Empire State Trail Day 10 - East Greenbush to Kingston

After a relaxing time in the pool the night before at the Comfort Inn, day 10 was East Greenbush to Kingston. My phone was dead so I would be strictly following the directional signs for the Empire State Trail. Luckily, I had already ridden the Albany to Hudson leg of this trip so I was familiar with the area.

Heading south from East Greenbush most of the Empire State Trail is on the Albany Electric Trail and is beautiful. Although it's stone dust, it is very well maintained and like a finely crushed powder. The Albany Electric Trail was one of the largest missing pieces in the Empire State Trail, and the state negotiated with utility companies to use the corridor. All along the trail are wonderful interpretive signs showing the history of the nearby towns and villages.

East and south of the hotel I entered Nassau, NY. Although now a suburb of Albany, Nassau Lake used to be a weekend getaway for locals. It still has a nice vibe.

As I crossed I-90 I entered the Hudson Valley. South of I-90 seems just outside the commuting radius of Albany and has a bucolic landscape. I biked through Valatie (pronouced vah-lay-shuh) and I passed a cute bicycle shop called Velo Domestique right on the trail. This was a good example of trail-oriented development.

Past Valatie, I entered Kinderhook, home of our 8th President, Martin Van Buren.

Marvin Van Buren and his awesome mutton chops

Beyond Kinderhook, I passed through an especially beautiful area, Stuyvesant Falls. This town had an old textile mill and there is some signage explaining this history of the town. I came across a nice group of cyclists in this area who were on a day ride from Albany. They cheered me on which gave me a confidence boost. A number of the riders swore by using the Redshift Shockstop Suspension Stem. By this point my hands were quite tired and uncomfortable from so many days riding, and this stem seemed like a good way to save my hands.

As I kept winding southward I approached Hudson. On the outskirts of Hudson was the AT&T store where I had hoped to repair my phone screen. Once inside, the gentleman indicated that they "do not repair phones" and suggested I buy a new phone. Ugh. A tugboat captain milling outside the store was nice enough to let me use his phone to google cell phone repair shops. I found the closest one was in a Wal-Mart in Kingston, another 30 miles away! ARGH!

For lunch I stopped on Warren Street in downtown Hudson, at Nolita's Cafe. It's a cute sandwich shop run by a filipino family, and they have delicious paninis. I got a pesto chicken panini which hit the spot.

Hudson, among all towns in the Hudson Valley has gone through some of the most radical changes over the last 50 years. Formerly a whaling town in the 19th century, Hudson was famous for illegal gambling and brothels in the first half of the 20th century. Towards the 1970s and 1980s it declined dramatically, only to be "found" by people from NYC as a second home area. It now is gentrified, with expensive boutiques and antique shops lining Warren Street. Hudson is also known in the numismatic community for having an extremely rare 50 cent piece minted in its honor. Although the Empire State Trail does not bring you down Warren Street, I highly recommend going off the Empire State Trail north of downtown and coming in at Warren Street near 7th street and cruising the downtown!

South of Hudson, some hilly on-road terrain begins. As I pulled out of Hudson I was met with a very large hill until I arrived at the intersection of Route 9G and Route 23. An important pro tip for all cyclists: the Empire State Trail signage had me stay to the right down an enormous hill, to a roundabout and back up a huge hill to get back up on the trail. This is not necessary, just take a left on Route 23 here. It feels like the state just didn't want to do the hard work of accommodating cyclists at this intersection.

After being on route 23 for a little bit, I turned off onto Columbia County Route 103 and went through country roads for a while. I enjoyed this area thoroughly despite the hilly terrain. The route passes charming downtown Germantown. I bumped into some fellow cyclists stopping at Otto's Market, a cute local market. After eating a delicious homemade chocolate cookie, I was back on the road to get to Kingston before the cell phone shop closed at 6 pm.

South of Germantown the Empire State Trail winds it way into Dutchess County, passing through the hamlet of Tivoli. Past Tivoli, it goes partially through the Bard College campus and here is where the signage failed me. I couldn't tell exactly how to get to the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge and accidentally got onto State Route 9, a truck route. After a few miles on this treacherous stretch of road, I reached State Route 199 which took me over the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge.

