Experience a historic ride
Take a great ride from one gorgeous lake to another and travel back in time to the Gilded Age.
How to get there
The ride begins at the small public parking lot located in front of the public library in the small community of Raquette Lake. The lot is next to the intersection of County Route 2 (Antlers Road) and Church Road. (Coordinates: 43.813675, -74.657287).
By the numbers
- Level of Difficulty: Easy
- Route length: 8 miles (12.9 km) out-and-back
- Elevation gain / loss: 757 feet (231 m)
- Fast, hard packed dirt with several short sections of loose stones over hard-packed dirt, especially on the hills.
Ride along a Great Camp
The destination is only a few miles away, but more than a century back in time. It is Great Camp Sagamore, a compound of 27 buildings, including a three-story great camp and an open-air bowling alley. Situated on the shores of Sagamore Lake, the camp was originally constructed by William West Durant, a designer and developer of Great Camps in the Adirondacks, and the son of Thomas C. Durant (vice-president of the Union Pacific Railroad when it was expanded to meet the Pacific Railroad in 1869). At one time the Durant family owned half a million acres in the Adirondacks (the entire Adirondack Park is about 6 million acres and the Durant’s total holdings was more than twice the area of New York City!). In May of 2000 the camp was listed as a National Historic Landmark. In summer, the grounds are open to the public for tours, educational programs and the summer music series; you can even book a stay.
To access the grounds of Great Camp Sagamore, you will need to purchase a ticket and plan ahead so that you arrive a little before the start of a scheduled tour. The tours run from early June through mid-October. An up-to-date tour schedule can be found at www.sagamore.org. Tours include the option for lunch as well. Access to the grounds is also available to overnight guests and Camp Sagamore offers a variety of weekend educational programming which is also found on the website. That said, you can still enjoy this out-and-back ride to the camp without purchasing a ticket, but you will only see a few buildings from the turnaround point.
Getting started on this little journey, you must first ride a short distance along Hamilton County Route 2, including over Browns Tract Inlet Bridge, to Sagamore Road. The view from the bridge across the inlet and Raquette Lake is so specular that you might, for a moment, contemplate chilling out on the side of the road for the day. If you do decide to move on, you will soon cross New York State Route 28, and you will leave the pavement behind. The ride along the dirt road rolls over a few small hills. The travel surface is hard and fast, except on the steeper portions of the hills where there are some easily avoidable loose stones. You will know you are about a half a mile from the camp when you cross the South Inlet stream, which, like Browns Tract in Inlet, drains into Raquette Lake. You will then cross the Sagamore Lake outlet just before you climb a short hill to the Great Camp. After you’ve enjoyed the grounds of the camp you hop on your bike and return the way you came. Once back to your car, walk over to the shoreline and to the Raquette Lake Navigation Company where you can enjoy a post-ride scenic or dinner cruise on the lake aboard the W. W. Durant.
Due to limited cellular coverage, please be sure to download this route and save for offline use before you leave home.
