2010 Thunder Rides

All Adirondack Loops Described Assume Starting in Old Forge. Trip time increases with number of stretch stops. All times are round trip from Old Forge, NY.

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Harrisville-Tupper Lake Loop 210 miles 4.5 hrs
Rt 28 South to Woodgate. Turn right at yellow blinking light onto CR 72, Woodgate-Hawkinsville Rd. to Boonville. Right at T onto 12 North. Cruise to Lowville. Go straight onto N. State St. Right on Rt. 812 (Bostwick St.) to and through Croghan (home of Croghan bologna). At T turn right onto SR 3 East through Harrisville. Then SR 3 East through Star Lake, Wanakena, Cranberry Lake. Then Tupper Lake. Turn right onto SR 30 South to Long Lake Lake. Right at Hoss’s Store towards Blue Mt Lake. At foot of Blue Mt hill straight on Rt 28 following sign for Raquette Lake. . Cruise through Inlet, Eagle Bay, back to Old Forge.
Photo Op: Just before Tupper Lake is Town of Piercefield. Right by the Town of Piercefield sign, on the right, is the Raquette River and if you look off in the distance, that’s Whiteface Mt, NYS’s 5th tallest mountain.

Side Trip A
Newton Falls/Benson Mines. After you leave Harrisville, before you get to Star Lake. . Left onto CR 60. A pretty 7 mile loop.
Newton Falls is a hamlet of 400 located within Town of Clifton in Saint Lawrence County, New York in the United States. The hamlet is located within the Adirondack Park. The hamlet was named for James Newton, who built a sawmill in 1894 which became the Newton Falls Paper Mill; it closed in 2000. It was reopened in 2007 as Newton Falls Fine Paper through the efforts of former mill workers and town residents.

Side Trip B Wanakena
After you pass through Star Lake, look for the Wanakena sign on the right. Turn right off SR 3, onto County Rd 61. At the Y if you turn right you go into hamlet of Wanakena. Be sure to check out the Footbridge, a National Historic Place, 1902, spanning the Oswegatchie River.

Side Trip C North extension to Colton, Hannawa Falls, St. Regis Falls, Paul Smiths, 100 miles, 2 hrs
Between Cranberry Lake and Childwold is Sevey Corners. At Sevey Corners turn left (if you’re coming from the west) off Rt 3 onto SR 56 North past South Colton. Take right onto CR 58. Stay on Colton-Parishville Rd. Bear right on SR 58 East. Road becomes SR 72 at Parishville. Bear right on SR 11B. Take right onto SR 458. Turn right in St. Regis Falls. Stay on SR 458 past Santa Clara. Take right onto SR 30 South to Paul Smiths. At T take right SR 30/3 to Tupper Lake.

Side Trip D
Left on 86 E at Paul Smiths past Gabriels. Corner of 86 and 186 a very famous ice cream place. Stop and enjoy. To say nothing of the view of High Peaks. Then turn right onto 186, through Lake Clear as it becomes 30S. At T take R onto SR 30S through Lake Clear past Fish Creek Ponds. Past the Fish Hatchery and maintenance facility, turn left on Franklin Co 45. This is where the original Wawbeek Hotel was. It burned. That’s Upper Saranac Lake. Comes out on Rt. 3 at Corey’s. Turn right and head towards Tupper. This was the last of the old Adirondack Inns on Upper Saranac Lake. The large wooden lodge stood on a hill overlooking the Lake with the mountains rising from the far shore. The hotel burned to the ground in the winter of 1980 after the Lake Placid Olympics. It was never rebuilt.

Side Trip E
Instead of turning right on 186 to go to Lake Clear, stay on 86 S going past Lake Colby towards Saranac Lake. Turn right on Ampersand then right on CR 18/Forest Home Road. This is the back way if you work in Saranac Lake and live in Lake Clear. Brings you out by Fish Hatchery. Turn left onto Rt 30 and head towards Tupper.