Cooperstown, Mohawk Valley & Ilion Gorge

A long day through central New York: from Cooperstown you ride NY-80 along Otsego Lake to Van Hornesville and Fort Plain, follow the Mohawk Valley to Ilion, drop through Ilion Gorge (NY-51) and return on US-20, Richfield Springs and NY-28. It's 84 miles of lake, river valley and a gorge. There's a deceptive bend just past Van Hornesville, and the Ilion Gorge pavement gets mixed reviews and rocks from slides, so check it first.

Cooperstown is the home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, founded in 1936 and dedicated on June 12, 1939. The village sits at the south end of Otsego Lake, about 7.8 miles long and the source of the Susquehanna River, which James Fenimore Cooper called "Glimmerglass" in The Pioneers and The Deerslayer. Heading north on NY-80 along the west shore, you pass the Fenimore Art Museum, the Farmers' Museum and the Glimmerglass Festival's opera theater.

North of Van Hornesville the route drops into the Mohawk Valley at Fort Plain and follows it west to Ilion, then turns south through Ilion Gorge on NY-51. Take the gorge with care: the pavement gets mixed reviews and rocks from slides can be on the road. There's food in Cooperstown, Ilion and Richfield Springs, and Lakefront Park, at the foot of Pioneer Street, is the stop by the lake.