The Ride
As I climbed aboard the BMW R1200GSA in Cross River, NY, the Beeline Moto showed 62.5 miles in compass mode to Milford, PA, on the other side of the Hudson River. See our article on discovering new roads with Beeline. As I was on an adventure bike, I hoped to find some new dirt roads.
The direct compass line showed the Bear Mountain Bridge would be the crossing most aligned, so I planned to use that bridge to go over the Hudson River. There is still construction on Route 6 near Peekskill, so I planned on coming from the north along 9D.
I headed north on Route 121 to hit some reservoirs providing water to NYC. While I love the road on the North side of Titicus Reservoir, I tried the ones south today. I then got onto Route 22 to connect with Stoneleigh Avenue along the Croton Falls Reservoir, heading to Carmel, NY.
In Carmel, I got onto my favorite road in the area, Route 301, which runs along the West Branch Reservoir and Boyds Corner Reservoir as it heads into Fahnestock State Park. I turned south off of Route 301 onto Dennytown Road. While this is another local favorite road, I usually take it down to Canopus Hill Road to cross over to Route 9. But shortly after getting on Dennytown Road is Indian Brook Road, which I’d never tried before.
It soon turned into a dirt road, so I was happy to explore it further. It was an excellent winding road, passing by Duck Pond and coming close to Loch Lyall before entering the historic district and the Bird & Bottle Inn, where it crosses Old Albany Post Road. This road is one of the oldest unpaved roads still in use in the country.
I crossed over Route 9, staying on Indian Brook Road as it more closely followed along a stream of water and descended in elevation. It crossed under Route 9D, where the road is a large elevated section crossing over the valley where I was now. The road turned back north and began climbing in elevation till it finally reconnected with Route 9D a bit north of where it had crossed over Indian Brook Road. This type of excursion into some unknown and off-the-beaten-path roads is what I love about exploring in compass mode with the Beeline Moto!
A quick ride south on Route 9D got me to the Bear Mountain Bridge, where I crossed the Hudson River and took Seven Lakes Drive near the Bear Mountain Inn, heading into Harriman State Park. At Tiorati Circle, I took Arden Valley Road, my favorite road in the park, with multiple hairpin turns and elevation changes before ending at Route 17.
With the compass urging me to head west, I grabbed Orange Turnpike and broke off to Bramertown Road when the road started turning north. This eventually connected me with 17A just by the New York Renaissance Faire.
After passing Greenwood Lake and Warwick, NY, I found County Road 1A matched the compass direction and took it. This is a very picturesque road passing several farms in the part of NY just north of New Jersey. Unionville is a village just across the border from NJ, and it was here that I crossed the next state border into New Jersey.
I found Route 23 headed northwest, matching my compass needle as it climbed into High Point State Park. However, the alignment was short-lived, and once past the park road leading to the monument of the highest point in New Jersey, it turned north. Fortunately, Ridge Road was matching, and I took that. This very narrow park road seemed to meander throughout the park. I found a road that matched where I needed to go, but a gate was blocking it, so I continued on Ridge Road as it headed south. The twists of the road made it a fun ride, so I didn’t mind the diversion.
It let me out at Deckertown Turnpike, where I made a right. As I was getting closer to the destination, another road appeared to be more aligned, but this just got me into some residential streets. I eventually returned to the turnpike to cross the Delaware River into Pennsylvania.
Milford lies right on the river, so it is just about a mile down the road from where I left New Jersey. I quickly located the parking lot for Milford’s Daily Grind. Rever indicated that I’d ridden about 110 miles to get there, so plenty of diversions along some fun roads made it not quite a straight line. I love those kinds of rides, and this was a good balance of exploring and roads I’d done before. See the route below.
