August 16, 2004
A Beautiful Day on the Erie Canal
Niagara Falls to Fairport
Well, breakfast was a little late. Fortunately the hotel buffet was all-you-can-eat. Since I get 5 miles to the egg, I got my money's worth.
My son Eamonn helped me load up my bike.
At around 10 a.m., we said our goodbyes and I was off, dead legs and all, along Bike Route 5 on an absolutely perfect (puffy white clouds in a deep blue sky) windless day. Route 5 begins on a commercial four-lane highway due east out of Niagara Falls. The shoulder is quite wide so the traffic didn't bother me at all. I passed some drive-in restaurants on the way to Lockport. They all sold "hots". Being full of fuel at the time, I didn't stop to inquire what "hots" were. I imagine Hots sell pretty well in February.
Just east of the airport Route 5 turns due north and the traffic calms considerably. A few miles later I was heading east and into Lockport and the start of the canal towpath.
In Lockport I tried to use the internet at the library but it was set up to thwart all but a few basic searches. I made my way to the towpath and started east in earnest.
The towpath has a crushed stone surface on hard, unpaved dirt, pecfectly ridable on my recumbent. I fully expected it to get worse but it never did. (I understood from Dale Oswald that it does get worse for a bit just west of Rochester, but I used Route 5 on that stretch).
In Middleport, I stopped in town and picked up some healthy provisions (ham and cheese sandwich, two candy bars, Gatorade, water, and a Toll House Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich) at Mr. Buddy's. Then I headed back to the towpath to eat and ride.
As I rode I passed the occassional walker, runner, bicyclist, and boat. Every half-hour or so I'd see a packet drift by. Packets are traditional boats used to ferry passengers west in comfort during the heyday of the canal. Today tourists rent them for a week at a time. It looked very relaxing.
As the day wore on, my thoughts turned to finding shelter for the night. In Bridgeport I expected to find some sign of a campground, but none was in evidence. So I continued on to Spencerport the last town on the canal just west of Rochester. There I stopped in town and considered my options while inhaling half a sub at a Subway. The counterperson said there was no camping anywhere nearby except up on the shore of Lake Ontario. Since the weather was so good and I wasn't feeling too tired I decided to push on through Rochester.
I followed Dale Oswald's advice and left the towpath, using Route 5 until it intersected with the tow path again in Rochester. There the towpath becomes part of a very nice and utterly confusing system of bike paths. After riding for five nminutes and paying a visit to a surprisingly clean blue room, I (using my fancy eastern education) came to realize with the sun in my eyes that I was headed due west.
After asking a passerby for directions I quickly found Bike Route 5 and rode briskly through the University of Rochester's medical campus. At Pittsford, I made it back to the towpath and the canal, and turned away from the setting sun. Just before Fairport I realized that it was too late to find formal camping or lodging so I stopped and set up my tent next to a tree along the canal. Despite the fact that I was in a rather nice suburb, the passers by were uniformly encouraging. One woman offered this tidbit of advice, "If the police bother you, they'll probably just tell you where they want you to camp. Either way you'll have a place to sleep." Others just said, "Have fun" or It's safe." No signs prohibit camping on the canal and boaters frequently tie up for the night just about anywhere they please.
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A note about the canal: everyone I encountered was polite and friendly. Every single dog walker restrained his or her dog. All the boaters waved and talked to me as they passed.
Today's ride: 101 miles (163 km)
Total: 101 miles (163 km)
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