Gaps in the Erie Canalway Trail Continue to Disappear

Some of the biggest challenges in completing the Erie Canalway Trail are being met.

That’s especially true in the Mohawk Valley, where formerly on-road sections are getting hikers and cyclists closer to the water.

A new section recently opened in Herkimer County, from Fort Herkimer Church at German Flatts Town Park on Route 55 to Erie Canal Lock E-18. Not only has the trail experience been enhanced, it also looks a lot nicer.

The 10-foot-wide asphalt path has new storm pipes and culverts to aid with drainage. New trees and shrubs were planted, while the access road and parking area for the lock was improved. Soon, you’ll be able to make this pretty stretch more of a destination. Benches, picnic tables, grills and bike racks are set to be installed.

And there’s more to come. Another project is now underway to connect Lock E-18 to Route 167 in Little Falls. When it’s finished in September 2020, it’ll be the culmination of 20 miles of new trail in the Mohawk Valley. It’ll also bring the 750-mile Empire State Trail that much closer to completion as the nation’s largest state network of multi-use trails gets ready to open in 2020.

Toward that end, a long-awaited 2.2-mile section of trail in Western New York has been completed. It fills in a gap between Amherst and Lockport traveling through the town of Pendleton. It’s a scenic and serene stretch of trail that also gives you the chance to stop at the Buffalo Niagara Heritage Village in Amherst—where a Smithsonian Institute exhibition on waterways will open in October–and grab some frozen treats nearby at the venerable Uncle G’s Ice Cream, which is conveniently right next to the trail, so you can immediately begin to burn off the calories from that double fudge sundae. Read more about the trail in Niagara County and the work that a local Adopt-a-Trail group is doing to keep it beautiful!.