Author: Jane Margolis and Wm. Ferguson November 5, 2021

We rode every inch of it, from Manhattan to Buffalo to the Canadian border. This is what it looks like.

Author: Jane Margolis and Wm. Ferguson

Photos and videos of Johnny Milano

In December last year, the Empire State Trail-a 750-mile bicycle and walking route connecting Buffalo with Albany and New York City and the Canadian border, forming a lateral T-shape-opened to the public . Considering the pandemic bicycle boom, the timing is perfect.

New York has about 400 miles of greenways, renovated rail lines and bicycle lanes. Therefore, when the US$200 million project was announced in 2017, the country was eager to fill the gap between them.

Where new bicycle lanes cannot be opened, blue and yellow signs have been installed on the roads, and some guardrails have been added to protect cyclists from vehicle traffic.

The result—a combination of protected roads, urban streets, highway shoulders, and rural roads that pass through towns and cities—provides views of wetlands, waterways, grasslands, and mountains. It showcases the history and natural beauty of New York State.

Recently, two reporters got on their bicycles and experienced this trail first-hand. One traveled from Buffalo to Albany, and the other from New York City to the Canadian border.

The north/south part of this trail is located on the east side of the state. It is not a bicycle lane, but multiple bicycle lanes. Each route is different in length, type, surface material and scenery, all stitched together.

If you are after diversity, then this path is for you.

The official website divides the entire 400-mile shebang into two main parts: the Hudson Valley Greenway Trail (New York to Albany) and the Champlain Valley Trail (Albany to Canada). But in reality, these classifications are largely irrelevant. It is the smaller sections of the trail that define the journey.

The idea of ​​riding a bicycle away from my front door in New York City and reaching the Canadian border 400 miles later certainly piqued my interest.

But I don't have a free week to complete the entire trail at once. In addition, when I started planning this trip in April, I had not yet been vaccinated, and the trains and hotels still seemed to be at risk. So I made a crazy plan because I have a car, a bicycle rack and a very understanding husband.

Plan: Whenever my husband and I are free, we will tie our bikes to our car and drive to the last trail I completed. When my husband drove to the destination of the day, I would start pedaling, park the car, and sometimes ride my bike back to pick me up.

After I finish the short trip, we will go home, and yes, I cringe at all the environmental impact of driving.

However, I didn't have a car on the first day. On April 30th, I set off from a kiosk in Battery Park City at the bottom of Manhattan, the gateway to the Empire State Trail. It has a map with a "you are here" arrow at the southernmost end-this is a challenge.

From there, I started cycling north on the Hudson River Greenway.

I know this 13-mile protected trail very well. Many cyclists use it as an effective alternative to the congested streets of Manhattan. It is said to be the busiest bicycle lane in the country and is usually overcrowded.

In Upper Manhattan, the greenway ends on Dyckman Street, and a small urban adventure — accompanied by blurred signs and rutted roads — begins. Beware of entering the dangerous Broadway Bridge in the Bronx, and you will be very happy when this trail takes you up the sidewalk of the Manhattan College campus (seriously?).

The urban part of the Empire State Trail ends at Van Kotrant Park, on the new and magnificent Putnam Greenway. The road opened last fall and along the way is the Putnam branch of the old New York Central Railroad, which operated until 1958.

I passed the 18-acre Lake Van Cortland and the wonder known as the Central Boulder, a row of pillars described by some as Urban Stonehenge. In fact, these are samples of quarries that were being considered when the Grand Central Station was built in Midtown Manhattan in the early 1900s.

Putnam flows into Westchester’s South County Trail. In Hastings on the Hudson River, another building caught my attention: whimsical wooden birdhouses hanging from trees. Steve Pucillo is a local retiree who made them.

On the next North County Trailway, the homeowners of the property bordering the bike lane built boardwalks, ladders, and even paths made of carpet remnants to connect their land to the trails.

After driving about 40 miles deep into Westchester County, I turned around and rode home.

