By Wilbour in August, 2011
Left the car at the Canal Park in Newark. This was our first trip carrying our camping gear on a trailer. Although the trail is primarily flat, the intersections with main roads have considerable inclines. This later became a challange due to our overloaded trailer (lesson learned). The trail from Newark to Palmyra has the most hills and is challanging to inexperianced riders with heavy loads (us). The community park in Palmyra is very attractive and even has showers in the public washrooms. A word of caution in Fairport is to get off the trail as you approach route 250. We did not and came upon stairs without warning. Perhaps there was a warning but I was distracted when someone stepped infront of my bike and had to stop suddenly causing me to loose some of my gear off the trailer. We asked the lockmaster at lock 32 where we could pitch our tent and he directed us to an out of the way spot. He even offered his restroom if we need it. This was a great location for an over night stay since there is a mall and restaurants near by. There are a few stretches of pavement but the longer ones are prone to upheaving due to tree roots which are hard on the bike and trailer. All in all this is a good trail.
By flashknit in July, 2011
Had a great time riding the length of the trail. The surface was great most of the time. The section from Lockport to Brockport didn't have any water or bathrooms unless you went into a business. But it is fun to get off the trail and ride through the towns. After you get to Brockport there are more facilities and more food options too. You have to pay attention around Rochester to make sure you stay on the correct trail since there are several trails that intersect the Erie Canal trail. Pittsford is very busy but makes a good food stop. Another trail fact - the wind always blows from the west so keep that in mind because the trail is very open most of the way.
By DCwom in August, 2010
I'm rating the trail only 4 stars because it isn't paved the entire length otherwise it is a great trail.
The trail no longer ends at Palmyra, after crossing over to the other side of the canal the path continues another 7 miles or so to Newark NY.
We rode the entire trail from Lockport to Newark (111 miles) in 3 days this past July (2010), the trail surface is either stone dust or asphalt the entire way, so there are no need to bypass any section via roadways. The new extension into Newark isn't as level and straight as the rest of the towpath as it zigs and zags to and from the canal; this provides a welcome change of scenery after a couple of days of riding with the canal by your side. There is legal overnight parking in Newark (Lot C a couple blocks from the canal) where we parked our van.
The journal of our tour on the Trail can be found on crazyguyonbike.com at this link: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/ErieCanalWest2010 The journal contains the particulars of lodging, logistics, etc. Our tour was loosely based on he inn-to-inn touring guide published by PCNY, the parks and canal of NY organization.