It was a rather unplanned start location because our trip through from Georgia took us a bit futher than we figured we would be, so we went through Binghamton. I quickly modified my planned route from Troy to start the beginning in a state forest, and despite the really rushed planning, this worked out beautifully. The descent off Rossman Hill road was paved but one of the steepest descents i've ever done. Fun but a bit scary in parts. I then climbed a long series of steep roads back up to around the same elevation, and then the profile sawtoothed for the next 40 or so miles till it settled into rolling hills with occasional steep roads. The scenery everywhere was just stunning. I wanted to stop and take pictures of everything, but I limited myself due to time constraints, so I took a lot of moving pictures as a compromise. So many cool old buildings, old farms, forested hills and mountains, hand stacked stone walls alongside many, many roads. And lots of wildlife. Saw dozens of deer, several groundhogs and turkeys, hawks. The goal of the entire loop was to visit two cemeteries that I wandered around in looking for my ancestors. The first one in Livingston I wandered around a good bit and scanned most of the graves in the old part next to the church without success. I ended up referring to the picture of the graves I was looking for and identifying a specfific stone marker design that I then scanned the site quickly and found them right away. i continued on and not far away was the 2nd cemetery, a much larger one. I was looking for an even older and much smaller grave that was barely readable so it seemed impossible at first. However I had a picture to go on again and I was able to spot it quickly once I had it in my mind. I left quickly to get a move on as it was getting later quickly. I rode up to Hudson and stopped at a store for the second and final time and ended up making an error in underestimating the remaining miles left and so i didn't buy enough food and water. It began to sprinkle as I left the store on the Albany Hudson electric trail, but it was very light rain and it was still very warm out so this wasn't too much of a bother. I was almost entirely alone on the path, and I really enjoyed riding through the evening passing houses with lights on. I really did start to feel tired and super hungry by the time I crossed the Hudson for the second time in Rensselaer, on a path bridge attached to the interstate. It was surreal seeing the lit up skyline of Albany reflecting across the water as I crossed on the narrow path, all alone. I rode a few agonizing miles through a dark path right beside the river which should have been glorious, but I was so hungry and rather thirsty. At least the rain stopped for this section. But soon the second bridge came quickly and I was riding through the streets of Troy and as I arrived at the house we were staying, it began to rain again.