Route
Julian Bender (he/him) lives in Philadelphia, where the Pine Barrens are the biggest, closest wilderness to the city. I currently have an extremely indoor job, but worked for several years developing and mapping hiking trails across the Middle East, including the Jordan Trail (https://www.jordantrail.org/) and Sinai Trail. My first ever bike camping trip was to the Pine Barrens in 2011, and since then I’ve been exploring the area by bike on a regular basis. After years of thinking the Pinelands needed a proper bikepacking route, I decided in 2024 to go out and create one. The Pines are a truly special place, especially given how close they are to the most populated parts of the US. I hope the Jersey Devil Hunt will offer a way to discover this unique ecoregion, and expose more people to bikepacking in general!