After enduring three long pandemic years without any summer paddling trips, I had some surplus vacation time and set my sights to the Erie Canal, the 363-mile-long waterway that took eight years to carve across New York before it opened in 1825. Within three weeks I had planned my itinerary and organized my food. I was happy to see that all my gear and supplies fit in my 14′ 6″ composite solo canoe. While my guidebook for the Erie Canal had lots of useful information about its natural and manmade passages and the 35 locks, it offered little advice for a paddler needing to come ashore every night. I was unsure as to exactly where and how I would be able to camp each evening but, knowing that other canoeists had done this trip before, I’d figure it out.I launched on July 15, 2023, from Eastern Park in Tonawanda, New York, and followed Ellicott Creek downstream to the west end of the Erie Canal where I turned right and headed east, following Tonawanda Creek, which serves as the westernmost 11 miles of the canal. Still air and overcast skies meant good paddling weather, and I was eager to cover some miles before the heat of the afternoon and the forecast rain arrived. Even though there was little boat traffic, I paddled close to the side, gliding under overhanging branches and around numerous piers and docked boats. Hanging from the limb of a white poplar tree, half concealed by its leaves, was a bald-faced hornet nest, as big as a basketball and just above eye level. I spotted it just in time; it wasn’t the kind of adventure I wanted for the trip. .
Roger Siebert
Read this article now for Free!
Ready for a second free article? Create a free account by entering your email address and a password below.
— OR —
Subscribe now for $29.99 a year and have immediate access to all of our content, including hundreds of small-boat profiles, gear reviews and techniques, adventure stories, and more! You can also browse our entire archive of back issues starting from September 2014, as well as post unlimited classified ads. This is an extraordinary value!
What a tremendous story: simplicity, historic, and self-reliant. And cheap!
Thank you for describing these adventures. It looks like you were putting in some 20- and 30-mile days. 363 miles/19 days is just over 19 miles per day. Any idea what kind of usual groundspeed your 14.5′ canoe was doing? And I’m presuming that was not with a kayak paddle but a one-blade canoe paddle? How many hours a day would you usually paddle? Tailwind and/or favorable current most of the time, going west to east? What was the make/brand of your canoe? Thanks again for writing up and publishing your intrepid account.
Hi Brad,
I was paddling a Northstar Canoes Trillium in Carbon/Kevlar with a single-blade canoe paddle. I cruise at around 3 miles/hour when I’m paddling all day. Honestly, I would recommend a faster canoe for the long straight stretches on the Erie Canal. I paddled between 5 and 10 hours each day, with at least one break in there for lunch and to stretch my legs. Usually it was 7 hours in the boat. Current was with me much of the way; mostly 2-10 cm/s until I hit the Mohawk River and then 5-10 cm/s on the Mohawk. Not much tailwind.
Great story, something I always wanted to do. My question is for all these solo one-way trips, how did you get to the start and how did you get home?
I’m curious as well. I’ve read about these multi-day trips and was always wondering about parking.
Hi Curt, John,
I was fortunate in that my wife was kind enough to provide me with a shuttle service. I did hear about one person who stashed all his gear at one end, drove his car to the other, and then took the train back to his starting point. I am not sure about long-term parking, but I bet if you talked to the folk at Erie Canalway they could help; they might very well let you park at one of the locks for an extended period.
Hugh
Great trip along a storied waterway! Thanks for bringing us with you.
What an amazing trip — certainly worth documenting — so thanks.
Sounds like a great trip
Thanks for sharing. I plan on doing this in the future need lots of trees though Haven hammock tent