Improved Bicycle Routes
The routes in our books change. It's a fact of life!
Roadways and trails are being improved on a regular basis. Most of the time the
changes are minor and are due to editorial errors (spelling etc.) or a lodging going out
of business or being closed for vacation (almost impossible to anticipate).
Sometimes the changes are major and necessitate a revision of the
routes described in our Tour Guides.
Posted on this page are route, lodging, attractions and information
source changes suggested by the users of our Tour Guides; and the most
significant route revisions discovered by Harvey.
'Round Lake Erie & 'Round Lake
Huron
Niagara River
area
'Round Lake
Ontario changes
Erie Canal changes
Finger Lakes
changes
'Round Lake
Michigan change
Detroit River Crossing: 'Round
Lake Erie & 'Round Lake Huron
Crossing the Detroit River is a problem for both residents of Detroit
& Windsor and touring bicyclists. There are no bike racks or baggage holds on the
buses which go through the Tunnel (only folding bikes can be brought inside the buses);
the Ambassador Bridge absolutely forbids bicyclists on either the roadway or the walkway;
and there sometimes is and sometimes isn't a Bridge/Michigan DOT pick up truck to take
cyclists across the River. What was the cyclist's best way of crossing the River, the Detroit-Windsor
Truck Ferry, is now forbidden, by the HSA to transport bicyclists across the River.
You're on your own! I have no idea other than hitching a ride; telephoning your 4th cousin
once removed whom you have never met but who lives in either Detroit or Windsor to take
you and your bike across the River. I've suggested to the tourism bureaux to provide a SAG
service with a pick up truck. No answer from folks responsible for bringing visitors to an
area.
Niagara River New Maps
I recently revised two maps for the route along the Niagara River.
These new maps are only in 'Round Lake Ontario....
If you click on the map and then do a copy/paste action depending
upon your computer program you should be able to copy/paste these two maps to a file. They
are .jpg files.
Erie Canal Bicyclist & Hiker Tour Guide, 2nd Ed.,
2004 Revision
I've just returned from bicycling the Erie Canal routes. Wow! what
changes! The Tour Guide is more
important now that more trail has been completed. The straight alignment of the trail
sections through
central and eastern New York make the rider loose all sense of geographic location and as
well as time.
I'll be posting the new sections of the trail on this page within the week (August 11-16,
2004). I'm biking
the Hudson River Valley routes next week.
Harvey
Connie W., Syracuse, New York, June, 2002, emailed us about the following route changes:
The biggie is a route problem in the Little Falls-Ft. Plain section.
Since I had some time to waste between checking out of my hotel &
the time I had to be to work the other day, I decided to do some auto recon to figure out
where the bike paths start.
One of the bridges on River Rd (the western one) is out & looks
like it has been for a while, so I don't think they are planning to repair it. The road on
the western end is completely overgrown & unapproachable by car. When I drove down
from the eastern end of River Rd.
I could see the bridge structure still exists but was unable to get
close enough to find out if it's passable to cyclists as there was a car parked there
& I didn't figure it was cool to walk up past a strange car parked for god knows what
reason in a remote area. I'm pretty bold, but that was too much even for me! Also, I was
unable to find a bike path at all down there. There was a rutted dirt
trail right at the Montgomery County line but it appears to be used for a horse trail
& would be impassable to anyone with a loaded road bike. I also didn't find a path at
the St Johnsville end.
[Harvey comments: The Canal Corp. & NYSDOT still haven't repaired
this bridge & the trail! I give up! Folks, use the eastern bridge at Rt. 169 to cross
the Canal at Little Falls. Forget about the "River (Mohawk) Trail" in this
section. It was cleared one year and never again improved.
Right Connie! Discretion is the better part of valor. Avoid any area
you instinctively feel will present unknown dangers. The parked car was probably a
fisherman's but a bit of common sense serves us all very well.]
"The good news: a paved bike path starting in Ft Plain & going
east & it was easy to find.
Also, I spotted paved bike path west of Fultonville.
[Harvey: These bike paths are 2000-02, improvements and are designed to
connect Fultonville with Canajoharie & Canajoharie with Ft. Plain. They are
relatively short sections of bike path. The Ft. Plain section is in the text.]
"I wanted to tell you to, regarding the route from Rt. 48 down the
west shore of Onondaga Lake. The West Shore Trail is now paved. I read it in the paper, so
I rode down there to check it out a couple weeks ago. When they said it was just paved
they meant it! I could still smell asphalt & there were crews out there grooming the
trail edges! It doesn't go all the way around
the Lake & you would still have to take the pedestrian bridge into Lakeland. The East
Shore Trail has been paved for many years & doesn't appear in your book at all but if
you continued across the Rt. 48 bridge & turn right into Onondaga Lake Park it takes
you to Liverpool right by the Salt Museum. Then if you turn right onto Onondaga Lake
Parkway, just before the I-81 on ramp there's
a little brick building on the left side & if you cross the Parkway & push your
bike up the driveway on the right across the grassy area there's a bike path (paved) that
takes you to Park St. right by the Transportation Center & Regional Market.
