Best route to upstate NY

[Ham Camper]

We are headed to upstate NY next month. We will be leaving from West of Cleveland, Ohio. I wonder if anyone knows a good route to take through PA and onto NY that does not include interstate highways. We like to stay away from the interstates as much as possible. I have looked at the maps and really cannot figure it out. Waterton, NY and Saranac Lake are 2 places we want to see. Also lake Placid. Thanks.

[Nascon]

Route 20 from the Buffalo area all the way to Rt. 12 North is very nice, one of my favorites.

[DougW]

You can take route 6 across northern PA to 220 near the Susquehanna river then north to 17/I86 to Binghamton then take 12 north to rt 28, 30, and 3 to get to Saranac Lake. If you have an extra day stop by the Adirondack museum near Blue Mountain Lake.

An alternate is to use I86 across southern NY. This is a lightly travelled 4 lane so it is not like driving most interstates. No large cities along the way so traffic is never a concern. Corning and Elmira are the worst traffic you will see and it is very minor in those areas. From Binghamton use the routes as listed above.

Another route would be Rt 20 until you get near Erie pa, Rt 20 goes through he middle of the city so swing down and take I90 for a ways until you get to the exit for Northeast PA Rt 89. Go north until you get to Rt 5 and follow that along the Lake Erie shore until you get beyond Silver Creek where Rts 5 and 20 merge for a few miles. At the split take Rt 20. This will take you through the south towns of Buffalo so you may want to take I90 from Hamburg until you get past the city. It will take a couple of tolls but will keep you out of the heavy traffic you can often encounter in this area. Beyond Buffalo Rt 20 can be pretty slow going with lots of small towns and some rather good hills. At Canandaigua you can head north on Rt 21 to Rt 104 which runs near Lake Ontario. Pick up Rt 3 which is known as the seaway trail up to Watertown. this entire rout runs alongside I90 ands I81 so if you find you need to hit the interstate to make better speed it would be easy to do.