing and swimming.
Although huckleberries today are generally associated with the western US, this area was once famous for huckleberry picking. Box Huckleberry, native to Appalachia, is found in isolated colonies which reproduce clonally by extending roots. This means that the shrubby colonies, when found, have been alive in that same spot for many years, even centuries. One colony of Box Huckleberry in Pennsylvania is estimated to be 8,000 years old, making it the oldest woody plant in North America east of the Rockies. Sadly, a wildfire in the 1960s and highway construction in the ‘70s destroyed much of this colony. Other colonies throughout Appalachia face many of the same threats, with some lost altogether.
