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Visit Our Byway…
26 Monday Oct 2026
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Author Archives: Eric Hamilton
Adaptive Access Paddling Locations
24 Thursday Sep 2026
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– By Nancy Papish with photographs by Jeff Slater
Adaptive access to paddling facilities are currently available at 26 locations along the Erie, Champlain, and Cayuga – Seneca canals. Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor has a listing of locations. Each layout is somewhat different depending on shoreline and land approach. All have a ramp on land, wide enough for a wheelchair. Parallel docks wide enough for a wheelchair are separated by a water slot wide enough for a kayak or canoe. The ramp in the water slot may have rollers or a simple, smooth slide. Either hinged or stationary at a slant, the water-side end is in the water. A variety of sidebars enables paddlers to pull a boat along the ramp into or out of the water. Overhead bars enable paddlers to lift themselves into a boat from the wide, side docks, or out of a boat back onto the docks or into a wheelchair. All docks are FREE.
Mohawk Towpath Scenic Byway is fortunate to have an adaptive access launch at Crescent Park, Terminal Road, Halfmoon (photo here). This is also an Erie Canal Water Trail site. There’s also an adaptive launch on Freeman’s Bridge Road next to the NYSDEC boat and fishing access immediately across the Mohawk River at the junction of Erie Boulevard in Maxon Road Extension. The launch at Kiwanis Park on route 5S in Lower Rotterdam is not on Erie Canalway list yet, but is complete. Anyone may use these lunch sites. Check out one of these docks before they are removed for winter.
Celebrate!
10 Thursday Sep 2026
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National Scenic Byway Day is Tuesday, September 22, 2026!
the perfect excuse to ditch the interstate, crank up the playlist, and cruise along some of the most jaw – dropping, sole–stirring roads in the country!
This year, the vibes are special, extra special. Road trips are absolutely dominating vacation plans and 2026 is gearing up to be the massive: We’re celebrating America’s 250th birthday and the 100th anniversary of the US numbered highway system – that legendary grid of routes that turned dusty trails into open–road freedom we all crave.
From winding mountain passes with epic overlook to coastal cliffs kissed by ocean spray, historic small town charmers, and hidden gems through rolling farmlands or red–rock canyons America’s scenic by ways are the ultimate way to experience the real heartbeat of America. These are just drives – their stories on wheels packed with breathtasting scenery, rich history, cultural treasures, recreational, thrills, and archaeological marvels.
The Mohawk Towpath Byway in New York State has may stories to tell, just waiting for you. Visit Mohawktowpath.org for the best places to explore, eat, and relax. Celebrating our 21st year as a National Scenic Byway our by way has a an Overlook Challenge open until mid November, and a story packed self guided cell phone based tour available at 518-649-9990 where locals point out thier favored stories about what you are experiencing.
Take the scenic route means slowing down to saver wildflowers, historic markers, quirky, roadside attractions, fresh local eats, in those “wow” moments that make memories stick. With over 1000 designated by ways in states across the country spanning nearly every state, there’s a perfect path waiting to match your appetite and your playlist. For the person who plans they’re scenic drive the TravelByways.com website has maps, links, and points of interest for 1000 designated Byways in America.
America, buckle up – your next adventure is calling from the scenic route!
Byway Overlook Challenge
09 Saturday May 2026
Posted in Uncategorized
Anytime this summer or fall, before November 15 drive to and visit any one or more locations shown on the Overlook map…
[a link to the Byway Overlook Challenge]
…and ping the site. You will earn 10 points in the challenge. Enter a comment to earn additional points, up to another 10 points. A one word comment like “cool”, “inspirational”, or “memorable” with gain you an additional point. If your comment is personal, and heart wrenching like:
- “My grandmother said this was much different then. There were no trees and the sun was hot and we washed our clothes over the side of the boat.” OR
- “I saw three small foxes cavorting at the edge of the towpath under the watchful mother’s eye” OR
- “Beautiful sunset, all deep red that faded into purple as twilight fell and the birds quieted.”
…would earn you up to ten additional points. You can visit the Byway more than once during the challenge period, but each time visit a different location or locations. The extra points will be judged by an independent panel and results and winners announced by June 15. There will be prizes: first place with the most points will get $250; second place a $50 gift certificate for Stewart’s Shops; third place a $25 gift certificate.
