Find the top rated cross country skiing trails in Syracuse, whether you're looking for an easy short cross country skiing trail or a long cross country skiing trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a cross country skiing trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
The East Ithaca Recreation Way on East Hill is primarily built upon the rail bed of the old Ithaca and Cortland Railroad, which later became part of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The trail skirts the...
The South Trail stretches over 2 miles between Ballina Rd. and New Woodstock in Cazenovia, New York. The trail sits on the former right-of-way of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The rail-trail takes users...
The South Hill Recreation Way follows the southern rim of the Six Mile Creek gorge from the outskirts of southeast Ithaca to Burns Road, near the Ithaca Reservoir. The gravel path follows the former...
Verona Beach State Park is located on the eastern shore of Oneida Lake. Shaded picnic areas and the campground are adjacent to the beach with an excellent view of the water. The lake, Black Creek,...
The Keuka Outlet Trail offers a sinuous route of nearly 7 miles between Penn Yan and Dresden in New York’s Finger Lakes region. The rail-trail follows a railroad corridor that traced a former canal...
When complete, the Erie Canalway Trail will run for 360 miles in upstate New York—from Buffalo in the west to Albany in the east—linking many other communities along the way, including Rochester,...
The Cayuga-Seneca Canalway Trail is a 5-mile pathway beginning in Waterloo, New York and terminating at Seneca Lake State Park. The roadbed it uses was constructed by the Seneca County Railway...
The Jim Schug Trail offers a short, sweet excursion in New York's Finger Lakes region. The trail was known as the Dryden Lake Trail until it was renamed in 2002 in memory of the late town supervisor...
The Ontario Pathways Rail Trail is the crown jewel of the trail system managed by the organization for whom it is named in Ontario County, New York. Comprising two disconnected segments, including a...
The first mile of the nearly 12-mile planned Oneida Rail Trail opened in September 2014 between Hubbard Place and Lenox Avenue on the west side of Oneida. The trail runs through woodlands on an old...
The South Trail stretches over 2 miles between Ballina Rd. and New Woodstock in Cazenovia, New York. The trail sits on the former right-of-way of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The rail-trail takes users...
This is a flat 1.6 mile trail through woods, wetlands and farmland connecting Rt. 34 in the Town of Fleming to Dunning Ave. in the City of Auburn. It is an easy walk or bike through a very scenic...
When complete, the Erie Canalway Trail will run for 360 miles in upstate New York—from Buffalo in the west to Albany in the east—linking many other communities along the way, including Rochester,...
The Cayuga-Seneca Canalway Trail is a 5-mile pathway beginning in Waterloo, New York and terminating at Seneca Lake State Park. The roadbed it uses was constructed by the Seneca County Railway...
The South Hill Recreation Way follows the southern rim of the Six Mile Creek gorge from the outskirts of southeast Ithaca to Burns Road, near the Ithaca Reservoir. The gravel path follows the former...
Verona Beach State Park is located on the eastern shore of Oneida Lake. Shaded picnic areas and the campground are adjacent to the beach with an excellent view of the water. The lake, Black Creek,...
The Keuka Outlet Trail offers a sinuous route of nearly 7 miles between Penn Yan and Dresden in New York’s Finger Lakes region. The rail-trail follows a railroad corridor that traced a former canal...
The Cato-Fair Haven Trail (a.k.a. Cayuga County Trail) travels a little more than 14 miles through forest, wetland and tree farm.
A public trail owned by Cortland County since the 1977 abandonment of a Lehigh Valley railroad line built by Ezra Cornell as the "Ithaca & Cortland" in 1872, this path crosses east to west from...
The East Ithaca Recreation Way on East Hill is primarily built upon the rail bed of the old Ithaca and Cortland Railroad, which later became part of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The trail skirts the...
The Oswego County Trail follows an abandoned right-of-way of the old New York Ontario & Western Railroad between Cleveland and Fulton. The trail passes among scenic countryside on a sometimes rough...
The Charlie Major Nature Trail follows an abandoned right-of-way that once carried trains along the old Skaneateles Short Line Railroad. The railroad served millworks in the area, including paper...
The Cayuga-Seneca Canalway Trail is a 5-mile pathway beginning in Waterloo, New York and terminating at Seneca Lake State Park. The roadbed it uses was constructed by the Seneca County Railway...
The Oswego County Trail follows an abandoned right-of-way of the old New York Ontario & Western Railroad between Cleveland and Fulton. The trail passes among scenic countryside on a sometimes rough...
This is a flat 1.6 mile trail through woods, wetlands and farmland connecting Rt. 34 in the Town of Fleming to Dunning Ave. in the City of Auburn. It is an easy walk or bike through a very scenic...
A public trail owned by Cortland County since the 1977 abandonment of a Lehigh Valley railroad line built by Ezra Cornell as the "Ithaca & Cortland" in 1872, this path crosses east to west from...
Verona Beach State Park is located on the eastern shore of Oneida Lake. Shaded picnic areas and the campground are adjacent to the beach with an excellent view of the water. The lake, Black Creek,...
