Chapter 7: The Erie Canal - Part 2

 

We passed by many of the working locks on the barge canal, used by both barges and recreational boaters. One empty barge was sitting below this lock and a second, with a tugboat, was going through as we watched. From talking to a couple who was walking by I learned that a tugboat can manage just fine pushing two barges down the canal.

 

 

If you have ever considered bicycling along the Erie Canal in New York, do it.

If you are a sometime bicycle tourist or an aspiring bicycle tourist, then I encourage you to put the Erie Canal bike trail on your bicycling list of things to do. The riding is generally flat giving you a great way to ease into bicycling touring. 

The bike trail is mostly off-road. Outside Albany much of it is paved, then it is more often stone dust. Where the asphalt is new, the riding is perfect. But often the paved sections are marred by frost heaves, making for an occasionally bumpy ride. Except for one stretch where horses have trashed the trail with their hoofs, the stone dust sections are terrific. We encountered occasional patches of mud, nothing to slow us down, but the suggestion of it made us decide to stay off the trail the day after heavy rain.

Mostly, it was a joy riding long stretches without the noise and distraction of traffic, with many good excuses to stop along the way. 

The bike trail took us along many of the old towpaths where trees have grown in the old canal bed.

Sometimes the trail took us out of the woods through bucolic scenes such as this one.

Perhaps the biggest challenge for us was finding lodging, but better planning might have solved that problem. You are allowed to camp for free at many of the locks, where our guide book says that there will be toilets and potable water. And the first lock we camped at was lovely, in the middle of the town of Waterford, with a shower, clean restrooms, and a shelter of sorts. (See chapter 4) But a cyclist we met who had come from Buffalo said that the Waterford lock was the gold standard and the others had questionable water and no showers. We did ride by a number of locks that would have been beautiful places to camp but, in the end, timing and a shower won out and we didn't camp at any other locks.

There were a number of unadvertised places to camp that appeared along the way.

We stopped at this information sign to put on rain gear. Do you see the cooler in the background?

In thru-hiking culture this would be a trail angel. I decided to take advantage of the offer of a bathroom break and wandered across the street. I was in for a surprise.

This modest church offered much more than restrooms.

This display board was the first thing I saw when I opened the door. I went outside to tell Rob about it. 

We were blown away by the church's generosity. It would be a great place to stay, with a kitchen to cook in. Too bad it was still early in the day and we weren't ready to stop.

As we lingered, we took advantage of the wonderful variety of snacks and decided to eat lunch while it was raining. They had a selection of meals that we could heat up in the microwave. We tried a pot roast meal which was delicious. 

A congregation of 15 offers so much without asking for anything in return. I had to search for a can to leave a donation.

Sadly, after leaving this free place to camp we didn't find another good camping option that night and had to settle for a scruffy motel in the small city of Amsterdam. 

 

Day 11: Monday, 6/17/19 46 miles to Amsterdam, NY.

The riding and weather were both terrific. The best thing about riding along the canal towpath is that it's flat so we're having a chance to build muscles without straining our old knees. The only negative about the day was not having a campground to stay at. We paid $90 for a mediocre room at a Knight's Inn.

Then we found a real gem on the barge canal in the town of Little Falls, probably the nicest place we've ever camped. It mostly catered to boats but we were allowed to set up our tent anywhere on the grassy lawn. For $10 we had access to the building on the property that included showers, laundry, wifi, a lounge with tv, and a covered porch. How I wished we could have been stuck there on the day the heavy rain hit.

 

Day 12: Tuesday, 6/18/19    43 miles to Little Falls, NY

One section of the bike path was unpaved and beat up by horse hooves and another section was natural with a few mud spots but mostly we sailed along on a paved bike path, very quiet. It threatened to rain around noon and then cleared up. We spent $10 to camp along the water at a public park that catered to boaters and provided showers, internet, a lounge, and a beautiful lawn where we could pitch a tent. Treated ourselves to dinner out at a nice restaurant.

 

When we camped near boats like these in Waterford we worried that we were in for a loud party night. Then we noticed the older people on board. Mostly these boats are owned by retirees who, like us, are realizing their dreams of having a big adventure before settling into that rocking chair.

If you look carefully you can see our yellow tent tucked under the trees.

I sat on the porch overlooking the water to work on this blog. We had a late start in the morning because it was too hard to leave such a beautiful spot.

