Nine years ago, my husband and I set off on a long bike ride across New York State.
We started in Buffalo and headed east to Albany, cycling for much of the way on the 360-mile Erie Canalway Trail, which parallels both active and historic sections of the waterway that helped build the United States we know today. We crossed flat, vast expanses of upstate New York and coasted down long, rolling hills. We made a side trip to Skaneateles Lake and explored the glacial rock formations in the city of Little Falls.
We arrived home in the Capital Region exhausted but satisfied. During our week on bikes, we immersed ourselves in our state’s beautiful landscape, and even learned a few things along the way—like how the Erie Canal transformed New York into an economic powerhouse and reshaped the US by opening up the North American interior to settlers.
Today, there’s even more to see and do along the Canal, especially given the fact that New York State has made significant investments in communities along the waterway to boost tourism and recreation ahead of 2025, the Erie Canal’s bicentennial year.