New York has three separate riding regions and almost nothing in between. Route 97 along the Delaware River in the southeast gives you the Hawk's Nest, a cliff-edge section so photogenic that car companies film advertisements on it. The Adirondacks give you NY 73 and NY 86 through the High Peaks, plus the toll road up Whiteface Mountain. And the Catskills give you NY 23A climbing Kaaterskill Clove, which is short, steep and the closest good riding to New York City. Below is what each one gives you and the practical detail that decides whether the day works.
Why New York splits into three
The state is mostly farmland, lake plain and interstate. What breaks it up are two mountain masses that have nothing to do with each other. The Adirondacks are an ancient dome in the north, and the state protected them inside Adirondack Park, which is why roads there run for forty miles with no development. The Catskills are a dissected plateau in the southeast, closer to the city and far more crowded. And separately from both, the Delaware River carved a gorge along the Pennsylvania line that a road engineer in the 1930s decided to follow rather than bypass.
Practically, that means you pick a region and stay in it. Trying to combine the Adirondacks and the Delaware in one weekend is 300 miles of Thruway. If interstate legs of that length are still new to you, our first highway ride guide covers what changes at 70 mph.
Top roads in New York
| Road | Length | What it is | End to end |
|---|---|---|---|
| NY 97 and the Hawk's Nest | 70.5 miles | Follows the Delaware River; the Hawk's Nest runs on ledges cut into the cliffs a few miles north of Port Jervis | Port Jervis to Hancock |
| NY 73 | 27.6 miles | The High Peaks road — Lake Placid through Keene and Keene Valley past Porter and Lower Wolfjaw Mountains | NY 86 in Lake Placid to US 9 near Underwood |
| NY 86 | 39.1 miles | Lake Placid to Wilmington and Jay along the Ausable River; the access road for Whiteface | Paul Smiths east to Jay |
| NY 431, Whiteface Veterans Memorial Highway | 7.96 miles | Toll climb from about 2,000 to over 4,500 feet, roughly 450 feet of gain per mile, 25 mph, two hairpins near the top | NY 86 in Wilmington to below the Whiteface summit |
| NY 23A, Kaaterskill Clove | 34.6 miles | Steep Catskill climb past the Kaaterskill Falls trailhead into Haines Falls and Tannersville | NY 23 near Prattsville to US 9W in Catskill |
Open NY 97 in Google Maps — Port Jervis to Hancock by way of Barryville, ready to send to your navigation before you leave.
NY 97 and the Hawk's Nest
NY 97 runs 70.5 miles from Port Jervis northwest to Hancock, tracing the Delaware River and the Pennsylvania state line for nearly all of it. The famous part is short — the Hawk's Nest, a few miles north of Port Jervis in the town of Deerpark, where the road runs on a shelf cut into a series of cliffs directly above the river, with a low stone wall and nothing else between the pavement and a long drop.
The reason it exists is a railroad dispute. When the highway was planned, the state intended to bypass the cliffs and route it along the shoreline. The Erie Railroad refused to sell the necessary right-of-way, which forced engineers to cut the road into the rock face instead. NY 97 cost $4 million to build in total, and the Hawk's Nest section alone accounted for half of that.
The rest of NY 97 is worth riding too. North of the Hawk's Nest the road bends west into Sullivan County and settles into a long river run past Barryville and Narrowsburg, flowing and open, with the Upper Delaware on your left the whole way. It is a very different pace from the cliff section and a good cooldown after it. The far bank is Pennsylvania for nearly the whole run, and the riding on that side is its own trip built around PA 144 and PA 44 on the Allegheny Plateau.
One caution. The Hawk's Nest is a destination for photographers and video crews, and there is a well-known pullout where people stand. Expect stopped vehicles, people in the road, and riders going considerably faster than the corners allow because they know they are being filmed.
The Adirondacks, NY 73 and NY 86
NY 73 is 27.6 miles and it is the best road in the park. It begins at a traffic light on NY 86 near the eastern end of Lake Placid, leaves the village as Cascade Road, and heads southeast into the High Peaks, passing named summits including Porter Mountain and Lower Wolfjaw Mountain on its way through Keene and Keene Valley. It ends at US 9 north of Underwood. The whole route is in Essex County and all of it is inside Adirondack Park, which means no billboards, no strip development and long stretches with nothing built at all.
NY 86 is the companion, 39.1 miles running east from Paul Smiths through Lake Placid to Wilmington and Jay. Through Wilmington it follows the Ausable River northeast, and it is the access road for the Whiteface Mountain ski area. Ridden as a loop with NY 73 and NY 9N through Keene, it makes an easy half day. For the same undeveloped-forest feel with water on one side instead of summits, US 2 along the Lake Michigan shore is the Midwest version of it.
The catch in the Adirondacks is that the roads are shared with hikers' cars. NY 73 passes some of the busiest trailheads in the Northeast, and on summer weekends the shoulders through Keene Valley are lined with parked vehicles and people crossing the road with packs on. It is a real hazard on an otherwise fast road.
