Adirondacks Tour in May

Fred W · May 4, 2012

Starting a new thread for you here to keep from hijacking Roadrunner's group ride thread:

SCB said:
Hey, a couple other guys and I are going to be doing this ride in mid-May. Scranton to Johnstown via rt 30 + 30A Day 1 and Day 4. We're planning to break the Adacks part of the ride into 2 days (the other guys ride Harleys!), looking to stay Day 2 somewhere between Lake Placid and Ticonderoga for that middle night. Probably add a detour over to Lake George on Day 3, ending up back in Johnstown at the Super 8 that night.

Just wondered if any of you locals or guys that are familiar with this area had any suggestions for things to see or interesting places to stop along the way (food, entertainment, sightsee...whatever). Thanks!

BTW - I didn't mean to hijack the thread, and if this should be a separate thread just let me know. I just thought it fit in best here.

Your best bet will be to try and stay in Lake Placid. There isn't much else between there and Ticonderoga. As for stuff to see and do? Saranac Lake and Lake Placid are the only real towns up in the 'dacks. All the others are in pretty serious decay. All sorts of restaurants and bars in the two biggies though.

I'm sure some of the Upstate natives will be along soon with some better input for you. It'll be a great ride in any case.

Top_Speed1 · May 4, 2012

Lake Placid is one beautiful and very quaint town, it's also quite pricey on everything (compared to the other villages). If money is no object then Placid would be the choice.

ENJOY!!

mferriter · May 4, 2012

Lake Placid is nice - but is now very "yuppy-ified" I first went there in the summer of 1979 when they were building the Olympic facilites, the second time was in 1996. What an unbelievable difference.

Personally I like Tupper Lake, Old Forge, and Blue Mountain Lake. Blue Mountain Lake has a really neat pseudo B&B called Hemlock Hall. There's the big house with several bedrooms, but also sevreal cabins spread around teh property - some right on the lake. They also have "family" style breakfast and dinners, which is kind of fun depending on how much you want to interact with others. No phone or TV's when we were there.

There's a nice boat tour in Lake Placid (but it's actually a tour of Mirror Lake) where you can see all of the multimillion dollar "camps" on the waterfront.

For camping, I like Nick's Lake, right next to Old Forge.

Steel_Gin · May 4, 2012

There is a fair amount to do in Lake Placid if you are in to checking out the 1980 Olympic sites and there is a small museum at the hockey rink. If you want to take a break from riding there are a ton of hiking trails. Ride over to WhiteFace Mt. and take the gondola to the top or ride the road to the top of Mt. Washington.

I stayed at the Northwoods Inn right on Main St., (its right in the middle of the action) a few years ago and they were remodeling at the time so the rooms weren’t very new. The price was a little high but walking distance from lots of food and drink. The bed was good, the shower was warm and no DUIs. Had dinner at the Lake Placid Pub & Brewery, good food and great beer. I recommend walking there if you can because the pints go down pretty easy.

Hope you have a great time and ride safe!!

mferriter · May 4, 2012

deang said:
There is a fair amount to do in Lake Placid if you are in to checking out the 1980 Olympic sites and there is a small museum at the hockey rink. If you want to take a break from riding there are a ton of hiking trails. Ride over to WhiteFace Mt. and take the gondola to the top or ride the road to the top of Mt. Washington.

I stayed at the Northwoods Inn right on Main St., (its right in the middle of the action) a few years ago and they were remodeling at the time so the rooms weren’t very new. The price was a little high but walking distance from lots of food and drink. The bed was good, the shower was warm and no DUIs. Had dinner at the Lake Placid Pub & Brewery, good food and great beer. I recommend walking there if you can because the pints go down pretty easy.

Hope you have a great time and ride safe!!

+1 on Whiteface Mountain.

You don't realize just how steep some of those ski race runs are until you see it without the snow. If I remember correctly you can also rent a bike at the ski lodge, take it up the gondola with you and ride down on the trails. Not sure how streneous it is, but is should a fair bit of downhill stretches.

They also have a dryland bobsled run that looks pretty cool - I haven't tried it. It's expensive ($70) though.

Mossyrocks13k · May 4, 2012

Dates and routes? I was thinking of doing this solo on May 19/20/21.

SCB · May 4, 2012

Fred, thanks for fixin' this!

We'll probably end up staying in Lake Placid. Gotta pick a hotel. The Northwood Inn gets beat up pretty badly in online reviews.... Walking distance to Main Street pubs sounds smart, though.

Olympic sites sound interesting as does riding up Whiteface Mt. and checking out the ski slopes. Little bit of a hike over to Mt Washington, isn't it Deang? We actually did drive up Mt Washington on our spring trip last year. Really impressive.

As for dates, at this point we're planning 5/17, 18, 19, 20 but might change depending on the weather.

Thanks for the input so far and keep those ideas coming!

