Seaway Trail

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Erie Pennsylvania

   Erie's best feature is a sandy hook of land that curls out into Lake Erie. Presque Isle, a state park on a peninsula about seven miles long, shelters the bay and holds sandy beaches, dunes, marshes and woodland, which draw birds migrating along the lake in spring and autumn. On a summer weekend, the beaches fill with swimmers, and in winter the lake freezes into odd heaps of ice. The bay behind the peninsula was the base from which Oliver Hazard Perry built a fleet in 1813 and sailed out to defeat the British in the Battle of Lake Erie, one of the key naval victories of the War of 1812. The brig Niagara, his second flagship, has been rebuilt and is sometimes moored in the harbour.

   Read the complete Erie Pennsylvania write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Erie Pennsylvania is where the day begins. Next is Niagara Falls.

2. 2. Niagara Falls

   Few places announce themselves as loudly as Niagara. Before you see the falls, you hear them, and then a column of mist rises over the trees, and then the river drops away in front of you, a mass of green water plunging fifty metres into a boiling gorge. The Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side take the bulk of the flow, while the American Falls and the narrow Bridal Veil are on the New York side, and the whole thing is the product of one of the biggest drainage systems on earth, the Great Lakes, emptying through a single river.

   Read the complete Niagara Falls write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Niagara Falls comes up about 183 km into the recorded legs. Next is Buffalo.

3. 3. Buffalo

   Buffalo sits at the east end of Lake Erie, where the lake narrows into the Niagara River, and its position has shaped everything about it. The Erie Canal ended here when it opened in 1825, linking the Great Lakes to the Hudson and New York, and the city became a great grain port, its waterfront crowded with huge concrete elevators, many of which still stand. At one point in the early twentieth century it was among the richest cities in America, and the legacy is still visible in its architecture, from the art deco city hall to the Frank Lloyd Wright houses.

   Read the complete Buffalo write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 215 km into the recorded legs you reach Buffalo. Next is Rochester New York.

4. 4. Rochester New York

   Rochester rose on water power. The Genesee River drops ninety feet over High Falls in the middle of the city, and in the early nineteenth century the mills along the gorge ground so much wheat that it was called the Flour City, before the nickname changed to the Flower City, for its nurseries and lilacs. The Erie Canal crossed the river here on a stone aqueduct, and the city grew on the canal trade. Today, High Falls still tumbles through the downtown, lit at night, and the old mill buildings are being turned into apartments and cafes.

   Read the complete Rochester New York write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Rochester New York, about halfway. Next is Oswego.

5. 5. Oswego

   On a clear evening, Oswego claims the best sunsets on the Great Lakes, and nobody who has seen the sun sink into Lake Ontario from the breakwater is inclined to argue. The city sits where the Oswego River meets the lake, a working port of about eighteen thousand people with grain silos, a harbour and an old stone lighthouse, and the water stretches to a horizon as flat and wide as the sea. The lake is so big that waves can reach a couple of metres in a storm, and it never quite warms up.

   Read the complete Oswego write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Oswego sits at 747 km, late in the day. Next is Cape Vincent.

6. 6. Cape Vincent

   Where Lake Ontario squeezes into the head of the St. Lawrence River, Cape Vincent sits on a headland that looks out over islands and blue water, with Canada across the channel. The town was shaped by French connections: its name honours Vincent Le Ray, whose father, James Le Ray de Chaumont, owned huge tracts of land here in the early nineteenth century and brought French settlers and investors, and legend says Napoleon's brother Joseph Bonaparte hunted in the neighbourhood after exile. A French festival in July keeps that heritage alive, and the main street has a few stone buildings and small shops.

   Read the complete Cape Vincent write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 573 km.