NORTH HUDSON – I drove right by the entrance to Gulf Brook Road.

It was marked with a green street sign, and it was the only turnoff on the north side of Blue Ridge Road for at least a mile, but I still didn’t see it until it was too late.

“There it is,” I said before hitting the brakes, making a three-point turn and heading back in the opposite direction.

For all that’s been said about the 20,700-acre Boreas Ponds tract lately, you might think the access road to it would be more obvious or prominent. But the lack of any big, blinking neon arrow on the roadside here is a reminder that this is still a wild, remote place that few people have had the chance to visit.

The question now, of course, is how much will that change?

As state Adirondack Park Agency officials discussed their classification plans for Boreas Ponds Thursday, I decided to visit the tract by mountain bike. The state bought the property in April from the Nature Conservancy for $14.5 million, and the public has been able to access it this summer and fall. Hiking, biking, horseback riding, fishing, hunting, camping and paddling are allowed in certain places on the tract, under certain guidelines, as part of an interim access plan crafted by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

After checking out the recreation and access map on DEC’s website, I decided to bike in from the closest possible access point to the ponds – a new, gravel parking area on Gulf Brook Road that’s about a 15-20 minute drive from Blue Ridge Road. There’s a gate at the end of the parking area, and a trailhead register. From here, it’s about 3.5 miles farther down Gulf Brook Road to the Boreas Ponds dam.

At 320 acres in size, Boreas Ponds is one of the largest bodies of water in the Adirondack Park that’s completely surrounded by Forest Preserve lands. It’s the biggest prize in The Nature Conservancy’s sale of 69,000 acres of former Finch, Pruyn and Co. timberlands to the state. On a clear day, a visit to Boreas Ponds offers breathtaking views of the High Peaks, including Marcy, Gothics, Skylight and Sawteeth. This was not that day.

It was mostly clear when I left Saranac Lake Thursday morning. By the time I arrived in the parking area around 10:30 a.m., however, thick banks of clouds had settled on the mountains and a light rain started to fall.

I cast off some brief second thoughts about my plan, suited up in my rain gear and signed in at the register. There were four to five pages of names dating back to mid September, including plenty of Adirondack locals as well as people from places like New Jersey and Washington D.C. Some were there to hike, others to fish, and quite a few, like me, wrote that they planned to bike into the ponds.

The gravel road is well-maintained and proved easy to navigate by bike, with a few rocks sticking out here and there. Plenty of leaves also covered the road, as the fall foliage here seemed to be past peak, and there were a few piles of horse manure to avoid. The rain picked up to a steady downpour, and I was thoroughly soaked within 20 minutes of leaving the trailhead.

From the parking area, the road follows a fairly even grade but has its share of small hills, and it felt like I did more downhill than uphill riding on the way in. One of the longer descents brought me to the dam and bridge at LaBier Flow, a shallow-looking impoundment that’s part of the outlet of Boreas Ponds. From here it’s about another mile up to the Boreas Ponds dam.

During that last mile I rode past a hunting camp on the side of the road, turned a corner and ran into two men in rain gear hauling a canoe on wheels. Perry Lee of Kingsbury and Bill Walkup of Lake George had spent the last few days fishing the ponds while staying at the cabin, one of more than half a dozen camps on the Boreas tract that will be vacated by 2018 when their leases expire.

Over the last three days, Lee and Walkup said they’d seen about 12 to 15 people coming in to see the ponds, mostly hikers and mountain bikers.

“It’s beautiful up here,” Lee said. “It’s quiet. You’re 7 miles off the main beaten path here.”

While they enjoy the quiet, both men said they’d like to see the public be allowed to drive close to and access the ponds.

“We want to be able to continue to come here,” Walkup said. “I’m 79 years old. I’d like to continue to do this into my 90s if I keep my health. Why should you have access for just young people? If it turns into (wilderness) than there’s going to be a limit to access for everybody. I’d hate to see that happen.”

“I’d like to bring my grandkids up here,” Lee said. “My father just turned 91. Fifty years ago, he took us in here as kids. I’d like to bring him in here, but he can’t walk to the pond, and you can’t take a vehicle there, so he’ll probably never get to see the pond again. There should be a stipulation that allows disabled people to get back in here.”

After a quick chat, Lee and Walkup continued hauling their canoe back up the road and I continued riding north, arriving a few minutes later at a fork in the road. The way left was marked with “No Trespassing” signs. It leads to the site of a former Finch, Pruyn and Co. lodge that was demolished earlier this year because state officials said it was too costly to maintain and a “non-conforming structure” in the Forest Preserve.

A right turn at the fork brought me to my destination, the Boreas Ponds dam and what’s known as First Pond. The road continues from here, but this is the farthest bicycles are allowed to go under DEC’s interim access plan. It took me about an hour of riding, including a few stops, to get here.

A steady flow of water rushed over the dam and downstream through a rock-filled river, and the rain continued to fall, as I took a few pictures and had a quick lunch.

Looking north, the view of the fog-shrouded ponds, interrupted by a series of evergreen-lined peninsulas, was sublime. The waterway seemed to stretch on forever.

However, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was disappointed in not getting the spectacular mountain views that are Boreas Ponds’ calling card. The clouds still had a tight grip on the mountain slopes around me, so there were no High Peaks to be seen this day.

I consoled myself by saying that’s just another reason to come back here again sometime, on a sunnier day. At least now I know how to find it.

For more information on interim access to the Boreas Ponds tract, while the state’s classification decision is pending, visit www.dec.ny.gov/lands/107504.html. The page includes details on recreational opportunities, maps, directions, and rules and regulations.