We've been told that the governor of New York has a vision to create a 500 mile completely paved trail system based around the canal. Clearly more and more sections are being paved over time. For people like us riding road bikes with skinny tires, this is a good thing. It makes the trail accessible to people with baby strollers, people on trikes, rollerbladers, etc.
But I can see how trail runners and folks on mountain bikes will miss the sections of double track and single track through the woods. It's a little more quiet, a little bit slower. It feels a little more connected with nature, a little more connected with the history of a place that had a 4 mph speed limit.
One minor complaint about the new pavement was they didn't grade the old path to get rid of the washboard bumps before they slapped on the asphalt.
Today was another flat day along the Mohawk valley, although there are steep hills rising on either side of the river. The Mohawk valley was formed in the blink of a geological eye. During the last ice age NY was covered by a sheet of ice a mile thick. As the ice began to melt a vast lake formed over what became the great lakes basin. When the wall of ice holding back that lake gave way an inconceivable volume of water rushed out, forming the Mohawk valley only 12,000 years ago. It makes any human engineering efforts look punny in comparison.
The Mohawk River created a flat, but often narrow corridor through the hills of NY. It's perfect for a bike trail.
We've been counting down from lock #35 in Lockport. Today we reached lock #8 - single digits! Tomorrow will be our final day heading east on the canal.
