About 83 miles today. I’m not completely sure because I used parts of three maps and had to do some math to get a tally. I went from part nine of the ABA to part ten, and then to the State of New York Erie Canal Cycling Map.

The first place I went to was the start of the Erie Canal Trail at the harbor in downtown Buffalo.

Right at that point there was a group working on building a replica of the very first canal boat to go through the completed canal. They plan on running it down the canal next year to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the opening of the canal.

Going through Buffalo was pretty typical urban cycling for me. Making wrong turns and reversing course several times in order to get around a closed section of the Erie Canal trail. This was about a mile into the trail, so it wasn’t a good omen. However this omen didn’t bring bad times for the rest of the day. The trail was well paved at first, but as I moved away from Buffalo, there was some crushed limestone sections, but it was all in pretty good shape.

I set up camp at Middleport about 35 miles east of Buffalo. The is a municipal campground right on the banks of the canal. It is designed to accommodate hikers, bikers and boaters.

The town is tiny and about the only business that is open is a small pizzeria.

It seems like somehow I lost my ground cloth/footprint for my tent. Not great timing with a storm scheduled to arrive on Monday.

Total mileage is up to 3075 with what should be less than 500 to go, though I expect the rain next week will slow me down to some degree.