raybo

I'm planning a ride in this area and was wondering if anyone had ridden this highway from Watertown all the way to Lake Champlain.

Thanks,

Ray

Thulsadoom

I have. It's a great ride. Let me know if you have any specific questions.

raybo

Thanks for that.

I have about a month to ride from Lambertville, NJ to Boston, MA. I was thinking of riding up to Albany, taking the Eric Canal path/road over toward Oneida Lake (is it worth it?) and maybe all the way over to Lake Ontario, where I could pick up Highway 3. Another option is to head north from Oneida Lake/Rome toward Watertown and picking it up there. Any thoughts on these routes?

Also, it looks like there might be long stretches of no services. Mostly what I need are places to sleep (campgrounds/motels) and grocery stores. Any idea of what kinds of services I will find along Hwy 3?

Thanks,

Ray

Thulsadoom

The east side of Oneida lake is kind of cool. There's a couple of towns, sort of beach-type towns called Verona and Sylvan beach. There's some neat stuff there and food/entertainment. This time of year it's pretty neat down there.

You could take Highway 49 across the top of the lake (Oneida) and sort of corner off towards Mexico (Mexico is a small town in NY) or something and meet up with the 3 on the west side of Interstate 81 and head north. The 3 will then run alongside lake Ontario up to the Watertown area. Lots of nice scenery and small lakeside towns. No problem with services, there are small towns all over and all have food. Plenty of campgrounds also, so much water around=lots of camping.

Once you hit the Watertown area, you can just stay on the 3 and run it right through to Ausable Forks and all, through the Adirondacks. You've got about 40 miles from Watertown to Harrisville with fairly flat roads. Again, no problem with services. Lots of campgrounds, especially once you hit Adirondack park. The longest stretch with no services that I can think of might be 20 miles or so. But mostly you can depend on a mini mart at least every ten miles or less. Once you hit Harrisville the road will start to go up into those pesky Adirondack bumps. The scenery is stunning.

You'll go through a bunch of mountain lake towns, Lake Placid among them, and eventually hit Lake Champlain. You can either take a ferry across the lake or ride up over the top of it.