Photo by Abram Landes, Firespirephotography.com

Rolling hills and lush fields passed as we closed in on the final miles of our family’s cross-country move. I’d heard about Pennsylvania’s sprawling landscapes and down-to-earth towns and couldn’t wait to see for myself.

I was raised in Ohio, yet the rugged mountains of the West called. After college, I wandered away to Wyoming and eventually Colorado and California. Each place lived up to the hype. Yet each of those moves came with more traffic and higher costs. As our family grew, my spouse and I longed for a place we could afford, explore, and thrive.

When a new job pointed us towards Central Pennsylvania a few years ago, we wondered if our days of adventure and outdoor-minded communities were behind us.

Photo by Abram Landes, Firespirephotography.com

To say that Happy Valley has exceeded our expectations is a wholehearted understatement. This place is a bounty of natural beauty and outdoor pursuits. I arrived eager to check out the cycling scene in our new Centre County hometown. That’s when everything fell into place. With years of road cycling and mountain biking under my belt, it was the move to Pennsylvania that introduced me to gravel cycling.

Photo by Abram Landes, Firespirephotography.com

Over the last decade, gravel cycling has quickly become a widely embraced way to enjoy the world by bike. You can cover more ground than hiking with less car traffic than road riding and less technical terrain than mountain biking. And let’s face it, riding a bike is a joyful act. Whether you do it all the time or haven’t been on a bike since you were young, the exhilaration of fresh air on your cheeks and the feeling of flying on two wheels never gets old.

In the cycling world, “gravel” refers to mixed-surface riding, including gravely forest service and state park roads, grassy double-track trails, and even a bit of rolling single-track for fun. Sometimes gravel routes connect mixed-surface riding with paved roads or rail trails, so two wheels can take you from the heart of the mountains straight into the arms of community — coffee shops, cafes, bike shops, and breweries.

Thanks to the Happy Valley Gravel Adventure Field Guide, now you don’t have to go it alone. This handy little booklet released in 2025 is the ideal travel companion for anyone who is gravel-curious and yearning for a taste of adventure in the center of our state. To help both local riders and visitors explore the region, the guide features over a dozen curated routes through a network of mixed-surface roads.

Photo by Abram Landes, Firespirephotography.com

I had the privilege of contributing to this guidebook along with a talented team of local collaborators including Happy Valley Women’s Cycling, Purple Lizard Maps, the Center for Dirt & Gravel Road Studies at Penn State, The Happy Valley Adventure Bureau (HVAB), and Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC), with support from local businesses and riders.

Edward Stoddard is Communications Director at The Happy Valley Adventure Bureau and helped bring our gravel guide to life. “Happy Valley is surrounded by scenic, rideable gravel that winds through forests, valleys, and historic small towns. Creating this guide felt like the natural next step to share these experiences and strengthen Happy Valley’s identity as the Centre of Adventure in Pennsylvania.” Ed’s enthusiasm for our area is contagious. If you run into him while you’re here, you will arrive as a stranger and leave as a friend.

Helena Kotala, PEC’s Central Region Program Manager and one of the route planners for the guide, knows our gravel like the back of her hand. “Some routes in the guide are under 15 miles with modest elevation, ideal for beginners or casual riders. Others stretch more than 100 miles, appealing to advanced cyclists and bikepackers. The combination of the print guide and the RideWithGPS collection creates a safe and rewarding experience, helping people feel confident venturing into new parts of our forests.”

Photo by Abram Landes, Firespirephotography.com

PEC also hosts the Public Lands Ride each fall, a much loved and well-supported gravel ride that takes riders along hemlock-lined streams, up and down rolling climbs and descents, and past open plateau views in Black Moshannon State Park and Moshannon State Forest. If you’re looking for a fun and inclusive gravel ride that supports public lands across the Commonwealth, this is it.

Photo by Abram Landes, Firespirephotography.com

For those itching to satisfy their competitive side, there’s a burgeoning gravel racing scene here, too. I’ll be kicking off the race season with Whipple Dam Gravel Grinder on April 11, hosted by Seasons of Rothrock (SoR) Adventures. The next day, Trans-sylvania Productions will host the Bald Eagle Gravel Grinder , another fantastic early season race and first of five in the Pennsylvania Gravel Series. Still want more? Test how gritty you are with SoR’s GRIT Gravel Grinder on June 6, offering a scenic grand tour of Rothrock State Forest, followed by a fun after-party at local-favorite watering hole, Boal City Brewing. The Mid-State Gravel Grinder on August 15, fourth in the five-race series by Transylvania Productions, takes riders on a gravel quest through peaceful late-summer foliage.

When it’s time for a tune up, step into any one of our outstanding local bike shops and you’ll get even more beta on fun places to ride. Some shops and local cycling clubs host group rides in the summer that cater to a wide variety of riders and abilities. Tussey Mountain, our local “town mountain” ski hill, even rents e-bikes for those seeking an approachable taste of the gravel adventure life.

The cycling and outdoor recreation community here in Centre County is rad. Looking back on the summer I rolled into Happy Valley for the first time—I knew I was coming home. Where will your adventures take you this year?