Mountain biking, hiking and camping in NY and Vermont? (1 Viewer)

[Chris PC]

I've been to Letchworth state park in NY and thats an awesome trail. The Grand Canyon of the north they say and it does look impressive. So where else is cool to go mountain biking, and camping in NY, Vermont or other states not far from me. I'm in Toronto Not necessarly camping AND mountain biking Maybe separate trips. Any body have experience ?
Share and I'll give advice for up here. I can only give advice on my experiences, as I have probably only camped in a small fraction of the parks in Ontario, but thats ok, cause some of our parks are big I can easily direct you to our sweet mountain biking spots too

 

[Chris PC]

Hey this is the perfect time of year to mountain bike, hike and camp/canoe in NY and Vermont. Someone on here must have some advice on good spots!

 

[Malcolm R]

I don't have any personal experience, but there are some links here that might give you some info:
http://www.vtsports.com/links.html#cycling
And this is a bike shop that might also be able to steer you to some good trails:
http://www.onionriver.com/
And still more info:
Link Removed

 

[Jay H]

What kind of hiking/MTBing/camping are you interested in?
day hikes? Backpacks
downhill, XC ?
Car camping/Backpacking?
Hiking up in NY/VT, the obvious ones are the Adirondacks which are huge and the Green Mountains. Since you're in Canada, the ADKs aren't terribly far but are closer to you than the Catskills and the Shawangunks. There are too many places in the ADKs for me to list but the AMC (Adirondack Mountain Club) has some nice campsites near Lake Placid and the state DEC campsites aren't too shabby themselves.
As far as MTBing in NY, I'm more familiar with the lower NY, but in the summer you can do some downhilling at Whiteface near Lake Placid, although the season is probably very close to the end now or in VT, Stowe is a popular destination.
I know there are Cross Country (ski) trails near Lake Placid that are open to MTBing in the summer but they are very tame kind of trails. I've been there and wont recommend wasting your money there unless you're just out for a ride and want nothing technical.
The catskills (further south, probably about 2.5-3.5 hours from Lake Placid) are open for MTBing but you really have to select the trails, some of them aren't that conducive to biking, unless you like alot of hike-a-bikes. I think the ADKs have more restrictions on biking but there are definitely places up there:
Check out Placid PLanet bikes. I've talked to them for road trails, if you're a road cyclist, the Ironman loop (51 miles round trip, the Ironmen do 2 laps) is a real nice loop, as I've done it before. They have a link for MTB rides here:
http://www.placidplanetbicycles.com/mountainride.htm
They should be able to assist you.
In the Adirondacks you certainly would be able to car camp and MTB if you so choose, they have alot of DEC campsites (there's actually one in Wilmington right next to Whiteface so that you can actually ride to the MTN, take the gondola up and ride down if you so choose.) and the AMC operates a real nice campsite at Heart Lake that you can share with all the hikers there.
Hope this helps..
Jay

 

[Andrew 'Ange Hamm' Hamm]

I've hiked and camped on the AT in Green Mountain National Forest and it's awesome. Lots of up and down, though, so take it easy and don't do it if you have bad knees. We hit a trail head just east of Bennington. It's awesome.

 

[Chris PC]

Thanks for the info. I was looking for these activities:
1) Camping/Canoing
2) Camping/Mountain biking. Probably car camping, just not a Hotel.
3) Camping/Hiking
I'll check into those links