The Adirondack region is rife with rollercoaster roads that twist and turn, scenic mountain look-offs and quaint villages that beckon stops for lunch

In the flickering blue light of a darkened room in a rustic cabin on the slopes of Whiteface Mountain, our group of four tired old motorcyclists huddled around a small TV, enthralled once again by the Last of the Mohicans. This wonderful 1992 movie starring Daniel Day Lewis depicts the siege, surrender and massacre of 1,757 at Fort William Henry during the French and Indian Wars in the Adirondacks. 

The Adirondacks and area would be our riding country for five days. That first day our intrepid band of adventurers had ridden the slow meandering roads from Kingston along the historic and scenic north St. Lawrence River heritage route to the Mohawk Akwesasne reserve border crossing at Cornwall on the way to our destination just north of Lake Placid. 

The computer system had shut down at the border and we slowly pushed our bikes in the 30 C sun as we inched forward to the security checkpoint. Without computers, the border guards were getting frustrated. 

“Where are you going?” was the only question asked of me baking in the sun on my 2015 V-Strom 650. “Have you ever been convicted of a crime” was the question to John, sweating on his red 2015 V-Strom 650, while Dean on his 2020 Suzuki DR650 and Jim riding his 2022 Kawasaki Versys 1000 were waved through with the simple statement “Are you with them?” After filling up with cheap fuel on the American Mohawk Reserve, we swept past Fort Covington on our way to Malone for a stop at Price Chopper for supplies and the Jug Shop for liquid necessities.

DESTINATION: HOME BASE

We sped south on Route 30, entering the Adirondack region on the way to the hamlet of Paul Smiths and then it was a cross-county route to Bloomingdale. We then encountered the best riding road of the day starting on the River Road (#48 also called the Franklin Falls Road), which winds its way through thick forest along the shore of the Saranac River to Franklin Pond. 

Following a rest and photo stop at Franklin Falls, we ran the ever twisting, never straight and always rising rollercoaster of Route 18A (Franklin Falls Road to Gillespie Road) up the northern backside of Whiteface Mountain. As we leaned into turn after turn, our bikes screaming in high revs, we encountered almost no vehicles and surprisingly, no motorcycles. This route that I loved from past rides, remains one of the best and least known motorcycle rides in the northern section of Adirondack Park. After passing the Whiteface Veterans Memorial Highway Toll House, it was…