Seven Lakes Drive Motorcycle Ride - Motorcycle Tour and Travel EP #102

Hey fellow motor travelers, I'm here in Slotesburg, New York on my way to the beautiful Seven Lakes Drive for a great ride and I'm going to share that with you right now on Motor Travel USA. Hey everyone, thanks for joining me today. Gonna go on an awesome ride today. What's up buddy? Well tucked away here in New York State, literally minutes from New York City, is an awesome motorcycle ride. Hey man. Right up here is the turn and I'm going to be entering Harriman State Park and riding the amazing road Seven Lakes Drive. As I look at it from starting here, that was just 17 I came off of, even though this isn't the road just yet. You pass through some houses first, but you go from here all the way to just about Bear Mountain State Park. Amazing ride. Like I said, there's a bunch of houses here. It's a slow zone and there's a truck in front of me, so I'm going to pick it up once I hit Seven Lakes Drive. Okay, cool. Cleared the houses and starting the ride right now. Hopefully the road gets a little better. Seven Lakes Drive. I've been riding this road on a motorcycle for so many years, even though I don't live in this part of the woods anymore. Anytime I make it up to the New York City area, I make sure to at least do one run through here. It really is an amazing ride. And again, one of the most surprising things is its proximity to New York City. If you work in the city or visit the city, I mean, it's the concrete jungle, skyscrapers everywhere, traffic, horns. This is the exact opposite of that. And to be so close to it is pretty amazing. Obviously, Seven Lakes Drive, I think you can deduce as you're driving this route, you pass by a bunch of lakes. It's pretty cool to see them any time of year. During the summer, when boaters are on them. During the fall, when the colors are reflecting off the water. And even the winter, if you can handle the cold, the water is frozen over. It's just a spectacular view that you can't see many places. And if you can handle the cold on a motorcycle during the winter, it is a fun ride. Now beyond the scenery and the beauty of the lakes, another thing that makes this ride so awesome is the roads. While it's predominantly straight, there are areas that give you some nice turns and sweepers. You can even practice your turning skills in some of the traffic circles that they have here. But yeah, it's an awesome ride. That's straight, there's curves, there's good elevation changes. And even though we're just going down Seven Lakes Drive today, this road splits off into many other different roads. And some of those are much more curvy than this. They look at that beautiful mountains, lakes, but the roads that shoot off, some of them are crazy curvy. The only thing they do seem to keep Seven Lakes Drive paved awesomely. Some of these off shoot roads aren't paved as well, and you'll run into potholes and gravel. So you definitely have to be careful, but Seven Lakes Drive, nice smooth ride, beautiful scenery, great curves. You just can't beat it for a motorcycle ride. Now, if you do plan on coming here, since this is a state park, there isn't any development in here. There are some camps and beaches that you can go swim, but no convenience stores, no fast food, no deli. So definitely before you come here, you want to get gas and you might want to pack some food and some water on your bike. And that's not because the ride is super long. It's probably about a 20 to 40 minute ride, depending on how much traffic and how fast you go. But within this ride, there's still so much to do. As you saw, there are horses back there. So horseback riding, I don't think you can rent them, but if you have a friend with a horse, you could probably horseback ride here. But beyond that, there are a ton of things that you can do if you want to make an entire day of it. And you're coming out here with a bunch of guys. First and foremost, they have great areas where you can picnic and barbecue. They have the grills right there. Bring some meat, some drinks, and some charcoal, and you can have a great lunch and a good time with a bunch of friends. In addition to the picnic areas, they have beaches where you can swim or sunbathe, whatever you prefer. They also have places where you can rent boats, canoes, or kayaks. It's not everywhere, but there are a few places. Or if you want to bring your own inflatable one, blow it up and jump in one of these beautiful lakes. If hiking is more your thing, you'll find a treasure trove of trails and places you can explore on foot around here. And they have ample parking all over. Typically near the lakes, they will have parking spaces. Hey buddy, I can catch up to you. As you can see, practicing your turns on the circles. But yeah, there's a million places you can hike. People will just pull over at any point on the road and hike up in these woods. Or you can park near one of the lakes and there's a ton of places to hike from there as well. Hope those bikers are gonna watch out. That was a cop on his way. That is definitely another thing. While riding this road, if you come up here to visit, they definitely have a ton of cops always patrolling it. So definitely be careful. The speed limit is typically 45 miles an hour, I believe. So just keep your eyes out. I have gotten a couple tickets around here unfortunately, but you kind of get lost in how awesome the ride is. Another thing to worry about, I mean we saw the horses. Obviously that was just somebody walking them in the middle of the road. I'm not exactly sure why, but to each his own. But you always have to watch out for wildlife as well. I don't think there has been one time I've driven this road that I have not seen deer. This park is teeming with deer. So definitely keep your out all the time. And it's not typically one, it's a bunch of them. So definitely keep an eye out on that. And as you just saw, bikers as well. Since it is such an amazing route, bikers enjoy it as well. So you definitely have to keep an eye out for them. And just like the Blue Ridge Parkway, people will slow down and you got to watch out for very slow people just gawking at the scenery. Nothing against them, you just have to keep an eye out for them and be safe. They're not really looking for motorcycles. They're looking at the trees. Another thing that I really find interesting about this route is, like I keep saying, it's proximity to New York City. So when film and TV shows need a wooded location or lakes, a lot of them come out here to film. So chances are you've probably seen this already in a movie or TV series. One of my favorite is the Sopranos. If