Running the Adirondack Trail

July 3rd my temporary riding partner, Dyke Riffle, and I headed north from Utica, NY. The weather was promising to be spectacular. We took off in about 55 degree temperatures with blue skies and it would only get better from there.

Our run north started on a wide expanse of four lane, route 12, then merged onto 28 and it was all two lane black top from there. As we entered to Adirondack Park, the smell of pine trees

WHITE LAKE

enveloped us, even at 60 miles an hour. From early on, it was a constant challenge to not pull over at every single thing we saw. Our first stop was across from White Lake, where a family was loading up the kids and dogs for a day in the boat on the lake. As we headed along, we ran parallel to a string of lakes that the region had simple chosen to number, Fifth Lake, Sixth Lake, and so on. The views were spectacular and the riding was great.

Along the way, we came across a train station and a group of parked trains. The scenic train rides actually run daily in the afternoons. We were able to wander down the tracks and get a close up look at some of the old trains on display. I don't imagine from the state of what was sitting on

the tracks that those are the trains they actually use though. We found our way back to a bed and breakfast behind the station, a quaint two story manor that Dyke took a tour of. He is along for the ride to scope out roads and lodging for an upcoming ride with some friends from Europe.

From there, we headed on into the next town, a nightmare of a tourist trap in the middle of

paradise. The town was Old Forge and nestled in the beautiful Adirondack scenery was a massive cluster of shops, cabins, restaurants and a water park. Built up along the shores of another of many lakes along the way, (I think it was called Inlet as there were little inlets leading in between the homes in which to maneuver boats) we stopped at a park to get a view and take a break. As often is the case on a road trip, we encountered a couple out on a ride as well and visited with them for awhile as we watch the boaters.

STATUE AT THE PARK BY THE LAKE

As we inches through traffic leaving this town, I couldn't help but wonder what in the world draws people to vacation some place like that. I get wanting to take your kids to the mountains, but try camping. Or if you aren't into that much nature, find a cabin away from the hustle and bustle of life. That place was almost like a joke to Mother Nature. I mean, really, a water park in the Adirondacks???

Around 11:30 we hit the junction where routes 28 and 30 split at Blue Mountain. The mountain itself peaks out at 3,759 feet. Not sure what our elevation was, but the climb was gradual. Shortly after that turn off, we stopped at the Adirondack Museum. A sprawling campus of both modern museum buildings housing displays and relocated authentic period buildings, with sidewalks a beautifully manicured grounds, the displays are split into things such as boats, trains, buggies and wagons, etc.

There was a women in the boat building actually making a guide boat, a type of canoe, which will take her about 500 hours to complete. The museum then auctions the completed boat off to help raise funds. There was a knowledgeable museum guide with her, explaining the intricacies of the process, the types of wood and cuts made to complete the finished product. Very time consuming. A craft that is probably going to be lost some day if it is not preserved by this type of museum.

The day had really started to warm up as we mad our around the grounds and we soon agreed that it was time to get back into the wind. We made our way up to Tupper Lake, where we stopped for a cool refreshment at the Trails End Bar, run a a graveling voic. ed fellow biker appropriately named Beard. Beard was kind enough to give us helmet stickers with his bar name on and turned Dyke onto some local tourist maps with lodging, local motorcycle rides and lists of motorcycle friendly establishments which should come in handy for his part of his future trip.

From there is was not all too far to Seranac Lake, then into the hustle and bustle traffic scene of Lake Placid, our final destination for the day. We hit Lake Placid around 3pm in 73 degree temperatures in a town full of people.

Lake Placid afternoon pictures will follow in a different post.

Peace.