The northern section of the  Empire State Trail is a clearly marked trail, but it does travel on busy roads. Rouse's Point to Plattsburgh became busier the closer you got to the city. With no hotels in the downtown area you had to cycle uptown to the hotels along highway 3. 

Fort Henry to Ticonderoga is a very busy road with lots of truck traffic. The shoulder is quite narrow. Your senses return to normal when you cycle the wide shouldered road to Whitehall over the mountains.  Stock up on snacks and water.

Since we were not camping and relying on hotels and Airbnb's, we had to cycle farther each day to find accomodations and restaurants.  We passed by some lovely motels, but we did not see any restaurants nearby. Visiting museums and other historical spots would have made the trip more enjoyable.  Camping might be the best option on this section of the trail.

We found it very hard to find suitable rentals bikes as I contacted nearly all of the ones listed in the guidebook.