you've seen, I think it's one of their most popular episodes, the Pine Barrens episode with the Russian, where Paulie and Christopher get lost. That was filmed in this area. It wasn't filmed in the Pine Barrens in South Jersey. And right up here actually is the ending shot of that episode. It's going the other way. I'm going the opposite direction. But right behind me, they must have shot it right from that building in the center of the circle and shot the other way. And that's the ending of the Pine Barrens episode. You'll see that lake. I always find that kind of cool. I don't know if you noticed it. As I was talking about that, I did pass by a stone structure that leads into the next TV show. The Good Wife was also shot up here because throughout here, another thing you can do is camp and rent cabins. Well, that stone structure was one of those cabins. So if you want to stay overnight, check that out. But they also filmed a few episodes of The Good Wife at those stone structures. It was the one where Michael J. Fox and Julianna Margulies were negotiating about some court settlement. But you'll see those structures in that episode. And you also see the Bear Mountain Inn, which is the direction I'm heading as well. Some things you can also do that are connected to this road, I'm not going to get to it. This episode is the Perkins Memorial. It's just an amazing stone structure at the top of this hill or mountain. And looking out over, you see the Hudson River. And not like you see the Hudson River down near Jersey City or New York City. This is Hudson River surrounded by trees. Just a spectacular view. And once you reach the end of this, you hit around Bear Mountain State Park. You can park there. There is a slight fee. It's only a couple bucks. I'm not exactly sure how much it is. And once there, in the winters, they have a skating rink. In the summers, they have a swimming pool. There's a small zoo there. There's a nature hike. One of the coolest things I like to do is you can actually hike down the mountain to the Hudson River. And there's a little pier there. Again, it's just spectacular. There's another one of those stone structures. So as you can see, this is an amazing route. And it really is amazing any time of the year. I'm here in the spring right now. And as you can see, it's nice and green. Summer is amazing. And obviously, once in your lifetime, if you're going to ride this road, come during the fall. In my opinion, it's comparable to some locations on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It's just that spectacular. Definitely keep your eyes out while you're driving through these. As you can see, people dart out. Got to be safe. And you got to make sure you're going the right direction. But you'll probably find a cool route no matter which way you go. I couldn't have picked a better day here. The weather is awesome. Nice and cool. There's clouds in the sky, but no rain in sight. Another cop. Always be careful, car or motorcycle. So there's a couple different ways you can go here. I've kind of reached the end of Seven Lakes Drive. And I'm headed up to Bear Mountain State Park. I could have gone straight. And that kind of brings me around the Bear Mountain Bridge. I'm going to actually take the route towards Perkins Memorial. This route is pretty cool. There's a lot of twists on it. It has good elevation changes. And there's some nice sharp turns while you're getting closer to the Bear Mountain Inn. As I was saying, the fall is an amazing time to come here. As you can see, these trees would be popping with color. But definitely, if you can, try to ride it on the weekdays. Since it is so close to New York City and a very populated area, it does get very busy on the weekends. Right there is the Perkins Memorial. Yeah, so it gets very busy on the weekends. The picnic areas fill up. The parking sometimes fills up at Bear Mountain. And you can get caught behind slow drivers just looking at the beautiful scenery. If the weekend is the only time you can come, definitely do it. It's still worth it. It's still beautiful. It's still amazing. You might be able to see I'm pretty high up here. I think we should be able to see the Hudson River. There should be an opening here somewhere. One thing also, definitely drive at your skill level here. Since it is undeveloped, as you can see, there's no guardrails. The roads are relatively thin. Not much area to pull off. There's going to be bicycle riders. And there are some sharp turns, sometimes with gravel and rocks on them. So definitely drive at your skill level. There's the Hudson River. Drive through it once to see what it's all about. And then once you're comfortable, then kick it up a notch. But you definitely have to be careful. I haven't seen it here, but definitely seen it on the Blue Ridge Parkway. People almost go over the side looking at the scenery. It's a pretty scary thing. Here's a pretty hairy turn. Actually, the roads are in really good condition. I thought there might be a lot more gravel since this is spring, but haven't really encountered that much. What's up, buddy? So this is now Bear Mountain State Park. To the left is Bear Mountain Inn, and the area that you'll park if you decide to park here and go to the swimming pool, or the zoo, or hike, or just check out the Bear Mountain Inn. Now right here is really bumpy. I'm going to stand up to absorb some of these bumps. And right up here is the Bear Mountain Inn. Never stayed here. I want to. It's always full. I think it's a super popular place, and I just missed the turn. I'll just go in here. Good thing it's not too busy. But yeah, if you see The Good Wife, you'll see this in that episode. That's where you'll park. And there you go. That's Seven Lakes Drive up to the Bear Mountain Inn. Beautiful drive. Highly recommend it. You can't beat it. Even if you can't go on a motorcycle, go in a car. Let me stand up to absorb these crap roads. But yeah, there's not much that compared to riding a motorcycle on Seven Lakes Drive up to the Bear Mountain Inn any time of the year. I hope you can see from this video how amazing, and fun, and cool, and relaxing this is. If you've never been on Seven Lakes Drive, it starts in Slotesburg, New York, and goes all the way to the Hudson River near Bear Mountain State Park. Thanks for joining me. I hope you enjoyed the video. I hope that gave you some ideas for your travels, and want to thank you for watching. If you liked the video, give it a thumbs up. Also, comment or ask questions below, and please share with others if you think it might help them. Thanks for joining us this time on Motor Travel USA, and let's go explore.