The first mile of the nearly 12-mile planned Oneida Rail Trail opened in September 2014 between Hubbard Place and Lenox Avenue on the west side of Oneida. The trail runs through woodlands on an old...
When complete, the Erie Canalway Trail will run for 360 miles in upstate New York—from Buffalo in the west to Albany in the east—linking many other communities along the way, including Rochester,...
The Keuka Outlet Trail offers a sinuous route of nearly 7 miles between Penn Yan and Dresden in New York’s Finger Lakes region. The rail-trail follows a railroad corridor that traced a former canal...
The Cato-Fair Haven Trail (a.k.a. Cayuga County Trail) travels a little more than 14 miles through forest, wetland and tree farm.
The South Trail stretches over 2 miles between Ballina Rd. and New Woodstock in Cazenovia, New York. The trail sits on the former right-of-way of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The rail-trail takes users...
The South Hill Recreation Way follows the southern rim of the Six Mile Creek gorge from the outskirts of southeast Ithaca to Burns Road, near the Ithaca Reservoir. The gravel path follows the former...
The East Ithaca Recreation Way on East Hill is primarily built upon the rail bed of the old Ithaca and Cortland Railroad, which later became part of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The trail skirts the...
The Charlie Major Nature Trail follows an abandoned right-of-way that once carried trains along the old Skaneateles Short Line Railroad. The railroad served millworks in the area, including paper...
The Jim Schug Trail offers a short, sweet excursion in New York's Finger Lakes region. The trail was known as the Dryden Lake Trail until it was renamed in 2002 in memory of the late town supervisor...
The Ontario Pathways Rail Trail is the crown jewel of the trail system managed by the organization for whom it is named in Ontario County, New York. Comprising two disconnected segments, including a...
2021: Biked the Erie Canal trail from Buffalo to Cohoes. Well worth the time. And mostly a very pleasant experience, with just a few caveats. Trail improvements are ongoing and signage along the trail is not always up to date, so check your route carefully, especially where it is on-road. The initial section from downtown Buffalo is grungy city streets, but that improves with a great, mostly off-road trail all the way to Lyons. Lockport to Spencerport is fairly exposed, but from there on to Lyons is generally pleasantly green and shaded. From Clyde to Port Byron and through Syracuse were onroad and not always clearly signed and were the least pleasant. From the east side of Syracuse all the way to Cohoes was a delightful and beautiful ride, with the exception of finding one's way onroad and with poor signage through Rome. All in all (despite my caveats) a good, local, human-powered bucket-list endeavor, with thanks to all the communities along the way and everyone maintaining and improving and filling the gaps in the trail.
Nothing could have prepared me for the experience of walking this trail and unfortunately the memory will be ingrained in my head for the foreseeable future. I went with my grandparents, intent on enjoying the nature and picturesque waterfalls. The first red flag should have been the singular car in the parking lot as we arrived, but we ventured out on our journey nonetheless. All began well as we made our way down the trail. As I swatted a couple mosquitoes from my face, I questioned why I hadn’t thought to use bug spray. We made our way deeper into the woods and this fleeting regret turned to all consuming contrition. The mosquitos and gnats were a cloud around us and my desperate flailing arms served as poor defense. We were in too deep before the situation got bad so we persisted towards the waterfall, needing our efforts to be fruitful. Just before I thought I couldn’t bear it anymore, the sound of rushing water was a beacon of hope shining through the dense cloud of insects tickling my skin. My grandparents and I admired the waterfall for a few minutes before deciding we needed to turn back. There was no way we could continue on through that inferno. Two miles. That’s all that stood between us and the safety of the car. We set off and the fury of the mosquitos seemed to increase exponentially. Left and right the little suckers were descending upon me, sucking my blood even through my clothes and buzzing in my ear with fierce perseverance. I knew the only solace would come from walking faster, but my grandparents wouldn’t be able to match the necessary speed. I stayed back with them until I thought I might throw myself into the river in an attempt to end my suffering. Eventually they gave me their blessing to do what I had to do, and therefore I set a furious pace. I felt bad leaving them behind, but I had to save myself. There was nothing I could do to help them. I did indeed leave them in the dust, pumping my arms as I tried to outrun the bugs. Apparently they had no mercy in their tiny souls because they refused to relent. My eyes were squeezed almost shut to prevent them from flying in and I was slapping my skin like a member of a high school step team. All I can say is it was a massacre. I was on the verge of tears and if I weren’t carrying a backpack and a camera I would have broken into a full out run. At this point I thought I’d also like to mention the weather conditions. It was around 90 degrees and the percent humidity was probably about the same. The sweat was cascading down every inch of my body as I was booking it and the fact that I didn’t care really says something about the situation. The swarm thinned as I drew closer to the parking lot and I almost cried in relief at the sight of car at the end. I had to then wait in the sun as my grandparents made their way back, hoping they hadn’t been consumed entirely by the bugs. Luckily, we all made it out alive, but not without the battle scars both physical and emotional that came with this experience. I went to bed that night, twitching with the phantom sensation of mosquitos on my skin, aching to forget the events of the day. All I can do now is recognize this hike as a piece of character development that has humbled me deeply for years to come.
