Erie Canal - Day 6
07/03/2003 14:17:46 by AdministratorFrom: Fort Plain
To: Cohoes
Mileage: 69
Thursday, July 3 was the last day of the trip. We were in for another great adventure. Mary and I have traveled on the Mohawk River Trail from Cohoes (Albany) to Schenectady before, but we lost the trail in Schenectady, so we were excited to finish the trail. We didn't expect the bonus. We had breakfast at the Hungry Bear Cafe in St. Johnsville. I had the pancakes again, and I didn't need another thing to eat until dinner. Dad and Dustin left us off at the beginning of the trail in Fort Plain. Temperatures would be in the Mid 90s today, under another blue blue sky. The trail was beautiful, and went into Canajoharie. Outside of Canajoharie we had to follow 5S to Fort Hunter, but as we biked along 5S, we saw that the state of New York was about to complete the bike path that will connect (almost) Cohoes to Ft. Plain. 70 miles of trail, three hours from home. . Can you say, "Weekend trips!" We couldn't wait, so we got on the new trail outside of Randall, and road as much of the new trail as we could. We got a little ambitious and a little lost outside of Pattersonville and tried to ride beside the railroad tracks, which gave Clyde another flat tire. Stopping in the Progressive Insurance Company, we borrowed their sink and found the hole in the tube. With fresh chilled water and a patched tube, we journeyed into Schenectady and through (thanks to Harvey Botzman's book). The rest of the trip was pure joy. Dad and Dusting met us exactly at the end of the trail (they literally had the motor home parked on the trail). Thanks to their patience and good humor we could not have had a better trip. Somehow knowing you have a bit of a safety net a soft bed and a warm meal at the end of the day makes the sun shine a little brighter.Total mileage 397, we finished the trip two days early.
July 1, and yet another beautiful day. Blue skies, and temperatures in the mid 80s. We left the campground without the Bob and panniers. We decided that since they made little difference to the ride and were full of stuff we would not need. We decided to take a couple of rural routes back to bike route 5. Traveled through the town of Clyde and Port Byron (again two towns that we could spend the morning biking around in). There is a trail that goes from Port Byron to southwest Syracuse, but we stayed on bicycle route 5 instead. Traffic picked up north of Syracuse, but it was still a great ride. We had an excellent pizza and salad lunch. People were probably amazed at the amount of food we packed away. We got to the town of Bridgeport at 2 PM, with a lot of energy in us. We decided to call Verona Beach State Park, but they were booked solid. So we traveled the 2 miles north to Fisher Bay Marina and campground. AGAIN we beat the sag wagon into the campground. While waiting for them, we enjoyed some more weeping willow trees and watched herons; mink, geese, loons, seagulls, and fish do their thing at the lake. After dinner, we found out that Dustin and Dad met with the dean of the BioTech program who was very impressed with what Milford High was doing, and with the knowledge that Dustin had gained. There was a junior who took Dustin on another tour, and found out that the stuff she was during as a junior in college, Dustin had done as a junior in High School. RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology) has a program called Bioinfomatics that takes what Dustin is doing now and adds a computer component. Also, for all you Macintosh fans, they are almost all Mac based, and totally wireless. They are currently replacing their G3 towers with G5 towers. They have a graphics art segment that has helped on many of the Disney animated movies (like Shrek).
Monday morning found us all back in the Brockport diner for a very filling breakfast. I was going to have the traditional New Hampshire Yankee breakfast (coffee and pie) but had a stack of raspberry pancakes. Outside the restaurant we met a group of 10 riders going from Vermont to Seattle Washington. They were staying in the church for the night, and had to make it to Niagara Falls for the night. They invited us to think about making the trip with them in two years. After exchanging eMail addresses, we got back on the Erie Canal Heritage Trail and our adventure. It was a PERFECT DAY, blue blue skies and temperatures in the mid 80s. The canal path was more active, which is what we like to see. We saw a lot more boating activity on the canal including sculling clubs and state boats actively dredging. We stopped to see 3 boats (yachts) go through lock 30. Prior to that we rode through Rochester New York. This is a bike friendly city, with multiple bikeways. The trail through Rochester was paved, but turned to stone dust after the city. The path between Macedon and Palmyra is getting a new coat of stone dust, which made it very challenging to ride. We had lunch at a small restaurant near the end of the trail and headed towards Lyons on route 31 (bicycle route 5) this part of bicycle route 5 is AWESOME, very little traffic and wide shoulders. We stopped for $1.00 ice cream cones (which our local ice cream stand would have charged us $3.50) and rocked in the rockers they provide on their porch. AGAIN we beat the sag wagon into camp. There was a good reason, Dustin and Dad found a college that made Dustin's top two list. While waiting for the "boys" we had naps under the weeping willow trees in the campground so we really didn't miss them too much. Rochester Institute of Technology has a BioTech program that they wanted to investigate further and go back the next day. So when we met after dinner that night, we agreed to meet at Fisher Bay campground in Bridgeport (on lake Oneida).As they planned on being in that area to camp the next evening
At dinner that night, we made a plan to all meet at Hamlin Beach State Park on Lake Ontario. Dad and Dustin had enough colleges in the Buffalo area and they were planning on being in that area to camp the next evening. So after breakfast, we attached the Bob, loaded the panniers onto Clyde and headed back into Lockport to begin The Erie Canal Heritage Trail. Even though we would meet again at the State Park, we wanted to test the feel and weight of the load. We traveled along the canal until Brockport. Temperatures were in the high 70's and it rained 3 times. A good test to see how wet-proof we were. The rain didn't last very long, but on the third go-around, it came down hard. Everything kept dry. It was the only rain we were blessed with on the trip. During the morning, we "raced" a yacht from Medina to Holley. We also saw lots of wildlife including snakes, red tail hawks, large fish, cardinals, red winged blackbirds, oriole, deer, rabbits, ground hogs, muskrats, golden finches, and more. The trail is crushed packed stone and very flat with rolling hills along either side of the trail and some very pretty homes. Holley had a park with showers (for future reference). There was very little foot traffic, but enough boat traffic to keep us company. Had lunch at the Brockport dinner, it was filling which left no room for the many pies and cakes that I was eyeing in the case. The small towns of Gasport, Albion, and Medina look like towns that we could spend an afternoon riding in.
Bright and early on June 28 my Dad, Dustin, Mary and myself took off in the motor home for Lockport NY. Clyde (our trusty Cannondale tandem) was comfortably riding on the back, with stuffed panniers and our Bob trailer tucked in the shower compartment inside. Katelyn had to work, so she stayed with Grandma for the week. Don't feel too sorry for her, she had an adventure, also, but you will see. Our plan was that Grandpa and Dustin were going to spend the night with us at the campground in Lockport, and head on their way visiting colleges on the route back to New Hampshire. On Sunday, Dustin and Kate would come pick us up near the NY/Mass boarder. This would be one week of biking and camping with a hotel or two for breaks and some good hot baths. But as you will see, sometimes plans don't work out the way you envision.