The New York State Canalway Water Trail Guidebook is an indispensable resource for paddlers. This mile-by-mile guide includes launch sites, paddler friendly facilities and amenities, and places of interest for the entire 524-mile NYS Canal System, including the Erie, Champlain, Cayuga-Seneca and Oswego Canals. The guidebook includes site descriptions, paddling day trips, safety information, points of interest both on and off the water, how to paddle through a lock and tips on how to prepare for your trip.
"The NYS Canalway Water Trail Guidebook is an indispensable resource for paddlers. This mile-by-mile guide includes launch sites, paddler-friendly facilities and amenities, and places of interest for over 450 miles of the NYS Canal System, including the Erie, Cayuga-Seneca, Oswego and Champlain canals. The trail welcomes paddlers of all abilities to explore and enjoy this scenic and historic waterway. In addition to this guidebook, use the accompanying set of four water-resistant maps and the NYS Canalway Water Trail website to help plan your self-propelled canal adventure"--Back cover.
The Erie Canalway Trail is a cycling destination for riders of all abilities. Following one of the world's most famous manmade waterways, it spans New York State between Albany and Buffalo. Whether enjoying a leisurely ride from one village to another, or spending a week completing the entire 360 miles, the Erie Canalway Trail offers endless adventures exploring the charming towns, living history, scenic beauty, and cultural attractions of New York State. The trail route follows both active and historic sections of the Erie Canal. For several decades now, state and local governments have been transforming the old towpath and abandoned rail corridor into a 360-mile multi-use pathway. The guidebook is designed primarily for use by bicyclists, but it is also useful for those planning to enjoy the trail on foot, travelling the canal system by boat, or visiting the Canal corridor's many sites by car. The fifth edition includes information on the statewide 750-mile Empire State Trail, which the Erie Canalway Trail is now part of; updated maps, trail routing, and surface conditions; and an updated, comprehensive listing of attractions, historic sites, visitor centers, public transportation options, easily accessible lodging, bike shops, parking, and other services. This guide is an indispensable resource for dedicated cyclists planning to bike across the state or the casual rider looking to take the family out for a couple of hours.
A unique map-filled guidebook that shows you where to find waterfalls and when to visit them for best viewing. Written by Rich and Sue Freeman, the indexed book includes nearly 40 photos. Some waterfalls can be viewed during an effortless drive-by, while others require a more challenging hike. All of them offer new adventures for folks who appreciate the region's natural beauty.
From Rochester to Hornell, west to Chautauqua and north to the Buffalo region, western New York State is home to a wealth of quiet-water paddling locations for canoers and kayakers at all levels. TAKE A PADDLE--WESETERN NEW YORK is a detailed guide to 45 specific locations, with 20 ponds and small lakes and over 250 miles of quiet streams and rivers.
Enjoy safe bicycling, away from cars, on 40 trails among the lakes of upstate New York. Ride deep into forests or explore forgotten paths on hard-packed abandoned railroad beds, remote forest service roads, and paved bike trails.
The walks, rambles, strolls, and hikes in this book are designed for people who delight in exploring unique or little-known places. The trails lead through forests, fields, marshes, hills, and arboretums where you can enjoy the natural world. This book will help you learn more about local history, get much-needed exercise, introduce children to the joys of nature, or find new places to walk your dog. Don't stash it away in winter either. Many of the trails are good for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing.With this guide, you'll be able to explore the Rochester area with ease and confidence. Each of the 60 walks is rated for difficulty, type of terrain, and described by length and estimated time required. In addition, you'll know how to easily find the trails and parking. Whether young or young at heart, you can enjoy the adventures this guide brings to life.
New York Times Bestseller The epic account of how one narrow ribbon of water forever changed the course of American history. The history of the Erie Canal is a riveting story of American ingenuity. A great project that Thomas Jefferson judged to be “little short of madness,” and that others compared with going to the moon, soon turned into one of the most successful and influential public investments in American history. In Wedding of the Waters, best-selling author Peter L. Bernstein recounts the canal’s creation within the larger tableau of a youthful America in the first quarter-century of the 1800s. Leaders of the fledgling nation had quickly recognized that the Appalachian mountain range was a formidable obstacle to uniting the Atlantic states with the vast lands of the west. A pathway for commerce as well as travel was critical to the security and expansion of the Revolution’s unprecedented achievement. Gripped by the same fever that had driven explorers such as Hudson and Champlain, a motley assortment of politicians, surveyors, and would-be engineers set out to build a complex structure of a type few of them had ever actually seen, let alone built or operated: a manmade waterway cut through the mountains to traverse the 363 miles between Lake Erie and the Hudson River. By linking the seas to the interior and the interior to the seas, these pioneers ultimately connected the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River. Bernstein examines the social ramifications, political squabbles, and economic risks and returns of this mammoth project. He goes on to demonstrate how the canal’s creation helped bind the western settlers in the new lands to their fellow Americans in the original colonies, knitted the sinews of the American industrial revolution, and even influenced profound economic change in Europe. Featuring a rich cast of characters that includes political visionaries like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Martin van Buren; the canal’s most powerful champions, Governor DeWitt Clinton and Gouverneur Morris; and a huge platoon of Irish and American diggers, Wedding of the Waters reveals that the twenty-first-century themes of urbanization, economic growth, and globalization can all be traced to the first great macroengineering venture of American history.
There are fifty-five National Heritage Areas scattered across the US and they continue to grow in number and diversity. Though they’re not officially national parks, their conservation, education, and recreation related objectives echo those of the national parks: to conserve nationally significant natural and cultural landscapes and to make them available to the public for purposes of education, recreation, and sustainable tourism-related economic development. But the methods of achieving these objectives are different—very different—than those used in the national parks. While both national parks and NHAs are established by Congress, national parks are conventionally large areas of public land that are owned and managed by the National Park Service (NPS). NHAs take a more inclusive, partnership-based approach to their work; they offer local citizens, government at all levels, non-profit organizations, and private sector enterprises the opportunity to define, celebrate and conserve the natural, historic, cultural, scenic and recreational resources that have been vital in shaping their identity and destiny. NHAs are composed primarily of private lands; they’re living landscapes where participants reside, work and play. Each chapter in this guidebook describes the remarkable natural and cultural resources that define NHAs and highlights nearby visitor attractions, enticing readers to visit NHAs and to enjoy and appreciate the attractions offered.