Top_Speed1 · May 7, 2012

Best Eats in 'daks?

Old Forge, and it's not even close. Been a regular there for snowmobiling and you can't beat the place and the prices are reasonable

SCB · May 7, 2012

Top_Speed1 said:
Best Eats in 'daks?

Old Forge, and it's not even close. Been a regular there for snowmobiling and you can't beat the place and the prices are reasonable

Old Forge...Is that a restaurant? Or a town with a great restaurant in it?

One of the guys in our group owns a bar/restaurant specializing in barbeque which he makes himself. We're always looking for places to do a little under cover reconnaissance!

Fred W · May 7, 2012

SCB said:
Top_Speed1 said:

Best Eats in 'daks?

Old Forge, and it's not even close. Been a regular there for snowmobiling and you can't beat the place and the prices are reasonable

Click to expand...

Old Forge...Is that a restaurant? Or a town with a great restaurant in it?

One of the guys in our group owns a bar/restaurant specializing in barbeque which he makes himself. We're always looking for places to do a little under cover reconnaissance!

Yeah, I had no luck finding that one either. I did find that Old Forge is the name of a town with many restaurants in it.

As for BBQ recon, try Tail o' the Pup in Ray Brook (between Saranac and Lake Placid). I've never been there yet, but have heard some good things. And it appears you can get some Maine Lobster while you are there if you can't make it all the way to the coast yourself. No idea how much they'd ding you for that service, but... Mmmmm Lobstah!

Top_Speed1 · May 8, 2012

Old Forge is one of the most beautiful and probably "the most" famous towns in the 'daks for visitors (tourists). It's the start of the Fulton chain of lakes and yes has many nice restaurants (and surrounding border towns like Eagle Bay, Big Moose).

When we stay there for our snowmobiling ventures we always ask the locals on the eats. They have it down pat but to be honest I haven't found a bad one yet. For more pub fare (burger and a bump) I favor "Daikers" right on the main drag (Rte 28) just north of Old Forge in a border town called Eagle Bay. Big Moose Yamaha is almost across the street but they are into more the sleds and jet skiis (which I am too!

but Bombardier not Yami lol.

Here's some links...

Old Forge NY Website

Daikers

There's lots of lodging there but for a clean basic room we always stay The Country Club Motel (I did trip advisor so you had reviews) The owners let you park your bike right up to your room and there's a big overhang so basically your under cover

Hope this helps... Cheers!

-KJ

Top_Speed1 · May 8, 2012

So to clarify, Old Forge is 'THE town' with most selection of restaurants within a 10-mile radius of any town in the 'daks. Everybody talks about Lake Placid (and it is quaint and beautiful!) but it's way overrated with high(er) costs on everything and snobby(ish) peeps, well more so that any other 'dak town and maybe this was all stemmed from when the winter Olympics were there back in the days.

Old Forge is a must-stop town in the 'daks and Daikers (on the east side of Rte 28 about 5 miles north of OF) bar as mentioned is very powersport friendly and not to mention a large deck that overlooks 4th lake ...views with brews! Usually the waitress' or servers are cute as well

Daikers map in the 'Dak

nervous · May 13, 2012

Just know that (unless it's been changed in the last couple years) if you head into Daikers the dirt/rock road in and out can be sketchy at times. But the view is very nice. And say hi to Tal!

SCB · May 14, 2012

Well, looks like our Spring trip is going to get bumped back, hopefully just a couple weeks...scheduling, back trouble...I guess that's life. Hopefully it'll come together over the Summer. Anyway, thanks to everybody for their help.

Fred W · May 14, 2012

SCB said:
Well, looks like our Spring trip is going to get bumped back, hopefully just a couple weeks...scheduling, back trouble...I guess that's life. Hopefully it'll come together over the Summer. Anyway, thanks to everybody for their help.

If it gets pushed back to June, join the crowd for the group ride!

It's fun to meet new people and share the joy.

Mossyrocks13k · May 14, 2012

I will be doing this the 18th/19th/20th. :yahoo:

Staying in Old Forge, NY and doing the route in the original thread on Saturday. I will post up any issues with roads. :blink:

This is my current route to old forge.

SCB · May 14, 2012

Fred W said:
SCB said:

Well, looks like our Spring trip is going to get bumped back, hopefully just a couple weeks...scheduling, back trouble...I guess that's life. Hopefully it'll come together over the Summer. Anyway, thanks to everybody for their help.

Click to expand...

If it gets pushed back to June, join the crowd for the group ride!

It's fun to meet new people and share the joy.

Yeah, I'd like to. The other guys are into a more...ah...leisurely pace, more like 160-200 miles per day. That's why splitting the loop into 2 days with a short side loop or 2 was just about right for them, so I don't think they'll come along, but I'd love to. Have to see how things shake out. I might be able to swing it.

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