With this being said, the trail is very nice and I just want to warn those hoping to go that they should proceed with caution and probably unload an entire can of bug spray on themselves before going.
I would rate this trail a 5 for its excellent condition, but I have to give it a 4 because the pretty views were blocked by the woods. Easy parking at Lock 4 in Waterloo. The "tunnel" walkway under the highway at the Seneca Lake State Park is open so you can ride right through the park and along the waterfront of Seneca Lake into Geneva. This is a really nice ride for an afternoon, peaceful and showing how nice Upstate New York can be,
Did the entire 23 mile trail to Canandaigua and back… definitely recommend a mountain bike or as I have, a decent front suspension on a hybrid with knobby size 40 tires. The final 7 miles(16-23) to Canandaigua are the best ride with mostly smoothish dirt. The roughest part are miles 11-16 to Canandaigua… spine jarring and butt banging… mostly grass and fairly rough 12 inch wide single trail over that stretch. Be prepared for fairly slow 7-8mph going… I tend to average 15 to 16 mph on the mixed gravel/pavement of the Erie canal trail between Fairport and Brockport… I averaged only about 10mph on this 46 mi. round trip. But nice scenery and time on Canandaigua lake is worth the effort as a pitstop
This trail is well maintained, scenic and a real jewel. One important thing - the trail is uphill from Cass Park in Ithaca. We started there and I'm glad we did, because it made our return trip a downhill nice and easy. Be sure to find the Falls Lookout at Taughannock Falls State Park.
My wife and I are from Harrisburg Pennsylvania and we are in Ithaca for a week to spend our vacation with her parents. Since we are here for a week we brought our bikes. My wife was born here and knows the terrain of the area. She was very hesitant to do this trail because of the hilly terrain in the area. I found the trail through this app. It is just like the reviews said gorgeous with a slight incline on the way up, 400ft in 8 miles. The trail was hard packed and smooth with gorgeous views and scenery. We started at Cass park and rode the 8 miles to the gorge. Coming back down was a breeze. I highly recommend this trail.
Signage coming into Rome traveling east, or leaving Rome traveling west, is non-existent. Expect to travel on busy city roads. Trail Links is a bit better than the Erie Canalway booklet in navigating this, but it’s still a challenge. Lots of construction in Utica and the trail east of Leland Ave is closed.
The trail in Cleveland has had serious construction while water lines are put down. East of Cleveland the trail is closed, but west is open but pretty bumpy due to ruts. We didn't find a designated parking area so we parked roadside. It was a nice enough ride, no other bikers but frequent ATVs. Lots of birds, open fields and woods but there are nicer trails. We had a surprise - the Grace Tyler Winery is adjacent to the trail and we took a break there.
We rode this trail from the Seneca Lake State Park in Geneva to Waterloo and enjoyed it a great deal. Some people have said the trail is hard to find, and I think it was two years ago when we were first there. This time, though, it was simple: We entered the park at the main drive (Park Rd) off of Route 20. It costs (as of May 2021) $7 to park for 24 hours, and there is a kiosk at the entrance where you pay and get a ticket to put on your dashboard. We could have parked for free in the visitor's center, I suppose, but we thought $7 was a fair price to pay to help support the New York Park System, especially since we're not NY taxpayers.
Once we got our ticket we followed the road to the left until we saw the sign for the trail access. Just beyond it there was parking. We could have parked anywhere there--could have parked at the Welcome Center as well--and ridden the paved road along the waterfront, but we chose to ride that part the next morning. We just wanted to get on the trail since they were predicting rain.
We followed the signs to the trail. Don't be discouraged by the path that leads to the trail itself--it is ballast (difficult for me to ride in) followed by a boardwalk type of path that leads over the railroad track and under the highway. It's not bad, but I was envisioning an entire trail like this and wasn't thrilled. After we got past that very short section, though, the trail became packed limestone dust and it was a joy to ride on. Good exercise but not over-challenging for two folks in their early 60s with hybrid bikes. From this point to Waterloo is only about 4.5 to 5 miles. (Apparently the 10 mile distance shown in TrailLink includes the paved path around the north end of Seneca Lake.
We road to Waterloo, saw the canal lock, and rode back on a nice level, well-maintained trail. It should be said that the trail rises slightly from Waterloo to Geneva, so the return trip was slightly more strenuous than the outbound trip, but the incline really is very slight.
Just as we got back to Geneva it began to rain so we left for the day. We returned the next morning (we still had time left on our parking pass) and bicycled along the northern end of Seneca Lake. It's a wide, asphalt path that was quiet in the morning (a few joggers). The views were lovely and we rode the length twice. At one end (beyond the visitor's center) there is a tunnel that leads under the road and into Geneva, so if you wanted to ride into town it would be easy. The visitor's center itself, by the way, is lovely with good food and a lot of places to sit and just enjoy the lake view.
The creek is pretty nice, but overshadowed most of the way by the adjacent noisy interstate. Also, much of the asphalt has tree roots running under it, causing the trail to be quite bumpy.
So much to see. Old mill, waterfalls and the creek is beautiful. There are places to stop and rest and picnic. Portable toilets available along the way. Great ride. Definitely will ride again.
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