Day 85 Oakfield-Brockport

 

Day 85 Oakfield-Brockport

     With my repaired tire and a bag filled with fresh baked goodies and freshly picked fruit, I started biking to the Erie Canal Bike Trail.   This beautiful trail crosses the state from Buffalo to Albany along the tow path of the canal.  It connects with the recently completed bike trail from the Canadian Border to New York City.

      Once a major transportation route, the canal is now used almost exclusively for recreational travel for both yachts and bikes.  At every town and every one of the 35 locks they welcome campers as well as the boats which tie up for the night.  There are warm showers, restaurants, and pleasant company to be found along the way. 

    I reached the bike trail at the town of Holley and started heading east.  The day was sunny and cooler and I was grateful to find a cluster of tents pitched by cyclists and began to set up camp.  There is a lockmaster who greets the cyclists and boats and supplies information about local services.  My conversation with him was frequently interrupted as he had to cycle the locks to allow the crafts to pass through.  He informed me that during Covid these attractive, unmonitored campsites were a magnet for many in the state who had lost their homes.  It is intended for someone to spend one night and then to be on their way.  In the summer of 2021 an entire village of tents popped up housing those who had been evicted from rental properties in central New York.  This gave the yachters a glimpse into how pandemic affected the lives of those who are most economically vulnerable.

     Among the cyclists camping there was Jacob Cohen who arrived about the same time as me.  He was heading west as I was heading east and we were able to share notes about the delights and frustrations we could expect the following day.  After our tents were pitched we went to one of the pubs in the banks of canal for a beer and discussed what we had learned about our trip.  After graduating with a degree in music at Cornell where he was the concert master, he has begun law school at the University of Michigan.  He is particularly interested in the legal aspects of promoting orchestral performances.  For the past several years he has been the U.S. development officer for the Academy of St. Martin’s in the field.  In between these commitments, he contemplates his future during trans-continental bike trips (this is his second such trip).  He prefers to cycle alone because it gives him a chance to contemplate why he is doing the things that he is doing.  He is also looking for possible future venues for the Academy in the future.

     The canal trail alternates between wooded and agricultural regions.  The small towns along the way have developed their waterfront to be attractive and hospitable to travelers.  There are also frequent historical markers along the way describing the role this canal has had in the development of this region and the entire continent.  In Brockport I met cyclists from Poland, Germany, and Ireland who were able to see a part of the country that citizens often miss.  There are also many sail boats travelling from Chicago and Toronto to the Bahamas.  It is necessary for them to lower their masts and raise their dagger board for the duration of the canal and re-assemble then when they reach the Hudson River.