In May, I restarted my journey through West Chester. In Putnam County, I chose the Maybrook Trail in Brewster.

This 24-mile stretch of road opened in January, and before tree roots and seasonal freeze-thaw cycles cause the paving to bend, there is nothing better than riding on still very smooth asphalt. The trail is basically flat, along a part of the former freight railway corridor.

It passes through wetlands, several small waterfalls, and where the Appalachian Trail crosses the Empire Trail, a bridge over a creek is a good resting place, surrounded by the sound of rushing water.

This trail traverses New York’s famous river four times, and the waterway ranges from the strong in Manhattan to the fairly mild near the northern origin.

The most striking crossing is the sidewalk on the Hudson River. This 1.5-mile-wide trail was built on the historic railway bridge from Poughkeepsie to Lloyd Town, and is more than 200 feet above the water.

I arranged to meet with Empire Trail Director Andy Beers in New Paltz to ride the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail. He told me about the scramble to install thousands of signs across the state (admitting to hide some in his car so he can jump out and beat one on the spot). We passed the fascinating Rail Trail Café (wood-burning pizza, kale drink) and ancient limestone caves, and finally arrived at Kingston’s new Hudson River Brick Factory Trail, which will eventually become a 520-acre New State Park Part of this includes the ruined brick factory.

At the next Hudson intersection, on the Kingston-Rhinecliffe Bridge, the scenery is impressive, but the bicycle lanes of the busy bridge are completely unprotected. Most of the road from Kingston to Hudson is on the road-this is an experience I will encounter more and more.

In fact, roads account for 55% of the trails from south to north, but open roads can indeed allow you to enter more of the environment; on railway trails, you often cannot see dense green plants. I was staring at the historic houses on a country road in Dutch County so fascinated that I missed the signs around Bard College, and it took me a while to find crossing the Tivoli Bay Wildlife Management Area The newly upgraded trails.

Another day, another wonderful trail. The 36-mile Albany-Hudson Electric Trail between Hudson and Rensselaer was on a tram route that ran from 1900 to 1929 in December last year Open. Several old stations still stand tall.

Most of the Electric Trail is paved with powdered stone—fine, compacted gravel that my road bike can handle easily—spread with asphalt.

The country road passes through the small village and winds through the ruins of the old mill. The region has been a major textile producer for decades, and the streams and waterfalls that provide hydropower to the tram line have also promoted the production of cotton and wool.

It was tempting to continue sailing, but I stopped to see local businesses.

Velo Domestique is a new bike shop in Valatie. It opened in the car wash in the 1990s and has the cool relics of early bikes: a huge set of old wooden rollers for outdoor bike training indoors. The rollers were previously owned by a motorcycle officer and a cyclist who was said to have pulled Babe Ruth due to speeding.

Further north, Smiles Soft Serve Ice Cream is a family-run frozen custard stand in Nassau. A bicycle rack has been installed, and a portable potty has recently been added. As many cyclists pass by, the owner rents it This potty is used to preserve their septic tank system.

Samascott Orchards of Kinderhook sounded the alarm for me because its apples are sold in the city's green market.

When the buildings in Albany rise from the ground in the distance, another city can be seen. But the route bypassed the capital and continued along the Mohawk-Hudson Bike Hiking Trail. The river on my right was narrower and calmer.

Further north, there are a few quiet trails consisting of old canal towways, still active canal locks and beautiful Lake Champlain.

Most of the Champlain Valley Trail runs along the old New York State Bike Lane No. 9, which means mile after mile of road cycling, sometimes on the shaky shoulders of 55 mph roads. In the Adirondack Mountains, State Highway 22 north of Walesboro winds to an altitude of nearly 1,000 feet. The narrow shoulders and fast-driving trucks make riding more challenging.

In Keysville, the road is leveled. But there are very few people who ride bicycles. Whenever I meet someone who rides two wheels, I find myself waving like a madman.