I ride this route often. the East Shore Trail is heavily used (esp. on
weekends, a couple years ago they built a parallel trail for walkers) & the Parkway
has a lot of car traffic but no trucks because of the low bridge & the shoulders are
wide & smooth (except under the bridge).
Also, on Sunday mornings 9-12 in the summer the Parkway is closed to
motorized traffic
at all.
All Centro (Syracuse & suburbs) buses now have bike racks except
the big intercity buses that
go to Oswego & Auburn & those have a baggage compartment where you can put your
bike."
'Round Lake Michigan: A Bicyclist's
Tour Guide, 2nd Ed.
Tommy Ogle, who bicycled around Lake Michigan in June, 2003, reports
that: "there is a recently completed paved bike trail that goes from Petoskey to
Charlevoix which includes an almost mile long boardwalk over a wetland area. Real nice,
& smooth also."
'Round Lake Ontario: A Bicyclist's
Tour Guide, 2nd Ed.
William M., Oakville, Ontario, August, 2002 suggests the following:
"First of all, thanks for you book - it was invaluable for touring
'round the Lake [Ontario}.
1. It is 11 km. not 11 mi. across Wolfe Island Is.
2. I think there are also some errors in distances between Cape Vincent
and Pulaski. I am not sure exactly where the errors are, but one is where you have 16.6
miles and 10.6 km right after Cape Vincent. When we got to the point labeled Rt. 62 @ Rt.
3. I had 38 km. from Cape Vincent whereas you have 36 mi./58 kms. At the point labeled Rt.
13 @ Rt. 3 I had about 92 km. My zero point is Cape Vincent so you can add 11 kms to all
my distances. Thus my 38 km. becomes 49 from Wolfe Island ferry terminal at North end of
the Island (your 58 km. = a 9 km. difference) and my 92 km. becomes 103 km. (your 117 km.
= a 14 km. difference).
By the time we got to Fair Haven we had 152.7km from Cape Vincent
whereas you had 177km.
On other sections of the ride we were right on your distances, so I do
not think it is an error on our computer. I think that you must have another switch of km.
and miles somewhere between Cape Vincent and Fair Haven.
[Harvey responds: A distinct possibility. I thought I had corrected all
of the km./mi. switches in the 2nd Ed. Thanks for the information.]
3. We had planned to go to Hamlin on the day we left Fair Haven but the
B&B in Hamlin is only open from October onwards.
This put us in a severe problem because we were already past Rochester
when we realized this. We ended up taking the I 390 bike trail north to where all the
airport hotels are located located. This was great - cheap hotel for the night (????? Inn)
- and good cheap filling Mexican food nearby. That diversion up to those motels is
probably worth noting in your book because otherwise the accommodation alternatives are
not very good, plus the ride up the bikeway is short but fairly pleasant. (I nearly called
you on my cell phone when trying to work out where to stay to get some hints. I tried the
Rochester tourist office but they were not very understanding of what a cyclist needs to
know.)
[Harvey responds: During 2002, the Hamlin B&B owner went on a well
deserved vacation during the summer. Glad you diverted a bit and found suitable lodging.
I’ve spoken with the Rochester Visitors Center and explained to them that a touring
cyclist can not easily travel another 5+ mi. (8+ km.) at the end of a day to lodging. I am
scheduled to give a presentation to all their visitor representatives.
4. Your directions for crossing the Lewiston-Queenston bridge were
excellent - thanks!!!!!
5. Page 122/123 - the road name is Wicklow Beach not Wicklow Birch (at
least that is what the road signs say). At Wicklow Beach Road you do not explicitly state
turn south towards the lake we puzzled there for a little while trying to determine which
way we were supposed to go.
[Oops! Sorry about the Beach being a tree! Turn South on to Wicklow
Beach Rd. & then West on to Lakeport Rd. Harvey]
Anyway, these are small points - the ride would not have been half as
easy without your book.
Thanks again."
Finger Lakes Bicyclist's Tour Guide
Connie W., Syracuse, New York, June, 2002, also emailed us about this improvement:
"One more thing, regarding the Finger Lakes book I got last year.
Onondaga County opened a park last year on Otisco Lake just north of
Amber.There's not a lot there as far as facilities. Last year when I went there they had
benches overlooking the Lake & a port-a-pot. But it's a good place to park for a trip
around the Lake.
I guess that's all the commentary I have for now.
Happy Riding!"