bmike

Full write up of my recent 3 day trip here:
ADK-BKPK-2015 « littlecircles

Frosted by Mike, on Flickr

Moose River Plains 'Megans Hole' by Mike, on Flickr

Krampus on the trail by Mike, on Flickr

IMG_5070 by Mike, on Flickr

View from Remsen Falls Lean To by Mike, on Flickr

IMG_5040 by Mike, on Flickr

psy

Gd stuff, I need to get out soon.

bwgride

Good images. Looks cold and painful. Will be doing some of that in November (I hope).

Steve B.

Thoroughly enjoyed the write-up. As well as your post from a year ago or so, of going to the wedding in Utica ?, (I think) via every back road you could find between Burlington and Utica.

Curious that you keep heading back to Moose River area. Is it because it's a large enough area ?, with roads you can bike ?, as well as find 2-3 days of exploring ?. Where else in the ADK's would you go next ?, I guess is my question.

bmike

Thanks!
MRP has alot of other stuff to see / ride to. I have only scratched the surface of the roads / trails in there... I want to camp for 3-4 days and just explore.
1 reason I like it is that its pretty remote feeling, and there is no traffic to speak of. Steep everywhere, scenic, and if you camp in the middle you are pretty far from civilization for being on the east coast.

I want to do a link up of the Essex Chain which just opened to bikes (it would require a river crossing) - then connect to MRP, and then south around to Rt. 8 on trails if possible and then the Powley-Piseco Rd.
I'd loop east then maybe into the Berkshires and dirt road it back north in VT.
But I'd want like 7-10 days to do that and take my time and explore.

The other ride I want to do is this:
The Route | The Adirondack Trail RIDE
Or at least stitch some of it together and build my own route...

kaos joe

I think a MTB race is run through the Moose River Plains called the Black Fly Classic or something similar. I've never biked through there but have hiked and hunted it. It's a very big and remote place as bmike has said, it always gave me the impression I was in Alaska or northern Canada in places.
One year we camped toward the western end near the Otter Creek road bridge and split up; I hunted alone to the south in the West Canada Lakes wilderness area. I took an 8 point buck but was so far in that nobody else heard the shots from a Swedish surplus Mauser, which is no pipsqueak. It took me until almost midnight to drag him back to camp. I should have had a Krampus!

Steve B.

Oh, I know the area. Been driving/car camping thru the MRP with my wife, as well as having backpacked the Northville - LP trail way back when. Will never forget how cold it was at West Canada Lakes in August. Forgot that it's at a high elevation. I also well recall walking on a slog the road from Wakely Dam to the turn to Stephens Pond. This was before they re-located the trail off the friggin road. It sucked. Pretty remote area.

Makes me wonder what's good for bikes west of Rt 28, also a big empty area.

What they need to open up to bikes is the North Maine Woods, as in, everything west and north of Baxter State Park. HUGE amount of dirt logging roads. Right now and because its all mostly private, the logging companies say "no bikes" which is too bad as its a huge wilderness.

mdilthey

So cool I'm itching to get out...

kaos joe

I remember that stretch of the N-LP trail on the dirt road. I haven't been back there since it was re-routed.

mdilthey

Hey BMike, do you have a map of your route?

bmike

Ride the thru dirt road road here:
https://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/lands_for...rplainsmap.pdf

Connect via pavement to the trail off Bisby Rd. that goes to Remen Falls shelter, it is called 'nicks lake outlet trail' or similar depending on where you look. Scroll down on this page:

Nicks Lake Loop


Use this to find out what is legal to MTB in the ADKs (legal doesn't mean suitable!):

Use the State Lands Interactive Mapper - NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation

If you are GPS savvy you'll be able to grab trails and bring them into your mapping program.

KC8QVO

My sentiments exactly. I second that.

bmike - thanks for sharing. I do a lot of self-supported day tours, still working on getting out for some multi-day treks. That looks like a lot of fun! I see you stayed in shelters. Did you have a tent with you, or some other shelter? Or did you plan for just the shelters = less gear?

bmike

I slept in a tent the second night and was prepared to sleep in a tent the first night if the shelter was occupied.

I have done trips very locally where we went to a local state park out of season and knew we would have 10 or 15 lean to shelters to choose from. I don't bother bringing a tent on those trips. But they are short overnights.

bransom

Great write up. Yeah, this looks fun though maybe a wee bit colder/wetter than I'd prefer.

Steve B.

That seems to be a nice feature of Vermont state parks - lean-to's. NY, NH and Maine don't have them at the car campgrounds. In NY they are typically out on the hiking trails, ditto NH. There's one state park out in Lubec, Maine - Cobscook SP that does, but not at the other SP's in Maine.

They are useful when the weather's crappy and you want to move the picnic table under the LT (which Vermont allows and suggests), or in the fall when the bugs are gone, you can skip the tent. Which is why our next Sept. camping trip will be exploring some state parks in VT., instead of Maine.