About the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge: there is no easy way to cross it on bicycle. My solution was to disobey the "no cycling" signs in the very narrow pedestrian area and biked across the bridge this way. Luckily I did not encounter any pedestrians or other cyclists on the path, but if I had it would have been a tight squeeze. The other option was biking with traffic on a narrow two lane bridge, which did not look appealing either, as cars seemed to be speeding. Nothing about biking over this bridge is fun.

The bridge spit me out north of Kingston, in an area that was not very bike friendly. I had to ascend an enormous hill to reach the Wal-Mart on 9W outside Kingston. Luckily, the cell phone shop in the wax-mart had a replacement screen and I was back in business after a day and a half without a cell phone. Phew.

There are a few important things to be said about hotels in Kingston. North of Kingston, where I stayed has a bunch of moderately priced hotels. All of these are near Route 9W which is on top of a huge hill in a suburban shopping area. I stayed at the Courtyard Marriot Kingston, which did have a nice pool. This area is not friendly to cyclists in any way. Downtown Kingston has a few hotels but from what I saw they were all very expensive (over $300/night). It's unfortunate hotels are so expensive in the downtown area because that is where all the cool shops and restaurants are. The cheaper hotels are basically all near the Wal-Mart!

For dinner I ate at A Slice of Italy, a red sauce Italian joint just down the road from my Courtyard by Marriot in Kingston. My chicken parmesan was excellent and hit the spot after a very long day on the road.

lense was foggy cause my phone was still wet

Stay tuned for Day 11 - Kingston to Mahopac, where I hit some smog from wildfires, go over the Walkway over the Hudson, and do my longest day of the trip, over 80 miles!

Empire State Trail Day 9 - Amsterdam to East Greenbush

By Day 9 I was beginning to get into the groove of my journey. On day 2 someone I bumped into on the road said it takes "7 days" for your body to adjust to long rides. He was right!

I woke up at the Microtel in Amsterdam and went directly for the breakfast. While the staff at indicated that it was only a continental breakfast, I was pleasingly surprised by the pancake machine. I pressed a button and it methodically spit out 3 delicious pancakes. Wow, THE FUTURE IS HERE! The hotel had a lot of good fruit and muffins which I stocked up for on my ride. This day was a little less than most, roughly 55 miles, and lots of it was downhill so that was comforting. My first leg of the day was a big push from Amsterdam all the way to Waterford, 39 miles.

popcake pancake machine

As I headed east from Amsterdam the Empire State Trail was on road for a bit. This is when the rain started.

New York State Route 5 east of Amsterdam

After some on road sections I cut over to the canal trail and kept heading east towards Pattersonville. By now the rain was steady. There was not a lot in Pattersonville to see except this large quarry operation.

Pattersonville Quarry

The rain became steadier and heavier as I kept riding. The trail was recently resurfaced in this area so it did not suffer from big puddling issues, but there were a number of spots where I was splashing as I rode by. By now I had my poncho on and was beginning to really get rained on. I was lucky the rain happened on a section where the trail was paved, as opposed to a dirt track.

Puddling on the Empire State Trail

Some parts of the trail go by sections of the old Erie canal and the water quality in the canal leaves something to be desired.

In this area the trail crosses under the Amtrak/CSX railroad tracks. Supposedly there was a lot of inter-agency coordination to execute this section of the trail. CSX is not known for its bike friendliness.

Pattersonville Empire State Trail under CSX tracks

Pattersonville had a new water fountain installed, including a water bottler refiller. I am not sure if I saw a proper water fountain between Spencerport and Pattersonville. That is over 220 miles! C'mon New York State, you can do better! The Empire State Trail should have more water fountains.

Water Fountain Pattersonville

By the time I arrived to Schenectady it was pouring. I was able to snap one photo in the downtown Schenectady area but it wasn't much.

As I headed into Schenectady, I went through the Stockade District, one of the oldest areas in the Capital Region. There were a bunch of attractive houses, but it was pouring so hard I could barely get my phone out of my bag. I later learned the hard way the difference between a water resistant and a water proof bag. After heading through the old Little Italy section, I passed through Union College and the Price Chopper HQ.

heading past downtown schenectady

From Schenectady to Cohoes, the Empire State Trail mostly follows the Mohawk Hudson Bike Trail which is the old railbed of the Troy and Schenectady Railroad. GE controls a section of this abandoned railroad east of Schenectady, so the trail route goes off the old railroad right of way and up some steep hills in Niskayuna.

very steep hill - had to walk my bike

The trail in Niskayuna is picturesque, hugging the Mohawk River. Below is one of the rare Erie Canal Trail signs displaying distances. I saw only two similar signs, one in Buffalo and one in Rochester. From the looks of it, these signs probably were installed 20 years ago because similar signage lists George Pataki as governor.

