Chapter 18 Recreation
Barge Canalway Trail -Part One
A Good Start Where It All Began.
October 31, 2002, 45 degrees, Partly Sunny
I
didn't expect to see much on this hike. It was only a 2-mile plus round
trip along the south shore of the Barge Canal. It was, however, a good
place to spend an hour or so outdoors after a week of lousy weather.
There are several miles of trails on the Mohawk
floodplain in the Utica area. The hike and bike trail along the Canal begins
at Utica Harbor near Genesee St. and runs about 5 miles west to Route 291
in the Town of Marcy. Gert and I were hiking the 1.2-mile segment west
of Mohawk Street. Although there are parking areas at each end with barriers
to motor vehicles, the mostly paved trail is also a canal service road.
As near as I can determine this trail is not presently part of the Erie
Canalway Trail System.
We started our westward trek at 12:15. The trail
passed through a tunnel of almost leafless trees, including hard and soft
maple, cherry, cottonwood, poplar, box elder, elm, willow and sumac.
Gert wondered what the clusters were on the sumac.
I told her they were sumac fruit. I handed her one and asked what it felt
like. She rubbed it gently and noted, "It feels like velvet or corduroy."
When I told her it could be steeped in water to make lemonade, she rolled
her eyes. I handed her just one fury seed and asked her to taste it. With
slight trepidation she put the seed in her mouth and exclaimed, "I've never
tasted anything so sour."
Despite the cool temperatures, the midday sun was quite warm until we passed
under the NYS Thruway Bridge where shade and a "wind tunnel" quickened
our pace. West of the bridge, on the north side of the canal, were several
homes and a few docks.
The canal didn't close until the following Sunday,
but there was no traffic except for a couple of blue and yellow New York
State work boats and a couple of barges at Lock 20. A small tugboat was
pushing one of the barges around and a large "craneboat" was exercising
its jaws, perhaps in preparation for lifting debris from the water or the
barges.
clusters on these trail-side sumac.
Lock 20 is quite unique in the Erie (Barge) Canal
system. It's 10 miles from the nearest lock to the east and 18 miles from
the nearest lock to the west, yet it lifts the canal a mere 16 feet, indicating
the level topography of this section of the Mohawk Valley. It's also located
right next to a major road on the north side of the canal, making its wooded
park, picnic area, pavilion and summer concerts a popular local attraction.
During the summer months Lock 20 is a popular local attraction,
but just a few days before the Canal closing the only boats on the canal
were these New York State workboats.
Gert
and I had attended picnics and listened to bands at the park, but had never
been on the south side of the canal in this area. We continued westward,
past a huge stand of cattails, to the end of the trail. On the way back
we stopped to look at the cattails. I was amazed to discover they were
not inundated by phragmities (pompass grass) and purple loosestrife. I
wondered what kept this stand so "pure."
end of the trail was a delightful discovery.
After photographing the activity at the lock and
talking briefly with the Lock Master, we hiked back down the trail, arriving
at the parking area at 1:15. Before driving onto Mohawk Street, I stopped
to take a photo of the historic marker that notes that just 1000 feet east
was the location of a canal that was cut through a loop in the Mohawk River
in 1730. It was, in fact, New York's First Canal.
I'll be back.
For more information on New York's First Canal see: http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/history/neck/
Barge Canalway Trail -Part One
Discovery:
Sometimes Things Work Out Just Right
November 4, 2002, 50 degrees, Threatening Rain
Sometimes my sister, Valaine is some kind of nut.
Rather than park a car at each end of the trail and making this a 3.5-mile
hike, she insisted on using one car and making it a 7-mile roundtrip.
We left the Jeep at the new parking lot on the west
side of Genesee Street near Utica Harbor. Utica Harbor was once a major
commercial port on the Barge Canal. If all goes well, it will become a
major tourist attraction and recreation center on the New Erie Canal. Right
now a new Utica Marina on the Canal just east of the Genesee Street Bridge
features a year-round restaurant, plus docks, hookups, restrooms, showers,
and canoe and kayak rentals in season. The only significant recreational
opportunity in the harbor area itself is the eastern terminus of the Barge
Canalway Trail.
Rain wasn't predicted until around noon,
so we figured a 9 a.m. start would give us plenty of time to get back before
the downpour. I had never hiked this trail before, but Valaine had hiked
parts of it. I was surprised to discover it went right over the Utica Harbor
Lock.
This rather unique 7-foot lift lock is not on the
Canal, but provides access to the Canal from Utica Harbor and the Mohawk
River. It hasn't been used for some time because the harbor has filled
in and is too shallow for big boats. Part of the development of the area
includes dredging the harbor.
The
hike and bike trail passes under the Route 8/12 Expressway and enters a
wooded area that borders the north side of Utica Marsh. Partway along this
section is a wooden viewing tower that overlooks the Marsh. During the
summer months trees overhang the tunnel-like trail and render the viewing
tower useless. However, when we walked the trail it was paved with leaves
and the tower provided a view of the north side of the marsh where we saw
several ducks.
In addition to the ducks---mostly mallards---we
saw small flocks of robins, crows, sparrow-size songbirds, and a grey squirrel.
It was also along this stretch that we discovered a plant covered with
furry-white "blossoms" that neither of us could identify. I've learned
since they are sometimes called "Old Man's Beard" and are the seeds of
Clematis Virginiana.
After we passed under the Railroad Bridge,
the trail was less interesting. Here the land is open and flat and, I was
surprised to discover, under cultivation. It was late in the season and
much of it was recently plowed, so I couldn't tell what was planted here.
The soil on this floodplain has always been exceptionally fertile and from
the early days of settlement produced bumper crops of wheat, rye, corn,
peas and beans
.
In addition to plowed fields and some wooded areas
on the south side of the trail, we could see the Canal, and see and hear
activity on the highways on the north side. With the Canal closed for the
season and lowered more than five feet, there was no activity at the Marcy
Marina. Opposite the Marina and about 2,000 feet south of the Barge Canal
was the location of New York's First Canal. Current topo maps show remnants
of oxbows that were the path of the Mohawk River before this 1730s canal
was dug.
New York's First Canal was dug about 2,000 feet south of the Marcy Marina
At
the Mohawk Street Bridge we started to retrace our steps when we noticed
a short section of dirt trail that ran along high ground before dropping
back to the level of the canal trail. From this "high road" we had a better
view of the area but couldn't see through the trees to the section of the
Mohawk River that was once the old canal. I had canoed through that section
but never realized how historically significant it was.
On the way back we took a side trip towards the
river on a muddy road where we discovered a large alder loaded with cone-like
catkins. Valaine put some of the catkins in her pocket to use to decorate
a Christmas wreath.
Mohawk River before the 1730s canal was "digged through."
It started sprinkling around noon, so we pounded the pavement in earnest and arrived at the parking lot at 12:20, just in time to avoid the downpour. Sometimes things work out just right.
Follow the path of this discovery trip by clicking on Mohawk Valley Maps: by Maptech.
Type Utica select New York, press GO!
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