C2C Day 50 Little Falls to Saratoga Springs NY

After a great night in Little Falls (perhaps the best canal town we’ve stayed at so far), day 50 of this coast to coast adventure starts off cool and cloudy. The first trick is navigating the steep stairs from our third floor room at the Canal Side Inn.

Temps and air quality both in the 50s. The rain held off for most of the day, but made its appearance for the final 20 miles. Early on, the trail wound a bit into rock formations that create some cascading waterfalls in the area.

And one of these sharp rocks made its way into my front tire for the first flat of this 2023 segment. A special shout out to the Mohawk Valley Alpiners club for strategically placing a nice bench alongside the trail right where I needed it.

At several points, the ‘old’ abandoned canal would be on my right, and the ‘new’ active canal on the left. Here are a couple locks (I like to think of them as water elevators), one old and one new:

The best stop of the day was at a creek-side park, where Schoharie Creek meets the Mohawk River / Canal. Jax had a beautiful paddleboard ride amongst aqueduct ruins from the old canal. And we had the whole park to ourselves… except for the bald eagle that flew by low and waived hello while eyeing our lunch. The passing cars, trucks and trains were whizzing by too quickly to enjoy the beauty.

A nostalgic quote from a fellow passing traveler in this same area, as posted on a nearby interpretive sign, captured the sentiment we felt:

“The graceful winding curvature of the old canal, the meadows, and woods, the half-hidden church nestling among the leaves of its elms and pines, the neat secluded hamlet, the farmhouse… so disposed as to greet the eye of the passenger, will long be hopelessly looked for by him who flies through this scene” – James Fenimore Cooper, 1851.