Whiteface, NY 431
Worth building a day around. The Whiteface Veterans Memorial Highway is NY 431, 7.96 miles from NY 86 in Wilmington to a parking lot about 300 feet below the summit of Whiteface Mountain. It climbs from just over 2,000 feet to above 4,500, gaining roughly 450 feet per mile, and the speed limit is 25 mph the entire way.
Past the County Route 72 junction there is a toll booth and the road becomes a toll road. A mile into the paid section is the Union Falls Overlook at 2,700 feet. The road then curves south and climbs the western sides of Esther and Whiteface, and at 3,300 feet the stone building at the top — the Castle — comes into view. The final approach is a pair of hairpin turns just north of the peak, with an overlook at 3,700 feet looking down on Lake Placid and the Olympic village.
The history is worth knowing while you are stopped. Construction started in 1931, the road opened to traffic in July 1935, and Franklin Roosevelt dedicated it that September as president after having signed the dedication as governor six years earlier. It cost $1.2 million and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. It is a seasonal road and it sits high enough that weather closes it independent of the calendar.
The Catskills, NY 23A through Kaaterskill Clove
NY 23A is 34.6 miles overall, from a three-way junction with NY 23 about a mile southeast of Prattsville, east through the mountains and down into the Hudson Valley via Kaaterskill Clove, ending at US 9W in the village of Catskill. Most of the length is ordinary. The section that matters is the climb through the clove between Palenville and Haines Falls.
It is steep, tight and cut into the side of the gorge, with the distinctive ridgeline of Kaaterskill High Peak and its neighbor Round Top standing east of Haines Falls. The drop into Kaaterskill Clove is dramatic enough that it defined a school of American landscape painting, and the geography has not changed.
The problem is pedestrians. NY 23A passes the Kaaterskill Falls trailhead, and walkers have to use the narrow shoulder of the road for a considerable distance to reach the falls. Below the falls are swimming holes that draw crowds all summer. On a hot Saturday you are riding a steep mountain road with people walking in your lane around blind corners — ride it accordingly, or ride it on a weekday morning.
Fuel, weather and the things that ruin a day here
Fuel. The Adirondacks are the problem region. Inside the park the gaps between stations are long and hours are short, especially north and west of Lake Placid. Fill in Lake Placid, Saranac Lake or Keene. On NY 97, Port Jervis, Barryville, Narrowsburg and Hancock all have pumps, so range is not an issue there.
Season. May through October across the state. The Adirondacks hold snow later and get it earlier than anywhere else in New York, and NY 431 is seasonal and weather-dependent on top of that. Spring frost heave on secondary roads is severe here and lasts into June.
Foliage traffic. Late September into mid-October is peak color and peak crowding on all three regions, and the Catskills get day-trip traffic from the city on top of it.
Wildlife. Deer statewide; black bear in the Catskills and Adirondacks. Dawn and dusk, as always, and the Adirondack road corridors are cut through continuous forest with no sightlines into the trees.
Enforcement. NY 431 is 25 mph and it is a park road, so the limit is real. NY 97 through the Hawk's Nest is patrolled specifically because of how people ride it. The villages on NY 23A drop the limit sharply.
Gear notes for New York's three regions
The recurring issue is that the good roads are the ones with no cell service. Inside Adirondack Park you can lose signal for an hour, and the NY 23A clove and the Delaware gorge both sit low between rock walls that kill reception. Downloading the region before you leave and running it on a handlebar riding system display means an unmarked junction in Keene does not turn into a guess. The second issue is temperature and altitude together: NY 431 climbs 2,500 feet in under eight miles, and the air at the top routinely runs twenty degrees below Wilmington. Cold tires on a 25 mph hairpin are less forgiving than they look. We cover what a 2,500-foot climb does to your pressure, and a valve-cap TPMS sensor shows it live instead of at the next station. The JADO S6 puts both on one screen and keeps front and rear cameras recording, which matters on roads where hikers step off the shoulder into your lane.
FAQ
What is the best motorcycle road in New York?
NY 97 through the Hawk's Nest is the signature ride — a cliff-edge section a few miles north of Port Jervis, followed by fifty-odd miles of open Delaware River road. NY 73 in the Adirondacks is the better choice if you want mountains instead of a river.
Where exactly is the Hawk's Nest?
On NY 97 in the town of Deerpark, a few miles north of Port Jervis. The road runs along the face of several cliffs directly above the Delaware River, with the main overlook on the river side.
Can you ride a motorcycle up Whiteface Mountain?
Yes. NY 431, the Whiteface Veterans Memorial Highway, is 7.96 miles of public toll road from Wilmington to a parking area about 300 feet below the summit. It is seasonal, signed 25 mph, and climbs roughly 450 feet per mile.
How long does NY 97 take?
Budget two hours for the full 70.5 miles from Port Jervis to Hancock with a stop at the Hawk's Nest overlook. The cliff section itself is only a few miles and is over faster than people expect.
Where should I base a weekend?
Lake Placid for the Adirondacks, since NY 73, NY 86 and NY 431 all start within a few miles of the village. Tannersville or Windham for the Catskills. Port Jervis or Narrowsburg if NY 97 is the priority.
