This morning it was wet from a heavy dew. I think this is going to be a consistant issue from here out. It is also a little overcast, but I think this will burn off shortly since the forecast is for sunny weather today. I really hope so.
I will be riding the canal trail or the parallel Hwy for the entire day. I hope to make it to Macedon since they have free camping along the trail like several other communities do. It will be a 70 mile day if all goes according to plan (remember what I said earlier about plans).
The other factor will be the boredom factor. The trail doesn’t change much so I might get off the trail just for a change of scenery. We will see about that though as things progress today.
One thing about the canal that I am curious about. I see personal boats on the canal, but I am not sure if there is any commercial shipping anymore. Also, many of the bridges are older. They are mostly draw bridges. The newer structures seem to have been built high enough over the water that they did not need to be raised to allow boat and ship traffic to pass under them.
It was fun to see the draw bridges operate though.
Another interesting thing about the canal is the bird life. There are lots of geese and ducks, but also herons and egrets. The herons are very skiddish while the geese almost have to herded off the trail so you can pass by.
The trail also runs through some nice country.
There are occasional trees along the bank which must have grown over the last 100 years or whatever many of years since the mules used to pull the boats and barges up and down the canal. Trees would have disrupted their ability to pull the watercraft so I am sure they were constantly cleared during that era.
The trail was not used much from my observation. Mostly people walking their dogs and the occasional jogger. That changed as I got close to Rochester. Rochester is a big city and trail and canal itself exploded with activity. People running, biking, boating, everything you can imagine. I was really surprised by the number of rowing shells on the water. I must have seen a dozen full 8 person crews practicing. I even saw a single paddler in a surf ski which is near and dear to me! I thought it was great to see the trail and canal being used. It is a fantastic resource that should be utilized.
On the outskirts of Rochester was an REI that I stopped at. It was right on the trail which I thought was a great idea (it also had a primary street access too).
One other thing about Rochester. The trail is paved through that stretch. I was thinking that it would be nice if the entire trail was paved, but also thought that the unpaved portions were smooth, had no chuck holes, pot holes, pavement cracks, heaves, spalling, or vertical displacements. It was right at that exact moment that I hit a huge upheaval in the pavement from a tree root that it actually popped both of my rear panniers off the rack and onto the trail pavement. I felt lucky it did not blow out my tires. Whew!
Soon enough, I had made it to Macedon and to my camping spot. I had ridden the trail all day and made good time and did not get bored at all. One reason is there are so many bridges along the canal and I enjoyed every single one of them. Once an engineer, always an engineer.