NE Scramble: Day 7, Goshen to Fort Lee, 65 Miles | Smoked

Riding Stats

Accommodations

Route Tracker

Smoked. That’s the word for today while riding to Fort Lee, NJ which is just 10 miles away from New York City, the city presently considered to have the second worst air quality in the world due to raging wild fires in Canada.

Although ”sunny” with considerable wind, the haze and smoke worsened as the day went on and we got closer to Fort Lee.

Early in the day we explored an old cemetery just off the rail trail.

Later we rode though some of the most beautiful scenery yet in Sterling Forest and Harriman State Parks.

There were just enough rollers to keep our attention and the descents pushed us forward at wicked fast speed.

It was just after we had lunch at a neighborhood deli that we noticed more smoke and less people out and about.

We cycled right along the Hudson River through Piermont yet the nearby Hudson River was nearly invisible due to the increasing smoke. It’s a good thing Captain Sullivan didn’t have to land his plane on the Hudson River on a day like today.

Bicycle Route 9 paralleled Palisades Parkway and took us into New Jersey, another new cycling state for us! And we weren’t the only cyclists out. Apparently this is a well traveled cycling route, even on days when the AQI is high.

So tomorrow we jump out of the frying pan and into the fire so to speak when we cross the George Washington Bridge, ride through NYC to Battery Park and then to Pier 11 to jump on a ferry and start heading to Philly and the Delmarva Peninsula for the next leg of our journey.

We plan on getting an early start to get the heck outta here!

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