Erie Canal Trail Signage

Near Niskayuna, I linked up with my friend Jeff Olson, whose former company Alta, was responsible for the design of the Empire State Trail. It was awesome to bike with someone who knew the intricate ins and outs of the trail design! He was clipped in on a featherweight carbon bike so I had a tough time keeping up with him.

Somewhere near Cohoes - Jeff on left

Jeff and I took a slight detour off the Empire State Trail to see Cohoes Falls. Cohoes Falls is a MUST SEE for anyone biking this section of the trail. It is the 2nd largest waterfall in New York State after Niagara Falls and is one of the underrated treasures of the Capital Region.

Here is a close up of me in Cohoes Falls. I was feeling good because I knew I was turning the corner from the East West section (Buffalo to Albany) to the North South section (Albany to NYC).

me at Cohoes Falls

Cataract Street in Cohoes resembles something out of 19th century England. Cohoes aka "The Spindle City" was a mill town and these houses were for the factory workers of the time. It's a shame that this is not kept up better, as it truly is an interesting part of upstate New York. The gentrification of the Hudson Valley has not made it to Cohoes yet.

Cataract Street - Cohoes

After Cohoes Falls, Jeff and I zipped down Mohawk Street and then made another slight detour to Waterford, which is notable because it's the location where the Hudson and Mohawk rivers converge. The first locks in the Erie Canal are also in Waterford. The entire area has a New England fishing village vibe, sort of strange to see so far inland.

first lock on Erie Canal

By this time, my phone had gotten soaked and was beginning to act strange. Jeff and I decided on lunch at McGreivey's a local irish pub. Their bruschetta was awesome and I had a delicious bacon cheeseburger with hand cut fries. The third photograph below is notable because it was the last photo I took before my screen went black.

After we left Waterford, my waterlogged phone went completely dark. What was annoying was it still was capable of ringing and the touch screen worked but I could not see anything on my screen. I had left my handlebar bag partially open while it was raining and I was severely punished for it.

South of Waterford, Jeff and I cut through Peebles Island Park and then onto Van Schaick Island in Cohoes. There are a number of new housing developments in this area of Cohoes right next to the trail. What is unfortunate is all these communities are gated and turn their back onto the trail. Also there is no trail oriented commercial development or stores nearby...another missed opportunity. Missed opportunities for trail oriented development seem to be a theme throughout upstate New York. After Van Schaick Island we headed over the Black Bridge to connect back to the Empire State Trail in Green Island. This area of is notable because it's where the north-south section and east-west section meet. Much less money was spent on the northern section, north of Waterford, which is mostly signage and on road up to the border at Rouses Point. Jeff and I saw a bald eagle in this area and I was now getting more agitated that my phone had gone dark!

South of here the trail hugs the Hudson River and parallels Interstate 787 towards Albany. Some areas are nice, and other areas are right against the the highway, which is not that pleasant. It also passes through Watervliet, a small city along the Hudson notable for its armaments factory. Jeff parked his car here and I used his phone to try to find a cell phone repair place before he went on his way. By this time it was 4 pm and I wanted to get to my hotel. After researching online, the best place I could find to have my screen replaced was an AT&T store in Hudson, another 40 miles away...ugh.

Jeff and I split up and I continued on my way. The trail goes into the waterfront area of Albany, called the Corning Preserve. Past this is the notorious Empire State Plaza area. Albany, out of all cities in upstate New York had the worst urban renewal in the 1960s-1970s. Thank you Nelson Rockefeller. The entire waterfront area and a large section of downtown were razed to build freeway interchanges and the Empire State Plaza. Over 98 acres of historic structures were torn down for this:

urban renewal at its finest

After researching the history of this area, it felt like had they not torn down the historic buildings, Albany could have been one of the coolest and most-walkable small cities in America. Instead it is one of the least walkable, and least cool cities I've ever visited. After living in the capital region for over a year, I can safely say Albany is where fun goes to die. People sell t shirts that say "Keep Albany Boring". I'm not joking! It's sort of alarming that Albany, with a population of 100,000 is the capital of the State of New York, hosting a city of nearly 9 million 140 miles south. I digress.

