Just a Headsup

Not the proper place for this subject, but rode The Erie Canal last June. planned to to Buffalo to Albany in 6 days. first two and 1/2 were great. At Clyde many detours and not very good signage. It also turned into a road ride, very busy road ride, after arriving at my destination, 15 miles and 2hrs longer and later, I did some research and found the next 120 miles were on the road. I aborted at that point. If you like beautiful trials and road mixed in its a good ride. Personally I don't care for the road.

There is a forum for the Erie Canal Trail just like this forum for the GAP/C&O at:

www.bikeEriecanal.com

That said Mr. Mucci is correct in that the Erie Canal Trail does include a fair amount of roads some of which are a little dodgy. There has been an ongoing effort to reduce the amount of roads along that trail. The sections along the Erie Canal Towpath itself are quite nice however as is the GhostTown trail that begins in Mr. Mucci’s home town of Blairsville.

Having done both trails, I’ve always felt the Erie Canal is behind the GAP/C&O in its development as a recreational trail. As the OP mentioned, there a quite a few roads one will need to traverse. Some of that is because parts of the canal are lost to time. The signage and mile markers are severely lacking in many parts. Perhaps this will improve with it now being marketed as the Empire State Trail. No one really knows where the Erie Canal towpath starts and begins, there’s no signage in Buffalo or Albany to tell you and there’s no mile markers either.

Getting information related to camping sites is hit or miss (“can I camp here or not?” comes up a lot on that forum), which makes planning difficult. There should be a concerted effort to create known camp sites along the trail for passing cyclists to use. They don’t have to be at the locks but rather use some of the more rural parts of the trail so only hiker/bikers can get to them. There’s one trail map online that is nice but it’s for the “Cycle the Erie Canal” event, an organized trip which diverts off the trail for nightly camping for 600+, but it’s not a downloadable map. A printable map is much better when no cell service is available.

The GAP/C&O has an organized set of maps online that are 99.9% updated and printable. Trail Towns are all on board and market themselves to touring cyclists eager for their business. Mile markers the entire length and good signage.

All that said I love the Erie Canal. Lovely scenery, good riding surface, history, and abundant towns and services. If whoever manages the trail would implement some of the above small changes, it would/could rival the GAP/C&O as a week long cycling destination.

I too rode the Erie Canal last June and you are mistaken. Most of the eastern end is not roads, but paved trails. Limited road riding in Syracuse , Schenectady, or a detour in Utica. I agree with others that Erie Canal needs better signage!!

My husband and I rode the Erie Canal trail last June from Buffalo to Albany and I do agree the signage is horrible. We went on a couple unplanned detours. But we loved the adventure. Although there is some riding on roads, it definitely isn’t as much as you stated. It’s approximately 42% paved, 42% stone dust, and 16% road. We loved the history along the way and met some really cool people.

We have also ridden the GAP and plan to come back and do the GAP again and the C&O. We have ridden the entire Katy trail in Missouri as well. All these trails are incredible, but very different. Impossible to compare. We just love the challenge and the fun.