“I’ve got a mule and her name was Sal(sa)
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
She’s a good old worker and a good old pal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal”
We left the RV park and headed north towards the established ACA route. It was a dryer and cooler morning. The skies actually blue.
We found Upper Mountain Road and turned east riding along a bench that overlooked the lowlands leading to what is now Lake Ontario. Farmland and orchards were interrupted by old barns and farmsteads. The welcoming signs entering townships and villages stated founding dates from 1802. My mind wondered back to my early jr and sr high American History classes and European settlement of the area. Of course history extends millennia before that.
Then we entered the village of Lockport founded in 1824. The town contains Locks 34 and 35 of the Erie Canal. It is here we begin following the historic towpath eastward for a couple days. But first, some coffee and the most delicious blueberry cinnamon rolls ever baked at the Steamworks next to lock #35.
The Erie Canal originally stretched 363 miles from Buffalo on Lake Erie to the Hudson River near Albany and was completed in 1825. Many changes and rerouting have occurred. The canal provided cheaper transportation of crop, coal, timber and goods. Today it is the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor. It provides recreation for hikers, joggers, bikers, boaters and campers. We plan to camp on the canal at lock #30 tomorrow.
We bike a bit more than 15 miles as the song lyrics suggests. After a total of 46 miles we found a motel in Albion for a couple nights. We need a rest day after 7 days of riding.
But before we jumped off the towpath we ran into some fellow adventurers. Zack and Jack, from New Hampshire, left Maine last week and are headed to San Diego, hoping to get there in October. They think they will travel 5,000 miles in total. Z&J are youngsters, but when asked what they do they said “we’re retired”. Zack recently graduated college. As with so many on the route, you are either retired on adventure or you have just finished your formal education and go on a sojourn. I look forward to watching the video creation that Zack will create along the way.
As we were wishing Zack and Jack a safe and blessed journey two fellow retired bikers pulled up. They were local and just out for a day ride. But they had great words of encouragement for us. Giving us inspiration on places to stop and visit and a bit of personal history of the area. We were actually stopped on a Riley’s Believe it or Not location. Below us was a one lane culvert that allowed vehicle traffic to cross the canal below the water. Further back, there was a creek crossing that crossed under the canal. The one gent grew up 400 yards from that creek crossing. We also learned that many of the Napa Valley, CA vineyards had their start in this part of New York. Many old wineries still exist in the area.
There are many other structures associated with the canal in addition to locks(which allow boat traffic to progress up and down, higher and lower along the canal). Large control gates along the way can isolate parts of the canal to raise water levels or allow section to drain for damage repair. In fact, the canal is dewatered each fall before freeze up. Then there are the draw bridges to raise up to allow larger boats to pass under. All in all, fascinating engineering.
The towpath is fine gravel. Sure glad we are on the Salsas or as the song states, mules hauling bikers instead of “barges with lumber, coal, and hay”.
We have another day and a half along the Erie Canal, a bit more than 15 miles
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