Nov 1, 2018
Originally released July 23, 2015 as The Pedalshift Project 026.
Bicycle touring New York
- Want to see NYS? Do this.
- Don’t expect canal the whole way. Lots of road sections.
- Lots of small towns with charm.
- Fascinating infrastructure.
- Great history.
- Biking quality – pretty top notch. Trails are in excellent condition. The worst parts are still pretty great.
- Access to water/food – easy, but there are long stretches where there are no water sources directly on the trail. Didn’t carry food – picked up a spare meal as needed.
- Camping – more expensive generally than other options (C+O and west coast) and wild camping availability was a bit overstated in my opinion. Free camping on the lock properties was excellent.
- Good encounters – not a ton of bike tourists (although there were 600 two days behind me!). The ones I met were great.
- Prime time – Summer was a good time, but upstate NY can be muggy. The ideal time may be in September for warm days and cooler nights or October for foliage.
- BIG thanks to Tour Journals listeners and social media followers for tagging along! Special thanks to Rochelle in Albany (@lilithny on the Twitter machine) for some good tips and FOTS Ethan Georgie for his Canajoharie story, because I might have done the same without it.
- Speaking of… FOTS Ethan Georgie’s story has an explanation! FOTS Tony S explains… it was for a touring group.