By this time it was June, and Covid had temporarily subsided as a threat, and I was able to piece it together for several days to end the journey. I bike during the day and my husband and I stay at Airbnbs at night. At the last stop, we set up a tent at the Ausable Point Campground in Lake Champlain, which is less than 40 miles from Rouses Point, a village in the United States. /On the Canadian border, the flags of the two countries were flying on the lamppost. I arrived at the border the next morning and saw a map of the kiosk with an arrow "You are here", this time at the top of the trail.

I officially become an end-to-end person.

For the benefit of journalism, I stubbornly report every mile, but the 80 miles of the Adirondack Mountains between Whitehall and Keysville is not for everyone. You need to be healthy to handle the hills, and you must have steel nerves to deal with the noise and approach of trucks.

For stress-free riding in most situations, stick to the Hudson Valley Greenway Trail in the southern half of the route, where there are many day trip options. Overnight, consider Kingston or Hudson as the midpoint.

The Erie Canalway Trail is a 360-mile bike path connecting Buffalo and Albany, dotted with towns along the canal, and tells the rich and often strange history of the westward expansion of the United States . An endurance cyclist I spoke to completed the ride from start to finish (stopping just to stretch, eat, and smooth) in just over 31 hours, which is impressive. However, racing on this trail defeated its purpose.

The Erie Canal, completed in 1825, not only opened up commerce to the country, but was also a kind of psychic highway, attracting a steady stream of 19th-century free thinkers: abolitionists, Mormons, spiritualists, Adventists, and Suffrageists can all trace their roots to the fertile vein of New York State.

The towns along the route are more mature than the towns on the north and south sides, are barely visible from the interstate, and cyclists are very welcome.

If you live in New York City, getting to the Erie Canal is not easy. I have family in Buffalo, so I can start from there. With my 22-year-old son, we plan to ride to Albany in a week, we parked his car there and drove back to Brooklyn.

I strongly recommend sharing this trail with a healthy young man. He is willing to take on half of the camping gear and is eager to ride in front and let you graze in his airflow.

Riding a bicycle is relatively easy. 85% of them are located on dedicated bicycle lanes, most of which are flat, either paved or made of gravel. The distance between towns never exceeds 20 miles, so it’s easy to ride to the hotel every night.

There are several state parks not far from the trail, where you can pitch a tent, but we plan to "camping" at the locks along the canal. These are first-come, first-served hiker-cyclist-rower sites. But when we stepped on the locks in the early stages of cycling, it was difficult to say: Are these well-tended lawns used for public camping? Is it right by the side road? It turns out that it is.

I spoke with Robin Dropkin, executive director of Parks & Trails in New York, who is behind the indispensable map and guide "Biking the Erie Canal". She confirmed that these were suggested campsites, but she also agreed with my hesitation. "They are a bit exposed," she said.

It feels like camping in Central Park. Although we have installed tents, sleeping bags and cooking utensils for our bicycles, most of us stayed in hotels.

Buffalo is a fantastic city. It had electric lights a few years before Paris. However, if you just want to use Buffalo as a starting point, consider starting further away. There are miles of roads on the shore of Lake Erie, but the trails here are a patchwork of poorly marked sidewalks, multi-purpose paths, and annoying detours.

If you are not a complete person, maybe start from North Tonawanda. This is where the Erie Canal really begins. In fact, you might do worse if you start cycling in Pendleton, which is a few miles from the trail and is the home of Uncle G. This is the first of many excellent ice cream shops, suspiciously close bicycle lane.

Medina doesn't look like much across the canal, but it is a well-preserved town. It used to make its fortune from the sandstone of Medina and was not used worldwide until the 1930s (Brooklyn Bridge, Buckingham Palace). Hart House is a boutique hotel that occupies one floor of a former shirt manufacturer and seems to be eager to attract cyclists (our room is decorated with huge Schwinn medals, nicknamed brake pads). On the first floor is Meadworks, a real mead factory that produces and sells handmade mead, served in rustic and chic bars or outdoor "Beegarten".

