Day 6 – Rome to Canajoharie

Verona Beach State Park on the East shore of Oneida Lake was a great overnight camping spot. The park is large and shady with a long wide beach perfect for swimming or watching the sunset. It’s also very, very dark at night. Great for sleeping but not so great when you have to get up in the middle of the night to pee. I got up about 3 AM, put on my Chacos and crawled out of the tent in pitch darkness. I stood in the dark waiting for my eyes to adjust, thinking of all the reasons this was a bad idea: tripping over a tent stake, getting disoriented and not being able to find my way back, getting in the wrong tent, and briefly considered waking Riley up to go with me. I told myself not to be a baby and carefully made my way to the bathhouse about 20 yards away. The cinder block building has tiny windows and no lights at all. I had visited it earlier and knew the layout so I had no trouble finding the first stall and taking care of business in pitch darkness. It was a strange experience for sure. I retraced my footsteps, crawled in a tent that looked like mine and relieved to find the big guy sleeping inside was Riley.

We awoke at 5 AM to the sounds of caterers setting up breakfast, tent zippers opening and early risers breaking down their camps. We joined the others for egg, ham and bacon bagels, yogurt, fruit, juice and coffee then grabbed a cheese danish to stash in our packs before packing up our gear and boarding the shuttle back to Rome.

Overcast skies with highs in the mid 70’s is much better for riding the 62 mile route than the hot sunny day we had yesterday. The talk at breakfast was all about the steep climb on the last quarter mile of today’s route. I hope it’s not as bad as everyone says. <spoiler alert: it IS as bad as everyone says.>

The bikes were corralled inside Fort Stanwix overnight so we got a brief look inside when we retrieved them this morning. I wish I’d taken the time to tour the fort yesterday but I was just too tired to care.

The morning route followed roads through town until we picked up the trail. The ride was nice, crossing bridges and riding along the canal most of the time. A lot of the trail was paved which made for a smooth ride but some of the older asphalt sections were pretty bumpy where tree roots caused it to buckle. That part was not so great. After 18 miles of riding the morning rest stop in Utica was a welcome sight. I was hungry and thirsty.

The next 13 miles flew by. The route from Utica to Ilion was all roads, relatively little traffic and a great tailwind. I loved it!

The next section was very scenic. Wildflowers lined each side of the wide, smooth paved trail with great views of the surrounding area.

The afternoon rest stop was at mile 41 at the Rotary Park and Marina in Little Falls. We relaxed and snacked on chips and salsa and before cycling over to a sandwich shop downtown. We have 20 more miles to go it was really ice to sit in air conditioning for awhile.

We took an alternate more scenic route out of Little Falls where we rode by several groups of rock climbers near Lock 17 and hiked a short trail to see geologic pot holes carved into the hard rock. We crossed the river by riding over Lock 17, the deepest lock on the Erie Canal. We watched a couple boats making their way up river before carrying our bikes down a steep staircase on the other side.

We’ve relied on my Garmin Edge bike computer for navigation this week and it came in handy once again to find the shortest route back to the trail.

Twenty miles later we arrived at the bottom of the infamous hill leading straight up to tonight’s overnight camp at Canajoharie High School. The worst part of the climb is the stop sign at the bottom so you are forced to begin the climb with zero momentum. I saw people getting off their bikes but I had already decided I didn’t come this far to walk my bike up a hill. It wasn’t pretty, but I did it! And according to Strava I was the 6th fastest hill climber so far. Whoo hoo!

We pitched our tent on the crest of a hill overlooking tent city and the caterers barbecuing chicken for dinner tonight. The best part of the day is stepping into a warm shower, putting on clean, dry clothes and sitting down to a great meal cooked by someone else.

After dinner we caught the shuttle to a dive bar in downtown Canajoharie where I had a beer, Ginger Ale for Riley and listened to live music with Julie, Bruce and a bunch of other cyclists. A guy who supposedly toured with Garth Brooks sang a few tunes and was really good. The bar owner was smitten with Julie so we made his day by posing for a picture with him outside the bar. Haha. Fun times.

We will all sleep well tonight