Seaway Trail · Thousand Islands

The Great Lakes Seaway Trail to the Thousand Islands: from Sackets Harbor you ride through Chaumont and Three Mile Bay to Cape Vincent, then follow the St. Lawrence River through Clayton to Alexandria Bay. It's 57 miles with no curves to speak of, chosen for the scenery: lake, river, islands and harbor towns. The Thousand Islands Bridge and the Wolfe Island ferry go to Canada and aren't used. There's food in every town on the route.

The Great Lakes Seaway Trail runs 518 miles along Lake Erie, the Niagara River, Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence, and its New York section became a National Scenic Byway in 1996. Sackets Harbor, where this ride starts, was a key naval base in the War of 1812: some 3,000 men built warships in its shipyard, and two battles were fought there. The battlefield site covers 260 acres, with a restored 1850s Navy Yard and Commandant's House.

From Cape Vincent the route follows NY-12E and NY-12 along the river. In Clayton, the Antique Boat Museum holds more than 320 boats and opens from the first Friday in May through October. In Alexandria Bay, Boldt Castle stands on Heart Island: George Boldt, owner of the Waldorf-Astoria, stopped the work in 1904 after his wife died, and today tour boats run there from the village between mid-May and mid-October.