It was the last weekend fall was willing to eek out before winter set in and Josh and I wanted to be sure we made the most of the last bit of (reasonably) warm weather. I had already made plans with Adirondack Life Magazine to document a bikepacking overnighter in the Adirondacks and I was getting worried we had run out of warm weather to make it happen.
After seeing the weekend forecast only called for freezing temperatures at night and not during the day, Josh and I made a quick Saturday morning decision to get our gear together and head to the Adirondacks for this little bikepacking overnighter through the beautifully wild Moose River Plains.
I had gotten the idea for this overnight route from the Black Fly Challenge- a gravel race on the unpaved (and sometimes pretty rough) roads through the Moose River Plains between Inlet and Indian Lake. The route we tackled included the entire 40 mile Black Fly Challenge course as part of the loop. We started the loop in Indian Lake, rode all the way through Moose River Plains (accessing that area from Cedar River Road), continued to and through Inlet Lake where we then continued North to Uncas Rd to keep us on gravel all the way to Raquette Lake. From Raquette Lake back to Indian Lake it was mostly pavement, but at that point in the ride, I was nursing a knee injury and the scenery remained gorgeous, so we didn’t hate having a few pavement miles to finish off the loop. Here is a rough map of the route— feel free to reach out if you have route-specific questions:
Okay now that I got the part that is probably most useful to you and most boring to me (the route specifics) out of the way, can I just tell you how gorgeous the Moose River Plains area is? It doesn’t get a lot of hype because there aren’t big sweeping mountain views, expansive lakes, or access points for popular hikes, but there’s something pretty special about the muted scenery in that area. The road is dotted with unobtrusive campsites so much so that I can’t imagine not being able to find one even in the peak of summer camping season. For most of the ride, you’re riding along rivers and streams, moving with pulse of the landscape around you- as the water moves along the road, so do you.
We were there in November and many of the occupied campsites were being used as deer camps, but even these were pretty spread out. We had gorgeous weather during the afternoons where it was cold enough to feel good to work hard and sweat, but not so cold that you needed a jacket. It was a different story at night and during our morning-riding. We were plenty comfortable at night in our sleeping bags and tent, but waking up to frosted helmets, bike shoes, gloves, and handle bars was something new!
Josh made a morning fire and after a good breakfast and some warming up by the fire, we were ready to hop back on our bikes and start Day 2 of riding through Inlet, on the very secluded Uncas road, through Raquette Lake, and back to our car just outside of Indian Lake.
The Adirondacks aren’t often seen as a bikepacking destination and, before doing this ride, I had a hard time finding anyone anywhere who had put together any gravel ride longer than a day trip. Let me know if you have other route suggestions in the Adirondack Park or if you try this one yourself!
Below are some photographs of the ride:
