127.33 km 417738.20 feet 79.12 mi 49679.00 seconds 827.98 minutes 13.80 hours 5.73 mi/hr
Day Six of the Cycling the Erie Canalway tour. A metric century plus. Almost 80 miles. Went off-route to find the Wheelers Creek bridge south of Rome. Then went on a six-mile "side trip". Or, rather, I got lost along with about a dozen other people. Just following the leader, like a sheeple.
Explored Utica's Blue Line -- a railroad spur which served the industries formerly served by the Erie Canal. Stopped by the brewery to grab some Saranac Root Beer (yummy!) and a shandy. Found an abandoned railroad bridge underneath East River Road. Big section of neither towpath nor railbed in the Ilion / Mohawk / Little Falls area.
Found a pretty abandoned bridge in East Creek, over the Canada Creek. It's got a tree growing on it that's at least 20 years old. I was able to walk out on it -- it's obvious that the locals go fishing off the bridge, so I didn't feel at risk. More road riding into Saint Johnsville. There was a lot of trail damage from rains a week earlier, so we got routed off the trail a lot.
The bridge over Caroga Creek in Fort Plain had its east abutment completely eroded away, so the bridge was falling into the creek. Gonna be an expensive repair, that. I entered the trail shortly after that even though the routing was on the north side of the Mohawk. I saw signs welcoming us into Canajoharie that probably nobody else saw. I felt very welcomed. Was late enough on this very long day that I didn't bother climbing the hill only to take the bus back into town. Just stayed in town and ate dinner. Climbed the hill with a full stomach. Not all that hard a hill.
posted at: 20:15 | path: /bicycling | permanent link to this entry
