Hawk's Nest is a short, tightly winding stretch of NY 97 north of Port Jervis, cut into cliffs above the Delaware River, with a stone parapet on the outside of the corners and a drop behind it. It is the road's best-known feature and the reason riders from New York City, northern New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania converge on Route 97 every weekend. The full road runs 70.53 miles (113.51 km) from Port Jervis to Hancock, and Hawk's Nest is only the opening act.
What the road is
NY 97 is a two-lane state highway that follows the New York bank of the Delaware from US 6 and US 209 in Port Jervis to NY 17 in Hancock. It runs beside the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River, a National Park Service unit covering 73.4 miles (118.1 km) of river between Hancock and Sparrowbush, where almost all the land is privately owned and the federal holding is around 30 acres.
The road took nearly three decades to finish. The state created the corridor as an unsigned legislative route in 1911, built it in pieces through the 1920s and 1930s, and opened the whole thing on August 30, 1939 at a cost of about $4 million. The Hawk's Nest section is the part that shows the effort — a shelf blasted into rock with the river a long way below.
Route at a glance
| Length | 70.53 miles (113.51 km), Port Jervis to Hancock |
| Hawk's Nest | A few miles north of Port Jervis, in the town of Deerpark, Orange County |
| Road type | Two-lane state highway, no tolls on NY 97 itself |
| Park corridor | Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River, 73.4 miles (118.1 km) of river, NPS administered |
| Opened | End to end on August 30, 1939, at a cost of roughly $4 million |
| Key junctions | NY 55 at Barryville, NY 52 at Narrowsburg, NY 17 at Hancock |
| Season | Open year round, but a shaded cliff road that holds ice and rockfall in winter |
Open the Port Jervis to Barryville to Narrowsburg version in Google Maps and push it to your navigation before you set off. Cell service along the river gorge is patchy, and the PA-side alternatives across the bridges are easy to take by accident.
Hawk's Nest itself
Leaving Port Jervis, NY 97 runs west through Sparrowbush and then turns north along the river into Deerpark. This is where the road climbs onto the cliffs. The corners come in quick succession, most of them second or third gear, with a low stone wall on the river side and rock face on the other. There are pull-offs on the outside of several corners, and they fill with photographers on any clear weekend.
The honest assessment: it is short. Riders who plan an entire day around Hawk's Nest and turn around at the end of it usually feel let down. The section is spectacular and it is over quickly. Treat it as the first ten minutes of a longer ride up the river and it makes sense.
It is also busy and closely watched. The combination of blind cliffside corners, gravel washed off the rock face, tourists stopping mid-corner to photograph the view, and riders trying to make a video means the risk here is other people, not the road. New York State DOT lists this corridor among the state's scenic byways as the Upper Delaware, and it draws exactly the traffic you would expect from that designation.
North of Hawk's Nest, the part people skip
Past the cliffs the road drops back to river level and settles into a rhythm of long river-side sweepers, small hamlets and eddies with names like Pond Eddy, Knight's Eddy and Handsome Eddy. It is a completely different road: open, flowing, and quiet on a weekday.
Barryville. NY 55 comes in here, and the Barryville–Shohola Bridge crosses to PA 434 if you want to build a loop back down the Pennsylvania bank.
Minisink Ford. Roebling's Delaware Aqueduct, the oldest existing wire suspension bridge in the United States, runs 535 ft (163 m) across the river to Lackawaxen. It opened in 1849 as an aqueduct carrying the Delaware and Hudson Canal over the river and now carries cars and pedestrians. Riding across a Roebling structure that predates his Brooklyn Bridge by decades is worth the detour.
Narrowsburg. NY 52 joins here, on a wide bend of the river. It is the usual food and fuel stop on a full-length run.
Lackawaxen. Across the Roebling bridge sits the Zane Grey Museum, also part of the park unit. The whole corridor is threaded with the remains of the Delaware and Hudson Canal, which operated from 1828 to 1898 hauling anthracite coal from northeastern Pennsylvania to the Hudson and on to New York City; sections of what is left are a National Historic Landmark. If you like the idea of a ride where the roadside furniture is 19th-century industrial archaeology rather than scenic overlooks, this is the stretch to slow down for.
Hancock. The road ends at NY 17. Most riders turn around before this, but the northern third has the least traffic of the whole route.
Practical notes
Fuel. Port Jervis at the south end, Barryville, Narrowsburg and Hancock along the way. The gaps between them are not extreme, but the towns are small and hours are limited, so do not count on late-evening fuel.
Getting there. From New York City the standard approach is I-87 to NY 17 and I-84 to Port Jervis; the park service publishes approach routes from every direction including Albany, Binghamton, Scranton and Philadelphia. From Philadelphia the route runs up I-476 and I-81 to US 6 through Honesdale and PA 652 to Narrowsburg, which drops you onto NY 97 mid-route rather than at the Hawk's Nest end.
Conditions. Check 511NY for closures. The cliff section is subject to rockfall, and the river road floods in spring melt and after heavy rain. The park service also posts safety information for the river corridor, worth reading if you plan to stop at the accesses.
Wildlife. The Upper Delaware is one of the better bald eagle corridors in the Northeast, which means cars stopping abruptly at overlooks in winter. Deer and bear cross the road in the wooded sections at either end of the day.
Enforcement. Both Hawk's Nest and the straight sections north of Barryville see regular patrols, particularly on weekends in summer and autumn. This is not a road where a fast lap goes unnoticed.
Gear notes for this ride
Hawk's Nest is the clearest case for a camera on a bike anywhere in the region. Cars stop in the lane for photos, gravel appears mid-corner, and the road is narrow enough that a passing car forces a line change — footage settles the argument afterwards, which is what our dash cam guide is about. The JADO S6 riding system records front and rear while showing the route, so you are not choosing between navigation and evidence. Beyond the cliffs, the length of Route 97 turns a short thrill into a real day out, and long days on a river road with no shade and no signal are where power and route planning start to matter — our route planning guide covers building a loop that uses the Pennsylvania bank for the return, and a bi-directional fast charger keeps a phone or action camera alive when the nearest outlet is 40 miles away. For the ride south from Port Jervis, the Delaware Water Gap loop continues along the same river, and the regional day ride overview shows how the two connect.
FAQ
How long is the Hawk's Nest section?
Short. It is the cliffside stretch a few miles north of Port Jervis in the town of Deerpark, a small fraction of NY 97's 70.53 miles. Plan to ride further north rather than turning around at the end of it.
Is Route 97 dangerous on a motorcycle?
The road itself is well built and well surfaced. The hazards are the ones that come with fame: tourists stopping in the lane, gravel off the rock face, and riders carrying too much speed into blind cliff corners. Riders who know the road report that most of the trouble comes from traffic behavior at the overlooks rather than from the corners themselves.
Are there tolls on NY 97?
No. NY 97 is a state highway with no tolls. Some of the bridges crossing to Pennsylvania charge, so check before you build a loop using them.
What is the best time of year to ride it?
Late spring through October. Autumn gives the best color along the river and the heaviest weekend traffic. The cliff section holds ice in winter and gets rockfall through the freeze-thaw season.
Can you make a loop instead of an out-and-back?
Yes. The bridges at Barryville–Shohola, Lackawaxen and Pond Eddy let you return down the Pennsylvania side on PA 434 and US 6, which is slower and less scenic but avoids repeating the same 70 miles.
