I started hanging out on Sport-Touring.Net (aka STN) over a year ago. I'm more of a lurker than a post ho, but I try to contribute whenever possible. Seems to be quite the bunch of characters with the same passion as me: to ride long days on scenic, twisty two-lane roads. As information about the Eastern rally (ESTN) started to come together in the winter, I thought this would be a great chance to meet some people and ride some fine roads.

I used to backpack in the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks and figured I could lay out a two day ride to get to Vermont via the 'dacks, spend a day at ESTN, then have a two day ride home. I've tended to stay within a 150 mile radius of Pittsburgh, despite many 400+ mile day rides, so it was going to be a bit of an adventure too.

My work situation was very much in turmoil, so I didn't reserve a room at the lodge in advance. I figured worst case I could camp. As ESTN approached, I realized that I would still be employed and have the vacation days to burn. As luck would have it, a room at the Riverside Inn opened up a week before the rally, so I jumped on it. Time to start plotting routes.

I decided to put in a long day on Thursday and ride well into the Adirondacks from Pittsburgh. I figured I could do a shorter day on Friday and take a circuitous route from the 'dacks to Stowe. With any luck I would be there in plenty of time to drink beer and welcome later arrivals. I had never been to Mt Washington, so I laid out a long loop for Saturday that included going to the top of Mt Washington. I decided to head home on Sunday by heading south through VT, western MA and CT with a stop at a friend's house in Kingston, NY for the night. My last day would start out with some twisties in the Catskills and then wind my way diagonally across PA back to Pittsburgh. I figured about 2000 miles or so. A plan had been hatched, now it was time to execute it.

Day 1 - Thursday

Thursday was going to be a long day (540 miles), so I got on the road at 6am sharp. I had a motel reservation in Tupper Lake, NY and wanted to get there while it was daylight with plenty of time to shower, find some dinner and have a few beers. The air was very humid, being in the middle of a heat wave, so it was no surprise that the morning started out foggy and hazy. I've riddenthrough central PA many times before and decided to take my usual suspects to start out. I took 286 east to 219 north to 879 into Clearfield, PA (jct I80). Despite the fog it was a very nice two hours on the bike. 286 and 219 have lots of nice sweepers on good pavement. When traffic is light, like it is early in the morning, they're a lot of fun. Just keep your eyes open for deer. Here's a pic from my gas stop in Clearfield:

I continued on 879 to Karthaus, then took the Quehanna Highway past Piper and jumped on Wycoff Run Rd to the town of Sinnemahoning. That stretch of 879 has lots of long fast straights and a few good turns. The Quehanna Highway has more pleasant sweepers and some very long and fast straights. Just watch for elk. The treat of the morning was Wycoff Run Rd which is 10 miles of very twisty country road with brand new pavement. Good stuff.

My next leg was to take 872 north past a dam and then explore some roads I'd never been on that cut cross-country to the city of Galeton. 872 provided more miles of nice, fast sweepers on good pavement past Sinnemahoning State Park. I stopped for a bio break at the lake and snapped this pic (still a bit foggy):

I broke off 872 in Wharton onto East Fork Rd. It started out a bit bumpy, then turned into new pavement. WHOOT!!! Nothing like fresh asphalt in the middle of nowhere to brighten a day. The fog had lifted and I was enjoying the ride through the boonies. Here's a pic along the way:

After about 10 miles of fresh pavement, the road turned to dirt with little warning. Since this was the only decent road in the forest, I figured I could either continue on or turn around. I chose to keep going since the road was hard-packed dirt and gravel. I just took it easy and tried to relax and enjoy the scenery. Here's a pic from the dirt section:

The dirt road turned back to bumpy asphalt after a few miles and soon enough I reached the junction with route 44. A short right-left jog later, I was on West Branch Rd heading towards Galeton, PA. West Branch was another twisty country road in the middle of nowhere with variable quality pavement. I popped back out into civilization on "scenic route 6", that runs east/west across the entire length of PA. Here's a pic of a nice little pond just off Rt 6 in Galeton. Note the sign for 144, an excellent 75 mile blast of twisties and sweepers that runs from Galeton south to Milesburg. I didn't ride it this trip, but it is highly recommended.

As I mentioned, PA 6 runs across the entire state, splitting the difference between I80 (to the south) and the NY/PA border (to the north). It has more than a few towns along its length with mellow, high speed sweepers between the towns. It gets a fair amount of traffic too, but at least there are lots of passing zones. I decided to take 6 east to Towanda and then start heading northeast to Binghamton on less traveled roads. As it turns out, 6 wasn't much fun, but it didn't suck either. Sitting in traffic in towns is never fun, but some of the sections between towns were nice.

I finally ditched 6 for Rt 409 in Towanda. 409 is a short little connector road to Rt 706. Both roads looked pretty twisty on the map with few towns and they did not disappoint. 706 started to get some traffic on it as I neared New Milford (Jct 81), but overall, they were fine additions to the trip. Here's a pic I snapped from somewhere on 706:

My only slab of the trip was next. I took 81 north past Binghamton. It was only a couple dozen miles, but it got me into NY and past the city. I exited at Rt 11 which very quickly took me to Rt 12. I ate lunch at a Wendys on Rt 11, then continued on my way into NY farm country via 12. Seemingly endless miles of scenic farms, small towns, long straights, too much slow moving traffic, and mellow turns eventually got me to Utica. Traffic sucked in Utica, but eventually I got through town and had my sights on the Adirondacks. Sorry no pics along this stretch as I was in mile munching mode. I just couldn't be bothered to stop to take a photo after passing a bunch of cars and then have to pass them again...

I stopped for gas and a Red Bull just past Utica, then continued on 12 north towards the Adirondacks. I made a right onto 28 east which took me past a bunch of scenic lakes and towns (all with speed zones) and more traffic than I expected. There is no shortage of passing zones, so I managed to work my way past conga line after conga line of cars. I don't ride fast, but damn it's good fun to have a lot of acceleration on tap. Perhaps too much fun sometimes. I did stop for a pic next to one of the lakes, but trust me, this doesn't really do the area justice:

Eventually I got to 28N at Blue Mountain Lake. 28N would have been a nice road if it wasn't for the infestation of Adirondack Tar Snakes. My God what a mess. The bike was sliding around on the damn things even on the straights. They had been baking in the hot sun all day and were really slick. Picking a line through a corner was about tar snake avoidance, not any semblance of flow or line. 28N and the Tar Snakes came to an end at Long Lake, putting me on Rt 30 heading north to Tupper Lake. 30 was nice enough and the views of mountains, lakes and marshy/swampy areas was outstanding. Here are a couple pics I took as I approached Tupper Lake:

 

I arrived in Tupper Lake about 6:30pm, gassed up and found my motel. Turns out this was my new longest day to date: 540 miles with only 25 miles of slab in there. After a quick shower, I headed out for a walk around town to find something to eat and drink. After a bit of searching, I ended up at the bar in Parks Smokehouse. I had a fine Cajun Prime Rib with several pints of Saranac Pale Ale (good stuff). I then wandered down the street to a bar with a Yuengling sign and threw back a few cold ones while talking to some colorful locals. With a full belly and a mellow buzz I called it a night and wandered back to the motel for some sleep.

Click here to continue with Day 2