Day 85 - Boonville, NY to Blue Mountain Lake, NY

Aug 29 blog

63 miles

3,658 miles so far

Last night we decided that we will end our ride in Portland, ME. Our plan will be to ship our bikes home, rent a car and drive to Boothbay Harbor to hopefully stay for a few days, and then to return to Portland, ME where we will fly to Portland, OR.

This enabled us to map out our remaining daily segments, book some hotels and begin to realize that we only have eight riding days left including today’s ride to Blue Mountain Lake. As this would be a long ride into the Adirondack Mountains with rain forecasted, we planned an early start.

We had breakfast at our hotel and hit the road by 7am. As we left the center of Boonville, we immediately turned onto Moose River Road and got to climb our first hill of the day! There would be many, as we made our way deeper into the Adirondacks. The first 17 miles of our ride were on Moose River Road which is a beautiful road that follows both the Black and Moose rivers. We rode into lush green forests with a few hints of early Fall color.

We then turned onto scenic highway 28 which had a lot more traffic but a decent shoulder. It took us up and down many hills and past many lakes.

We stopped in Old Forge at Ozzie’s Cafe for cappuccinos, a snack, and sandwiches to go for lunch. Down the road, we stopped in a town called Inlet beside Fourth Lake, which is part of the Fulton Chain Lakes, a string of eight lakes in Adirondack Park. There we stopped and enjoyed our sandwiches on a picnic table in the town park.

While it was very cloudy and thundered briefly at one point, we only experienced a very light rain for no more than an hour. By the time we arrived at Steamboat Lodge at Blue Mountain Lake, the rain had cleared and the sun was peeking from behind the clouds.

After hamburgers from The Corner Store and a beer and cider at the Strong Rope Tap Room across the street, we sat on the dock in our Adirondack chairs watching a kayaker, water skiers, and a few boaters on the lake, as the sun set over the hills.

Beautiful scenes riding into the Adirondacks