Keuka Lake Loop · 54A & 54

The classic Keuka Lake loop: from Hammondsport you ride up 54A along the west shore, pass Pulteney and Branchport, reach Penn Yan at the north end and come back down NY-54 along the east shore. It's 44 easy miles among vineyards, wineries and lake houses, good for a mixed pack. Hammondsport and Penn Yan have food and fuel. At the south end, Hammondsport is Glenn Curtiss country: he tested his flying boats on this lake.

Keuka is the only Finger Lake shaped like a Y, which is why early settlers called it Crooked Lake; Keuka became the common name by 1885. It's about 20 miles long and 187 feet deep at most. In 1833 a canal linked it to Seneca Lake and the Erie Canal, and steamboats ran between Penn Yan and Hammondsport until 1922. Glenn Curtiss developed and tested his early flying boats on these waters in the early 1900s.

The vineyards around the lake earned it the name "Cradle of the Wine Industry" in New York: commercial grape shipping started in 1847, and the Pleasant Valley Wine Company dates from 1860. Keuka Lake State Park is near Branchport, a short turn off the route, and Garrett Memorial Chapel stands near the tip of the bluff between the two arms. Depot Park in Hammondsport and Red Jacket Park in Penn Yan are the two easy lake stops, each with free parking.