One good development is a grassroots movement to reclaim the Albany waterfront and undo some of the mistakes of the past. Albany Riverfront Collaborative is an organization dedicated to repairing some of the urban planning mistakes and trying to make this a more livable community. Furthermore NYSDOT recently funded a planning study reevaluate I-787 in the area, so there may be some hope for Albany.

In Albany the Empire State Trail crosses over the Hudson to Rensselaer. The trail goes over the Dunn Memorial Bridge which has a pedestrian/bicycle sidewalk on one side, but didn't seem very cyclist friendly. Once across the bridge I entered the City of Rensselaer (pop 10,000). Not much going on here except for the Albany-Rensselaer Amtrak station. As I headed east and south towards my hotel in East Greenbush, the Empire State Trail climbs a huge and long hill. This probably is one of the largest elevation changes on the Empire State Trail. This area is also all on road through suburbs. After a long day of riding, this was a tough climb, but by the time I got to the top, it felt great!

After climbing the hill in East Greenbush, the Empire State Trail begins to follow the Albany-Hudson Electric Trail a 36 mile trail mostly in a utility right of way (and former trolley corridor). A large sum of money was spent on this area and riding around here was awesome. I was annoyed my phone wasn't working because this area had so many photos I wanted to take.

I had originally booked a room at Americas Best Value Inn in East Greenbush, but after my phone broke, the budget hotel situation didn't feel like a good idea. I hoped a better hotel would have a business center where I could use a computer. I knew there was a Comfort Inn farther into East Greenbush, another 5 miles away. I arrived at the Comfort Inn and booked a room and promptly found out they didn't have a business center. This was the most expensive hotel I stayed at ($200/night). The hotel had a pool which was a great way to relax after so many days on the road. While the hotel is right along the trail, there were limited food options in this area. For dinner, I walked about a mile in a ditch (no sidewalks) to Soho Asian Fusion. The sushi was passable and the service was good.

Stay tuned for Day 10 - East Greenbush to Kingston where I end up at a Wal-Mart outside of Kingston on a quest to have my phone screen repaired!

Empire State Trail Day 8 - Utica to Amsterdam

Day 8 was one of my favorite days of the trip. East of Utica the Mohawk Valley has some very cool topography and towns. Also, I started to live with my saddle situation and it felt like my butt was getting calloused up. My morning ride was 24 miles from Utica to Little Falls.

After leaving the Red Roof Inn, I stopped nearby at Willie's Bagel Cafe. I got an everything bagel toasted with butter and it was excellent. I spoke to the owners and it was a family run establishment, by dominicans from New York City. Go figure, the only good bagel I had upstate was from people who migrated here from downstate! Yum, and a great place to load up on carbs before a long ride.

East of Utica, the Empire State Trail goes mostly on road, which was a welcome respite from the monotony of the canal trail. I took the photo below because it is a great example of signage showing distances between towns on bike. The size of the signs are for bike riders compared to large road signs for cars. There were a a few signs like this throughout the Empire State Trail, and there should have been more. There is no continuity on signage throughout the trail, which was a disappointment.

bicycle friendly signage

As I entered Frankfort, I saw these big bike sharrows. I had seen these before in other towns upstate, but I don't know effective they are. At least drivers are alerted to bikes sharing the road here!

large bike sharrows

Frankfort, NY had a somewhat spooky vibe, with a large boarded up church, and a few stores here and there. Whitey's Brass Tack restaurant looked interesting, but I wasn't hungry yet.

Four miles past Frankfort I arrived in Ilion which had a cute marina. The marina was a good example of trail oriented economic development. Or maybe it just was a coincidence they renovated the marina next to the trail. Either way it was a nice place for a respite, with bathrooms.

At the Ilion Marina I befriended some other people traversing the Empire State Trail on bike. These three men were bikepacking, camping together in different locations along the way. I had considered bikepacking, but it was my first multi-day trip and I knew after a long day of biking all I wanted was a hot shower and a clean bed. Bikepacking would also have required me to buy and carry more gear on my bike, which I was concerned about. I also felt that bikepacking would be easier if you did it in a group instead of solo.

After explaining my issues with my saddle, all three of the guys swore by Brooks saddles. They had gone on many bikepacking trips and said that Brooks was their favorite. They also indicated that the Brooks saddles take up to 1000 hours of riding before they truly break in. Wow! One of the gentlemen also was very fond of his Surly Midnight Special bike. He said he bought the frame and had everything installed custom for him. Cool!

