New York · Bear Mountain and Hudson Highlands + Catskills Mountain Sweep

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Palisades fuel gate

   Palisades is where the river's western cliffs begin: a long wall of dark basalt rising some hundred metres above the Hudson, running north from the George Washington Bridge into Rockland County. The nearest fuel is in Yonkers across the river or in the towns of Bergen County, so fill the tank before you go.

   Read the complete Palisades fuel gate write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Palisades is where the day begins. Next is Perkins Memorial Drive.

2. 2. Perkins Memorial Drive

   Perkins Memorial Drive is a short, steep, winding road that climbs to the top of Bear Mountain, in the Hudson Highlands, about fifty miles north of New York City, and it is one of the best-known viewpoints in the region. At the summit, a stone tower built in the 1930s in memory of a conservationist and philanthropist, George Perkins, stands at about thirteen hundred feet, and from its top you can see the Hudson valley, the Catskills in the north and, on a very clear day, the skyline of Manhattan, forty miles to the south. The road is closed in winter, usually from late autumn to spring, and in icy conditions, so check before you go.

   Read the complete Perkins Memorial Drive write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Perkins Memorial Drive comes up 69 km in. Next is Bear Mountain Bridge.

3. 3. Bear Mountain Bridge

   The Bear Mountain Bridge, opened in 1924, was the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time of its construction and the first to span the Hudson south of Albany. It leaps across the river at its narrowest and deepest, between the steep granite flanks of Bear Mountain on the west and Anthony's Nose on the east, and the setting is dramatic: dark cliffs, a wide gleaming river, forested hills layered one behind the other. A toll is collected, and motorcycles pay like everyone else.

   Read the complete Bear Mountain Bridge write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   137 km in you reach Bear Mountain Bridge. Next is Cold Spring food stop.

4. 4. Cold Spring food stop

   Cold Spring is the kind of Hudson river village that looks like a stage set, a single steep Main Street of antiques shops, cafés and brick storefronts running down to the river and a small bandstand on the waterfront. It has fewer than two thousand residents, and it fills each weekend with day-trippers from the city who arrive on the Metro-North train. Across the water rise the walls of West Point, and the Hudson narrows here between steep, wooded hills, a fjord-like stretch called the Highlands.

   Read the complete Cold Spring food stop write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Somewhere to get off the bike, 206 km in. Next is Back to Palisades.

5. 5. Back to Palisades

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Palisades fuel gate write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Finish at Back to Palisades. That is the ride. Next is Harriman exit fuel.

6. 6. Harriman exit fuel

   Harriman is a village you notice mostly from the highway, and its role in a riding day is simple: it is the exit. The New York Thruway runs past here, and the exit ramps lead to a cluster of fuel stations, fast-food places and a very large outlet shopping centre, which draws buses from all over the region. It is the last chance for easy fuel and coffee before the Hudson Highlands, and an early-morning stop here is a sensible way to start a ride out of the city, since prices in the small towns beyond tend to be higher and the opening hours shorter.

   Read the complete Harriman exit fuel write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Harriman exit fuel is the fuel stop for this leg. Next is Roscoe trout town.

7. 7. Roscoe trout town

   Roscoe calls itself Trout Town USA, and it has the credentials to back the claim. The village sits in the western Catskills at the meeting of two famous fly-fishing streams, the Beaverkill and the Willowemoc, which join a short distance away at a spot called Junction Pool. Anglers have been coming to these waters since the nineteenth century, and the tradition of American dry-fly fishing took shape in these valleys, with local fly tyers developing patterns that are still used today. A fly-fishing museum a few miles up the road in Livingston Manor tells the story.

   Read the complete Roscoe trout town write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   A break here. Next is Pepacton Reservoir.

8. 8. Pepacton Reservoir

   Pepacton Reservoir fills a long, bent valley in the western Catskills, a deep blue lake many miles long, built in the early 1950s to supply drinking water to New York City, a hundred and thirty miles away. The East Branch of the Delaware was dammed at Downsville, and the rising water drowned four villages, including Pepacton itself, along with farms, roads and a good many orchards. The old foundations, it is said, still lie beneath the surface, and in dry years the water drops enough to show a few of them.

   Read the complete Pepacton Reservoir write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Pepacton Reservoir, late in the day. Next is Phoenicia mountain road.

9. 9. Phoenicia mountain road

   Phoenicia is a small hamlet in the Esopus Creek valley, in the heart of the Catskill Mountains, and it is the point where several of the region's best roads come together. The creek, a fast, clear trout stream, runs right through the village, and in summer, tubers in inner tubes float down it by the hundreds. Hills rise steeply on all sides, thickly wooded with hemlock, maple and beech, and the highest of the Catskills, Slide Mountain, at about 1,270 metres, stands a short way to the south.

   Read the complete Phoenicia mountain road write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Phoenicia mountain road sits at 550 km, late in the day. Next is Kingston return fuel.

10. 10. Kingston return fuel

    Kingston has a good claim to be the first capital of New York State. The legislature met here in 1777, when the state's first constitution was adopted, and in October of that year British troops sailed up the Hudson and burned most of the town. The Stockade District, a neighbourhood of old stone houses, has been rebuilt on the same streets, and a number of the buildings date from the Dutch period of the 1600s. It is the kind of place where history sits on every corner, and the cafés and restaurants have taken advantage.

    Read the complete Kingston return fuel write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Kingston return fuel is the fuel stop for this leg. Next is Back to Harriman.

11. 11. Back to Harriman

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Harriman exit fuel write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Finish at Back to Harriman. That is the ride.