There are many impressive buildings along the canal. Lockport's "five-person flight" lock is considered an engineering marvel; it allows the barge to ascend in five separate cabins, just like on an escalator on the Niagara Cliffs. The Nine Mile River Aqueduct outside Camillus is the last of 32 working aqueducts. The huge UTICA tower appeared without warning in the silent field, and it was an exciting moment in the monotonous stretch.

But there is only one attraction that can cause instinctive reactions from non-engineers. Near Knowlesville, you can climb down a hill and stroll to the only tunnel under the Erie Canal. Standing in this echo chamber, there was a large amount of canal water dripping clearly, which was amazing and horrified.

The park and trail guide provides several alternative routes away from the canal. Near Clyde, it recommends a detour south to Seneca Falls, past Cayuga Lake, and rejoining the canal after crossing the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge. to avoid detours.

Once you leave the trail and take a short, rough ride on the busy highway shoulder, you will enter miles of idyllic country trails. When we passed through Amish farmland and sunflower fields, we did not encounter a car for more than 90 minutes.

Seneca Falls also tried to commemorate the competing past. It is the birthplace of the feminist movement, and its history can be traced back to the First Women's Rights Convention in 1848, commemorated by the Women's Rights National Historical Park and the National Women's Hall of Fame.

This is also the source of inspiration for "It's a Wonderful Life".

There is a museum dedicated to this movie (Seneca Falls represents Bedford Falls), but in reality you only need to stroll on the truss bridge and imagine George Bailey thinking about throwing himself into the Waters.

We booked a room in another boutique hotel, Gould. The staff was great, although our room had a lot of chrome and filigree, it looked like the apartment of a drug lord in Grand Theft Auto. Nevertheless, the hotel let us store dirty bicycles in the meeting room.

At dinner, the concierge suggested that we book Sackett's Table. Booking? Tuesday night at Seneca Falls? In a pandemic?

In fact, this place has already been booked and it is worth it. Sackett's Table is an artisanal butcher attached to a restaurant. This is a farm-to-table experiment in the beer hall valley.

The menu is premium comfort food: duck nuggets, deconstructed fried chicken, braised beef wontons. But there is also a butcher’s box filled with locally sourced meat. You point out that part-like pork tenderloin, or sirloin-they will be ready to order. Without a doubt, the best meal on this trip.

Decided to use the multi-pound camping equipment we carried, which we made for Green Lake State Park. We have nearly 60 miles ahead, but we must pass Syracuse first. We have noticed the terrible condition of cycling there. The Adventure Bike Forum is full of scary warnings about unfriendly city streets and how easy it is to get lost.

But this was before the completion of the 14-mile expansion project that cost 36 million US dollars last year through the city. The new bike lane passes through a run-down strip of malls and muffler shops. But its landscape is very good, and the ride feels like a soft sleigh across the city highway. Is this what those Danish bicycle highways feel like?

Before we knew it, we returned to nature and climbed the steep ridge into the state park.

Since we spent the night in the campsite, we originally planned to spend the night in a tent. But when we realized that the bolts holding my son's basket had been cut, we started very slowly. With a whole roll of electrical tape and 45 minutes of swearing, what you can do is amazing.

Then it started to rain, and it took us on this small road to a two-lane highway for 10 miles. We rejoined the bike path in Ilion and took refuge at a hot dog junction near the pier along the Mohawk River. Is Voss's grilled frankfurters really the best I have ever tasted? Probably. However, in the freezing rain, it makes no sense to set up a tent next to the pier. We rode for a longer time until the small waterfall, and decided to stay in Stone Mill, which sounds a little flamboyant inn.

How lucky. The hotel is part of a large 19th century building, and the manager did not hesitate to allow us to roll our wet selves (and our bicycles) into our room, which has a magnificent view of the Mohawk River and the mossy rock promontory. On the first floor is a great wood-burning pizzeria. There is a small brewery nearby, located in a converted garage, which is also suitable for keeping dogs and bluegrass musicians. The perfect end to a challenging day.