The bikepackers had a lot of cool gear, like this butane burner, which made instant coffee.

jetboil instant coffee

After Ilion, the Empire State Trail goes back onto the canal trail until I arrived at Little Falls. I skirted the south side of Herkimer, NY. There was a bunch of fun wildlife on this section of the trail including chipmunks, and some turtles.

Empire State Trail Turtle

The trail in this area is mostly paved and goes through some beautiful countryside. This part of the Mohawk Valley was picturesque.

My lunch stop was in Little Falls, one of my favorite towns along the Empire State Trail. It has a unique topography and an inviting atmosphere. Here was one of the few locations where there were restaurants right along the trailside. More towns upstate need to do more of this.

Trailside dining in Little Falls

To get to Downtown Little Falls I crossed over the Mohawk River. Little Falls has a very interesting history as a mill town in the 19th century. There is a lot of cute architecture right next to the river. Unfortunately, a large section of historic buildings were torn down in the 1960s in the name of urban renewal. What is ironic about many upstate cities, is that their historic walkable architecture is one of the biggest reasons to visit them, but so much of it has been torn down for ugly buildings.

I stopped for lunch at the Cafe at Stone Mill, a cute restaurant in a renovated mill building. There were a lot of people with laptops working and it had a nice community vibe. I had a soup and salad, and then I was on my way. There also was a fun gift shop in the building hustling Little Falls merch. I wanted to explore Little Falls more, but I had a lot of riding ahead of me and I was already running a little late.

soup was so-so, salad was good!

Canal/Waterfront area of Little Falls had some nice restored buildings friendly to tourists. I enjoyed it thoroughly and would recommend it to any traveller.

My afternoon journey was 43 miles from Little Falls to Amsterdam. East of Little Falls is a very rural area along the canal trail. One town I passed through, Fort Plain, had a lot of amish/mennonite people walking around. I saw a few horse and buggies in this area. East of Fort Plain is Canajoharie. There is a little downtown here but not a lot to see. Very limited lunch options here as well.

old railroad station - Canajoharie

Many shops in the downtown area of seemed closed. The sign showing "no biking on sidewalk" was sort of ridiculous because the entire town felt empty, with virtually no one walking around.

downtown Canajoharie

East of Canajoharie in Fultonville was Betty Beaver's Fuel Stop. It was right on the trail and I had to snap a photo of their sign! By this point I was getting hungry and I got this Met-RX Peanut Butter Pretzel meal replacement bar. It was sort of gross but I wolfed it down.

Canajoharie to Amsterdam was another 22 miles, and there is very little going on in this area. By this point it was getting late and the afternoon was getting hot so I wanted to get to the hotel as fast as possible. Outside Amsterdam I stumbled across this crossing, with a nice planted barrel. Plantings at the crossings were a nice touch.

Originally, I wanted to stay at a hotel called the Amsterdam Castle a historic armory turned into a hotel. While it looked cool, the prices were a little high (like over $250/night), especially for a place where I was going to spend 2-3 hours and then crash. Instead I booked the Microtel Amsterdam, which was about a mile off the trail. The ride from the trail to the hotel was very steep uphill and was tough at the end of a long day.

If you book a cheap hotel in Upstate NY, it is highly likely you will observe people setting up and grilling in the parking lot.

Microtel Amsterdam NY - BBQ Party

While my room was small, it was neat and tidy, and I was able to fit my bike. The air conditioning was excellent after a hot day of riding.

Due to the topography of Amsterdam, the downtown area was a couple miles walk from the Microtel. I was not able to check out downtown Amsterdam, but from what I read online I wasn't missing much. Unfortunately, like many small towns I visited in upstate NY, urban renewal was not kind to Amsterdam. In fact, 400 historic buildings downtown were torn down to build a mall in 1970s, and now the mall is dying too. Amsterdam had a small burst of activity in the 1980s with a factory producing Cabbage Patch Kids and Colecovision but has not had much going on since. I decided to order cheap chinese delivery for dinner instead of exploring Amsterdam.

Stay tuned for Day 9 - Amsterdam to East Greenbush, my most arduous day! My journey involves getting head to toe soaked from the rain and my phone screen gettin wet and damaged!