I suddenly love NY (driving roads)

[Max74]

Put a few hundred miles on this morning and afternoon...900 miles after 2 weekends of owning my car, so only 300 left on the break in

Anyway, as to the point of this thread - having heard so much about the following 2 routes, and now that I live in North Jersey and am a bit closer, I finally gave them a try. If only every day could be Sunday

1) RT 97 - Port Jervis to Tusten (where I finally turned around) --> I actually started on RT 23 in NJ going through Sussex County and High Point. A couple of nice twisty sections on the Jersey side, but then of course you eventually get to RT 97. It really does look like all those car commercials...well, that 1 small section anyway where I saw the "Slides" road sign for the very first time

2) Palisades Interstate Parkway to 9W to the Storm King Highway (218) --> Several fun sections on 9W (especially coming back South on the downhill bits), and then you hit 218. Wow! Tight road...no margin for error (or you'll be eating that stone wall), but scenic as heck

Oh yeah, as for route #1, get there early. I drove through it and back by 10:30 - 11 am. After that and you get all the bikers and Sunday drivers! Route #2 was pretty quiet even in the afternoon.

[NFDoms2k1]

Hey, glad someone else finally found 218 behind Storm King! That road used to be right out my back door until I recently moved. Some days I would just jump in the car and do two or three runs over it between West Point and Cornwall. Anyway next time you head up towards 218 instead of the Palisades (which is kind of nice but slow and full of cops) take 7 Lakes drive and then go through Bear Mountain making sure you take the road to the top. That will really blow you away!

[Poppin Fresh]

Dude, try driving down the old 17 up by chester going down back to Mawah...it's the shiznit!

[monsta]

lol glad you found some nice roads...yes those roads must be taken early before the sunday drivers roll out of their driveways...

were in NJ do you live?

[Max74]

I've done 7 Lakes Drive before, but not Bear Mountain. Another one I keep hearing about, so maybe this weekend. But based on the number of people that go to Bear Mountain, is it not too crowded? Are there not a lot of runners or bicyclists there, or is it only cars taking the road to the top?

I also want to try Bear Mountain Bridge Road (RT 202/6) on the other side of the Hudson. What else is there around these areas? I used to do RT 125 a lot between Tremont and Shamokin in PA (off I-81) back when I had my EVO. That route had everything, and having all the EVO's handling aids certainly came in good use! I'm not quite ready to use the M3 there just yet...need to hit a track first and get a feel for its limits :-)

I'm relatively new to Bergen County - and what's with these blue laws and everything closed on Sundays...very weird coming from, well I guess anywhere else in NJ ;-)

[J08M3]

I love driving on the LIE

[NFDoms2k1]

Originally Posted by Max74

I've done 7 Lakes Drive before, but not Bear Mountain. Another one I keep hearing about, so maybe this weekend. But based on the number of people that go to Bear Mountain, is it not too crowded? Are there not a lot of runners or bicyclists there, or is it only cars taking the road to the top?

I also want to try Bear Mountain Bridge Road (RT 202/6) on the other side of the Hudson. What else is there around these areas? I used to do RT 125 a lot between Tremont and Shamokin in PA (off I-81) back when I had my EVO. That route had everything, and having all the EVO's handling aids certainly came in good use! I'm not quite ready to use the M3 there just yet...need to hit a track first and get a feel for its limits :-)

I'm relatively new to Bergen County - and what's with these blue laws and everything closed on Sundays...very weird coming from, well I guess anywhere else in NJ ;-)

Most times the road to the top is pretty open, although its a road you want to take slowly to take in the scenery anyway. The top itself usually has a decent crowd there. During the week its mostly just regular people going to the top to take in the view, on the weekends though you get a lot of motorcycle groups (no Hells Angles types, more like kids on Sport Bikes and middle aged dudes on K1200s). Basically its more of a quick side attraction which affords great views and can give you a break from driving for a few. Its hard to spend more than 15 minutes there, but its 15 minutes well spent.