While looking for a place to stay in NY along the way to Rochester, I came across the name of a small, municipal campground/marina right on the banks of the Mohawk River, in the very small village of St. Johnsville. I couldn’t find any reviews of the place, but google map showed that we should be able to have room to maneuver, so we headed that way. It was a very well kept place, with easy access sites for us, and a small but very nice marina, although we decided not to put the boat in. It also came complete with what seemed like a never ending supply of trains chugging through the rear of the campground. The track was so active that many times there were trains traveling in both directions at the same time. Surprisingly, they didn’t bother us that much though.
After spending the last few weeks doing nothing but eating, we got the bikes out and headed to the Canalway Trail, which travels along the Erie Canal for hundreds of miles. This section of the Erie Canal follows along the Mohawk River. We traveled a total of about 23 miles, but it was broken up by interesting things to check out along the way. Our first stop was at Lock #16, where we took the time to eat lunch and watch 2 boats go through the locks.
Our next stop along the way was the Herkimer House- the house of General Nicholas Herkimer. Herkimer owned riverfront property back in the 1700’s and made his living offering portage for vessels to go around the falls (before the canal was built). In 1775 he joined the Revolutionary War and soon became a general. In 1777 he led 800 local men into a battle to protect nearby Fort Schuyler. They successfully beat back the British, but Herkimer died 10 days later from wounds received in battle. We wandered the grounds of his house, but we couldn’t tour the house because there was a private Tea taking place.
Back on the bikes, we pedaled for another few miles before arriving at Lift Lock #17. 
This lock is much deeper than the previous lock, it’s one of the deepest Lift Locks in the world.
Getting to the lock was a bit of a challenge for our bicycling coordination. We actually rode our bikes down this maze, and then back up again. Up was actually easier, it was easier to control the bikes. Once we made it back up the maze, it was time to turn around and head back home. Since we just backtracked the way we came, there wasn’t too much new to see, except, apparently it was egg laying time for the local turtles. We came upon several turtles in varying stages of laying and burying eggs along the side of the bike path. We were very nosy and stopped to watch several times. I actually got some video of one “procedure”, but since the internet here is ridiculously slow on the rare occasion I can actually get signal, I am not sure I can post it
I have no idea if I will be able to get this posted today, if not, I’ll hold it until we get to civilization tomorrow. It’s already quite late, since we’ve been in Letchworth State Park for 4 days now.