Visit one site or experience the whole Byway. Visit yourself or include the whole family or a car load of our friends. Just do it before November 15 on the Mohawk Towpath Byway.
How's the Water?
04 Saturday Apr 2026
Posted in Mohawk Towpath, Nature along the Byway, stewardship, Volunteering
Over the past few years the Friends of the Mohawk Towpath Byway volunteers have partnered with River Keeper volunteers to sample Mohawk River water to monitor the water quality of the Mohawk as it flows through the Byway corridor. This stretch of waterway has a water quality classification of B meaning it is good for swimming and fishing.
Every warm-weather month Jeff Slater, Mary MacDonald, and I sample up to a half dozen sites up and down the Mohawk River. In this image Libbie Cococcia captured me as I cap a sample near Mohawk Harbor in Schenectady. As you can see this is on a pleasant late spring day. The water sample is packed in ice to slow any bacterial change in the sample. These samples and those from other volunteers along the river and tributaries are delivered to a laboratory at SUNY Cobleskill. There they are analyzed for bacterial markers that are indicative of sewage contamination.
But the weather and the flow in the river varies from one sampling day to the next month’s sampling day. One sample might be taken after a day of rain or a heavy thunderstorm one of the previous afternoons.
So what have we found?
Generally the water quality is good along the Byway. However there are several areas of concern especially after a precipitation event.
One of these areas is right here near the Mohawk Harbor. There may be a problem with aging sewer system in the relative small watershed that starts in Niskayuna, runs west through the northern half of Union College campus, and enters the Mohawk upstream of the Rivers Casino. The lesson here is don’t fall in the river, don’t swim in the River here, and, personally, wash my hands after sampling before I eat lunch.
Another area of concern is the stretch of the Mohawk right around the I-87 Northway bridge over the Mohawk River. Immediately upstream is the Town of Colonie’s sewage treatment plant. So we look at the operating records, annual NYSDEC inspection reports, and flow records through the treatment plant using major precipitation events. No smoking gun.
But there is a small tributary that flows into the River just upstream of the sewage treatment plant. Could this be problem?
Finally there are three of five sampling points on branches of the Mohawk as it enters the Hudson River between Waterford, Cohoes and Troy. In these three points only one of two US EPA criteria for swimming and direct contact with surface water is consistently met.
Success at Mohawk Watershed Symposium
22 Sunday Mar 2026
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The Mohawk Watershed Symposium provides an annual opportunity to network with other interests, movers and shakers within the watershed, learn about issues, and research, practical solutions, and progress to address those issues.
The important point in Eric Hamilton’s was or new approach outlined in our updated Corridor Management Plan. He shared a quote by Dr, Maree Forbes Gaughan from the National Travel center, “Well promoted Byways that feature heritage and cultural locations along the roadway giving visitors plenty of place to visit and spend money, complemented with destination distinctive accommodations and local cuisine, can feasibly generate between a quarter million dollars and a half million dollars per mile, per year in visitor spending.” Apply this to the 26 mile Mohawk Towpath Byway we realize we can deliver between 7 and 12 million dollars to our local economy each year.
One of the more popular pieces of information on the table was the brochure that included and map of the Byway and introduces the self-guided tour available by cell phone by dialing 518-649-9990. Get out on the Byway and discover something new this spring!
Do the Du!
09 Monday Mar 2026
Posted in Uncategorized
Happy New Year!
01 Thursday Jan 2026
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…and thank you for all you contributed to the success of the Mohawk Towpath Byway last year. We are all proud of our accomplishments during 2025, especially since it was the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal. Over 1,514 volunteer hours went into the success of the Byway and its stories, increasing the possibilities for positive visitor experience.
This is also a time to look ahead to the evolving new year. We will be celebrating the the 250th year of independence and the creation of our new nation. This area had much to contribute to that movement starting with Col. Henry Knox’s expedition with nearly sixty tons of cannon, mortars, and supplies that passed through this area during early January 1776 on its way to break the British blockade of Boston Harbor. The drawing at left is from Wikipedia.
Celebrate!
20 Monday Oct 2025
Posted in Event, Folklore, Historic Assets, Telling the Byway Stories, Volunteering
This year we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Erie Canal. The Mohawk Towpath Scenic Byway parallels the Mohawk River and the Erie Canal between Waterford, Cohoes, and Schenectady. One of the strongest intrinsic values of our Byway is history. This provided an ideal opportunity to publicize the Byway and its connection to the waterway west.