We want to spend a little time wandering the nearby Moss Island, where there are some world-class rock climbing activities in the middle of the Mohawk River. So instead of arriving in Albany, we spent our last night in Amsterdam, mainly because there is a hotel that looks like a castle.

The Amsterdam Castle Hotel did not disappoint. This castle used to be an armory and sits on top of a hill. The town is tidy and unassuming. The castle hotel is full of uncoordinated armors, random medieval weapons, splendid furnishings, and photocopied portraits of nobles and ladies in gilded picture frames.

This is nutty and wonderful. If you happen to be in town on Friday, I highly recommend tasting the fry at Shorty's Southside Tavern, which is a bipolar experience on a fancy shaft.

Six days later, my son and I were a little tired of each other. It happened. But the rolling hills leading to Schenectady and the well-groomed trails outside Albany inspire a state of Zen. When my worries subsided and I slowed down to let him catch me, we all had to smile for the beauty of the endless bike lanes.

If you want to complete this trail in a week, expect to ride a little more than 50 miles a day. It sounds like a lot, but once you complete this distance for a day or two, four or five times it feels no big deal. Even at a leisurely speed of 10 miles per hour, you might have five hours a day in the saddle, time for lunch and snacks. It's also worth remembering: going east from Buffalo to Albany means you will go downhill as a whole, and the prevailing wind will be behind you.

The official Empire State Trail website is a great resource; Mr. Beers said that it has just added GPS to the map and will soon include the idea of ​​accommodation. Spring is here, there will be a travel planning guide.

For a day trip, please consider taking a train to your starting point. Most trails can be reached via Metro-North and Amtrak, which make it easier for cyclists to get on the bike.

Starting this fall, a bicycle permit is no longer required to get on Metro-North. On weekdays, four bicycles are allowed per train; on weekends, at 8 o'clock. You can also check the schedule of bicycle trains-look for bicycle symbols and plus signs-these can hold up to 44 bicycles during off-peak hours and are perfect for group riding.

Amtrak’s carry-on baggage service costs US$20 and requires advance reservations, although some cyclists have achieved success as carry-on luggage. The train cars marked with stickers are equipped with bicycle racks.

If you are driving and traveling with a group of people, please consider organizing your own "sag wagon". Ride with three or more cyclists. Every day, someone turns and drives the car to the destination of the day. The designated driver can either tour the town or meet up with the team on the way.

Unlike many bicycle lanes, the empire has never been far away from civilization. Of course you can pack all your food and a tent, rarely need to pull out your wallet. But you can also easily rely on hotels and restaurants. Most people will choose the middle road. Worth considering is Warmshowers, a network that provides free accommodation for traveling cyclists.

Almost any bicycle that makes you feel comfortable after riding for more than a few hours at a time will have no problem on most trails, and cyclists of all fitness levels will find that most riding is feasible. In other words, flat handlebars have fewer hand positions and will become very tiring during long-distance riding or multi-day travel. Carbon fiber road bikes with narrow wheels occasionally find it difficult to pass gravel or dirt. Contact outdoor suppliers such as REI or Brooklyn's 718 Cyclery & Outdoors to find out what types of racks and bags your bike can handle. It is better to use wider tires on more rugged roads. If you are heading to the Adirondack Mountains, you will definitely need some gear.

Empire State Trail is one of the most unsuitable areas for cycling in the country. It is almost the fun of cycling. Although riding from the battery to the border or from Buffalo to Albany is an achievement, it is at any time in its many peaceful places. It's worth it on two wheels in the corridor.

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated where the movie "This Is a Good Life" was made. Seneca Falls was the inspiration for Bedford Falls, but the movie was not shot there.

Produced by Andrew Hinderaker and Eden Weingart. Map of Eden Weingart.

The cycling world can be daunting. But as long as you have the right mentality and equipment, you can make full use of human traffic.