I had to have some major surgery last summer so it nixed my 700 mile Cleveland to Washington DC tour. The week preceding the surgery, Bike Forums member "Hartmann" and I went for a 3 day 212 mile tour through eastern NY and western VT.
The plan hatched by Hartmann and myself was that he would ride solo on Thursday from his home near Castleton Vt to my home near Round Lake NY , spend the night and then we both would set out for Peru VT on Friday. Near Peru we would camp the night and then ride to his house near Castleton on Saturday.
Sunday I would ride home alone.

Friday July 7,Roundlake NY to Peru VT 84 miles.
Hartmann and I were up at 6, after breakfast we were on the road by 7am. We headed east on the old railroad grade from Round Lake to Coons crossing.where we got on NY Rt 67 east for the 5 mile downhill to Mechanicville NY. It was a beautiful morning with bright sunshine. We had morning commuter traffic to deal with so we kept single file and stayed sharp. After Mechanicville we turned north a couple of miles and crossed the Hudson River at Stillwater. Both Mechanicville and Stillwater are old canal towns along the Champlain Canal. Both towns were heavily industrialized until the early 1970's. Since then they have fallen on hard times and it shows in their respective downtown areas.

After we crossed the Bridge we began the long climb out of the Hudson River valley to Easton NY. Most of this area has been dairy farms for many decades. Many have gone under the past 20 years due to stagnant milk prices. some have come back as specialty farms, raising every thing from Alpacas to organic produce. Easton itself is just a few houses , a couple of boarded up business and a post office. Rather than take the more direct route to Cambridge NY we side tracked a few miles to ride past Grandma Moses Farm , Grandma Moses was a painter well know for her unique style of painting traditional country scenes. http://gseart.com/moses.html. Riding through the beautiful countryside here it is easy to see where she got her inspiration.

Shorty after Grandma Moses farm we entered the village of Cambridge NY, Cambridge had long been a hub of the local farming community as well as a transportation crossroads into Vermont. While farming has declined, Cambridge has become a popular area for artists along with others than can Telecommute to their work. The small village is thriving, The Cambridge hotel has an excellent restaurant run by a well known regional Chef.

Riding east out of Cambridge on NY 313 to Arlington VT is probably one of the most beautiful routes in the NE.
313 follows the Battenkill river, the famed flyfishing river( for you Orvis fans). Along the river to Arlington are numerous covered bridges.


In Arlington we stopped for lunch at a country store before beginning the climb up to Stratton. The road up to Stratton is a dirt road that meanders up the gap to where it meets the Appalachian Trail before continuing down the back side of the mountain. It isn't a very difficult climb, steady grade most of the way with a couple of short steep sections to get your heart rate up. After Stratton we turned north on the forest roads until we found Rt 30 and then north to Rt 11 To our destination for the day, Hapgood Pond Recreation area
After putting up camp. We walked around the Pond a bit and then I napped until 6pm. For dinner we made veggie and bean burritos. The campground host had a community campfire that evening so we joined in and hung out untill 10pm with about a dozen other people who mostly were hikers.