 

Day 13: Wednesday, 6/19/19 46 miles to Rome, NY

We were in no hurry to leave the beautiful park where we spent the night so we didn't get on the road until after noon. Made good time on the paved and unpaved bike trail and found our way easily around a detour. We wandered around Utica to look for a bike shop that didn't have the tire I needed, and to check out the historic train station. In Rome we stopped for pizza and lost the bike trail. We finally found it around 7:30 with about eight miles left to go to get to a campsite that, while free, likely didn't have a shower. While waiting at a stop light Rob noticed a Quality Inn across the street and decided to see what the price of a shower and a comfortable bed would be. I was all in for the shower. It had been a hot, sticky day.

 

Day 14: Thursday, 6/20/19  Rest Day in Rome

Quality Inn

See Chapter 4. Rain kept us in Rome.

 

After our two nights in a Quality Inn we realized that we'd better start doing more work to find Warm Showers hosts and were lucky to find folks in Syracuse, Lyons, and Rochester, who put us up for 3 nights in a row. Then a night in a hotel in Medina before leaving the canal to stay with a friend of a friend in Lewiston, where we took a day off to visit Niagara Falls.

 

Day 15: Friday, 6/21/19    55 miles to Syracuse

Warm Showers hosts Ben and Sarah

Earliest start today, on our bikes at 7:30. We skipped the bike trail because we feared it would be too wet and stuck with highway riding which was fine. Mostly on Route 5, rolling hills, good shoulder, traffic not too bad. We made good time, arriving in Syracuse at 2:30 with time to check out the Everson Art Museum and Canal Museum before riding 5 more miles west to our Warm Showers host for the night.

 

Day 16: Saturday, 6/22/19  51 miles to Lyons, NY

Warm Showers hosts Ann and Carl

Back on the Erie Canal bike trail and the riding was wonderful, only little patches of mud; through a canopy of trees. After 15 miles the trail routed us onto a highway which was scenic with a good shoulder and not much traffic, but a headwind, some hills, and nowhere to stop so we rode straight through for 26 miles to Clyde, which was a lovely town with a terrific cafe where we treated ourselves to milkshakes. Then another 10 miles to our Warm Showers hosts in Lyons.

 

Day 17: Sunday, 6/23/19   41 miles to Rochester, NY

Warm Showers host Coleridge

Good riding days keep coming. After two 50-mile days we took it a little easier today. Wandered through Lyons looking at the murals in the town. Stopped before 10 miles at a town park by a lock in Newark because it was too beautiful to just pass through. Stopped and read historic signs along the way; stopped in Fairport to watch the lift bridge over the canal and stopped in Pittsford for ice cream. Spent the night with another wonderful Warm Showers host outside Rochester.

 

Day 18: Monday, 6/24/2019    51 miles to Medina, NY

Hart Hotel

Both the riding and the weather were great today. Overcast, a hint of rain, then sun, high seventies. We started with breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast, and yogurt, cooked for us by Coleridge, our Warm Showers host. Really, these folks are something else. They let you stay in their home and some of them don't let you lift a finger to help with meal preparation or cleanup. Between stimulating breakfast conversation and Rob having to take care of getting his INR device working, we didn't get started until 9:30. Then, just a few miles along the trail, an REI appeared, like the castle in the Wizard of Oz. So convenient, because we were thinking maybe it was time to purchase a new fuel canister. We rode about half the day on the crushed stone bike path. Then, because the word was out that the trail was like a washboard from tractors driving on it doing maintenance, we rode on the highway. Not as peaceful, but good highway riding can be significantly faster than trail riding, and this was good highway riding. We arrived in Medina at 5:30 to find the Hart Hotel, where we had a reservation, right downtown.

 

In Medina we stayed in the Hart Hotel, which occupies the top floor of the historic building that was home to the Robert H. Newell company that made custom shirts for famous people.

I stretched the truth a bit. We didn't actually stay in the historic building, but in the budget outpost where the new owners offer a hostel type experience. We had a small room with bunk beds. It had a nicely furnished common area with a lounge and kitchenette where the owners offered fruit, cold cereal, and milk.

We cooked our dinner outside at the tables offered by the coffee shop also located in the old shirt building...

And walked a few blocks over to the main street of town for a beer after. (This picture was taken the following morning.) The city has a very historic feel.