Cycling the Erie Canal 2015
	The Erie Canal was started in 1817 to transport cargo from the Great Lakes, at Buffalo, all the way to Albany, where the Hudson River was used to continue down to New York City.

SUMMARY, MILEAGE STATS, TENT CITIES, and FOOD are located below on this page.
LOCKS, WATERFALLS, SIDE TRIPS, LIZ Photos, and GEORGE / BIKE Photos are located on separate web pages.

On Saturday, July 11, we drove up to Buffalo. My car was parked all week at the Nichols School.

Liz and I were among the 600 people who biked the entire length from Buffalo to Albany on July 12 through July 19, 2015. We biked 403 miles. They said about 300 miles were on the mule path along the canal, and 100 miles were along paved roads. (There were some hills.) It was about that ratio. (I didn't keep track.) I did keep track of our total daily mileage below.

Our overnight stays were in tents provided by Comfy Campers. The tent Cities were set up at each stop when we arrived. I was tent 132, Liz was 133. More photos of Tent Cities below.

Day Date That Evening Tent City Location City Saturday July 11 Nichols School Buffalo, NY Sunday July 12 Clifford H. Wise Middle School Medina, NY Monday July 13 Martha Brown Middle School Fairport, NY Tuesday July 14 Mynderse Academy Seneca Falls, NY Wednesday July 15 Zoo in Burnet Park Syracuse, NY Thursday July 16 Fort Stanwix National Monument Rome, NY Friday July 17 Canajoharie High School Canajoharie, NY Saturday July 18 Schenectady Jewish Community Center Niskayuna, NY Sunday July 19 Econolodge Room 134 (no tent, actual bed) Buffalo, NY

Our bags were transported each day by truck. Each morning, we had to carry our bags onto the truck, and help stack them. In this photo, my bags are right behind the girl's right shoulder. When we arrived at each destination, we had to locate our bags in the rows of unloaded luggage. I had bright colored straps around mine, to make it easier to find.

Most meals were provided by the sponsor of the trip, Parks & Trails New York. There was a lot of food. They served up a big breakfast each day, there were morning and afternoon rest stops, and they prepared most evening meals. In addition, small towns along the way provided a large variety of treats and meals to fuel up the bikers. (Note the many occurences of Chicken and Ice Cream in the Food section.)

There were many activities and sites each day. I made separate pages with photos for these topics: Side Trips, Locks, Waterfalls, Liz, and George/Bike. There were also some nightly lectures in auditoriums, about the Building, History, Engineering, and Economic Impact of the Erie Canal.

After biking to Albany, we rode the shuttle bus back to Buffalo. Our bikes rode back in separate trucks.
	Bike License Plate to the right. I wore a Wrist Band all week, as my ID. Each duffle bag had one also.

The weather was very good, compared to the rainy June and beginning of July that we had. It rained on us, Tuesday afternoon when we were biking on paved roads. Cleared up enough for us to tour Seneca Falls and get dinner that evening. Then light rain, and some rain overnight. Wednesday morning was overcast and cool. We did get some light rain as we biked, but then it cleared up. There was light rain Thursday evening and overnight. We had 8 days of good weather. We only had about 2 hours of biking in the rain.

These are typical views of the trip, taken on Sunday July 12 (Click each image to enlarge the view.)			Video (0:35) of bikers going by, after road crossing. Wednesday July 15
Looking ahead from trail	Looking back from bridge	Drone view of straight section

After the bike tour, on Monday, July 20, we took our own side trip to Niagara Falls. We entered Canada on our bikes, viewed the Falls, visited a Casino, and got donuts at Tim Horton's. Upon our return to the USA, the border guard asked us the normal questions about where we were from, why we visited Canada, and how long we stayed. When he asked if I had anything to declare, I said, "No, I ate the donuts." We biked to an American Casino, toured it, and drove back to Pittsburgh. We were back home Monday afternoon.

 MILEAGE STATS

 TENT CITIES

Tents and accomodations provided by Comfy Campers.       Click on each image to enlarge.

Saturday July 11	Sunday July 12	Monday July 13	Tuesday July 14
Nichols School, Buffalo NY	Clifford H. Wise Middle School, Medina NY	Martha Brown Middle School, Fairport NY (View from Drone)	Mynderse Academy, Seneca Falls NY
Wednesday July 15	Thursday July 16	Friday July 17	Saturday July 18
Zoo in Burnet Park, Syracuse NY (View from Zoo)	Fort Stanwix National Monument, Rome NY (View from Drone)	Canajoharie High School, Canajoharie NY (View from Drone)	Schenectady Jewish Community Center, Niskayuna NY

 FOOD

(Lots of Food!)       Click on links to see photos

And after all that food, I came home 2 pounds lighter!

Photos taken by George, Liz, and Jim
Drone views from Call of the Loon Productions