Tour of the Lakes - Part 2

11th August: Long Lake to Malone

Odometer: 133 km, Start: 9.00am, Finish: 5.45pm, Avg: 20.6 km/h,
Weather: Sunny, Temp: 16-26°C
Road Conditions: #30, mostly 2m shoulder, sometimes more, sometimes less, good surface until 10km to Malone then rough, very light traffic. Services at Tupper Lake (44km), then an Restaurant/Inn at Lake Clear (70km), then nothing. Ascent: 650m/950m.

They should call this part of the Adirondacks the “Lake District”. The higher mountains are a little bit further over to the east, but what I’ve lacked in classic mountain views has been more than compensated by lake views.

Great reflection

Just 1km over the short hill from where I stayed last night, I was greeted to the spectacular vista of another part of Long Lake. It was tempting to abandon the morning’s ride and take to the skies in the light airplane moored to a jetty.

Long Lake

As I had hoped, the #30 had a more open feel. There were less trees and the road was nearer to the numerous lakes and ponds it passed. I definitely got more bangs for my bucks, so to speak.

Tupper Lake

The main town en route was Tupper Lake and it came quite early in the ride. Just before town, the road cut across Raquette Pond and Simon Pond. Both were very shallow and had wetland environments.

Raquette Pond

Simon Pond

I managed one more stop at a great Inn at Lake Clear, before setting off on the afternoon ride that I knew would unfortunately take me out of the Adirondack Park. This was a hard 65km stretch with no services at all. The wind was coming from the north and this had contributed to a sunny day without humidity, but that meant there was a (slight) headwind. I hadn’t quite recovered from yesterday’s hill-fest, so I struggled a little but won in the end and arrived tired at Malone my night stop.

Insect of the day

Tomorrow I return to Canada crossing over into the province of Quebec and ride on up to Montreal. By the time I get there, I’ll be glad of the 2 day rest stop I’ve got planned thanks to the help of Elisa and Gavin, who are kindly taking me in. I’m looking forward to a couple of days away from the bike.