Although the communities have been drumming the beat of the anniversary all year, the actual opening of the canal from Albany to Buffalo occurred in late October 1825. Major commemorative celebrations started with the construction of a replica of the Seneca Chief at the Buffalo Maritime Center several years ago. During the World Canal Conference held the last week in September the Seneca Chief, in a grand celebration left Buffalo Harbor for a re-enacted journey across the Erie Canal to New York City. Stopping at major historic canal ports along the way, the crew collected samples of water to pour in New York harbor like Governor Clinton did 200 years ago. On its journey to New York City the packet boat stopped at Schenectady on October 14 to provide tours to the public and educational field trip opportunities for local school children, bringing history to life.
Meanwhile, the Town of Clifton Park held a well attended Canal Festival in the hamlet of Vischer Ferry on the weekend of October 11 and 12. The weekend included a dedication of historic marker, a parade, food vending, military re-enactors, historically popular youth games, historic trade demonstrations, working canal lock model, tours of historic structures, hay rides to a historic lock, antique car show, folks songs on the Canal, a presentation by local historic artist Len Tantillo, and a stage performance of historic narrative and song The Remarkable, Irresistible Erie directed by Andy Spence.
History records that cannons were fired along the canal to signal the approach of the Seneca Chief 200 years ago and was an important way of telegraphing the opening of the original Erie Canal before the telegraph, telephone, or internet. Following suit this fall, anyone who owns a canon or has access to a historic military device put it to a constructive use! Locally a group of re-enactors of the Albany Militia gathered to fire their canon as the Seneca Chief approached Ferry Drive in Clifton Park.
The Town of Halfmoon provided Live music, picnic fair, and ceremony by noted dignitaries as the boat tied up at Terminal Road dock so the crew had a pitstop before descending the flight of the locks into Waterford Harbor. Here too, a canon was fired as the Seneca Chief moved on toward the Flight of Locks on Waterford.
The boat spent the day tied up at Waterford Harbor providing tours to the public and several large groups of school children from various Capital District schools. The crew provided educators that did an impressive job with program geared to grade school youth as they toured the interior of the Seneca Chief, planted a pine tree and explaining the perspective of indigenous people as the Erie Canal cut through native lands.
This series of events underscored the historic intrinsic value of the Mohawk Towpath Byway in a very real, tangible way where any number of lectures could never achieve. This history lesson conveyed to school children, to families, and older adults could not have been better or more appropriately conveyed.
Thank you to all of the town historians; local, regional, and state officials; along with all our volunteers for their cooperation in highlighting this milestone on the Erie Canal now as we reshape the canal’s purpose from a commercial asset that built the Empire State to a recreation asset we all can enjoy whether from shore or from the perspective on the water.
Sprint into History!
28 Monday Apr 2025
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Friends of the Mohawk Towpath is hosting its first ever Sprint Into History on Saturday, July 12, 2025, along the nationally designated Mohawk Towpath Scenic Byway (MTSB) to raise funds for preservation of the historic route as well as securing donations of non-perishable food items for the Northeast Regional Food Bank to feed children in the summer months when school lunches are not available. The Towpath will be partnering with area Rotary Clubs, Car Clubs, Event Sponsors and others to deliver a very energetic and successful event.
Part Byway tour, part scavenger hunt, this unique sprint encourages getting out of the house to experience the serene nature that parallels MTSB and to enjoy the day, the camaraderie, and the fun! Whether by car, motorcycle, or bicycle participants can use whatever mode of transportation they choose and discover clues related to the unique history of the Byway. Cash prizes will be awarded to the winners.
This unique sprint facilitates learning firsthand about the unique history and heritage along this very special route honoring the 200 year history and legacy of the Eric Canal as well as helping kids in the summer will be a win-win for all. Supporting preservation of the route is important, because there is no re-manufacturing of a historic route. Once they are gone, they are gone. And no one wants children to be hungry in the summer when they are off school.
Save the date, plan to participant! To register for the event go to https://runsignup.com/Race/NY/Waterford/SprintIntoHistory. If you would like more information now, please email eric.hamilton@mohawktowpath.com or call 518-371-7548.
