08/06/2026
A word from Joe Shunk about his Erie Canal bikepacking trip with photos!
.sorry for the delay. Below is my write-up on a recent trip to New York to ride the Erie Canal Path.
On Friday, June 12th I met George Judd to ride the Erie Canal Path. We drove to New York, ...staying at the Hampton Inn, Albany Airport in Latham, NY.
On Saturday, June 13th Apoint Shuttle Service (on Instagram) picked us up at 8am. The cost was $750. We loaded our bikes, gear and headed to Buffalo. We stopped at a bike shop for a few last minute items and were dropped off about 2pm next at the Buffalo Naval Park. We took some photographs and headed to Grand Island, KOA approximately 20 miles to tent camp for the night. The River Walk Bike Path leading from the Naval Park was closed for construction, so we followed a designated bike lane through town for a few miles to by-pass the construction and then on to the River Walk bike multi-use path. We crossed the South Grand Island Bridge. The sidewalk is separated with a fenced Jersey Wall.
On Sunday , June 14th, we left the KOA, crossed the North Grand Island Bridge to the Shoreline Trail and proceeded to Niagara Falls. We spent some time taking in the falls and headed towards the official start of the canal path in Tonawanda. We planned on camping for the night at a park, but it began to rain...heavily! Fortunately, we found a double room at the Hart House Hotel in Medina, NY....the hotel has a very interesting history, delicious food and the staff were super friendly. Our bikes and panniers were coated with mud and gravel. We found a hostel and used their hose to clean off our bikes and headed to the hotel. The manager allowed us to leave our bikes inside. Our clothing and gear was dry in the panniers. 59 miles.
On Monday, June 15th, before leaving the hotel we needed to give our bikes some luv....with a few minutes of drivetrain cleaning....thank goodness I brought a full bottle of chain l**e and ziplock bag full of rags. This section of the canal path was very quiet. We went for long periods quietly riding, dodging the mean geese, laughing and enjoying the sunny day. There were a few fallen trees that we had to climb around from the previous day's storm, but work crews were already hard at work removing them. We spent the night at a lock and met a group from Florida. There was an outhouse and picnic tables, but no water. 69 miles.
On Tuesday, June 16th, it was another quiet beautiful day hearing the crunch of gravel. We found a tiny coffee shop trailside and had a nice cup of coffee and a delicious chocolate chip cookie. I mailed home some clothing..LOL! We spent the night in a hotel in Weedsport, NY with 50 miles completed.
Wednesday, June 17th, we headed to Chittenango, NY. The trail alongside Onondaga Lake was beautiful. We stopped at Dinosaur Barbeque for lunch and a couple bike shops. We spent the night camping at a quiet town park with a gazebo, power outlets and a bathroom. 45 miles.
Thursday, June 18th, we had an exciting day. While riding through Rome, a tornado warning and heavy rain had us looking for cover. We found a nice bridge to wait out the storm. Once the rain stopped we pushed on to a nice marina with a big gazebo, bathroom with an ice cold shower. 54 miles.
Friday, June 19th, we camped at another Lock. It was very windy, but we managed to cook our meals and I turned in early. The local gas station had very good breakfast sandwiches...served on a huge fluffy bun. 64 miles.
Saturday, June 20th, we pedaled towards the finish. Our hotel was only a mile...ish from the trail, so we stopped dropped off our panniers and returned to ride to the official Eastern end of the trail near Troy. We arrived at the hotel just before check-in, so it provided George and I a nice cool spot to rest and laugh about our trip.
A few things we noticed include the trail marking. It is not well marked, so we encountered a few times when we stopped to use RidewithGPS. There are a lot of options for camping or hoteling, but you may need to ride local roads to/from a hotel. Almost every intersection with a road had a store and local eateries nearby. Some of the locks are very well kept; nice grassy tent areas, pavilions and water....some were a little rough. The trail west of Rochester is very rough with large tree roots making us go slow. The trail is maintained by each township, the locks and waterway are managed by a contractor. The staff at the locks were very friendly and willing to share a lot of information.
