This year was my sixth ride on the Erie Canal with Parks and Trails New York and I update my ride review after the ride. Each time the ride has been a wonderful experience for many reasons, including the people and the scenery. My son has been with me during the past three years and last year one of his daughters joined us. Each time I do the ride , I try to set a unique objective and this year it was to experience the towns along the way in more depth.

Since I’m a street photographer, I tried to capture life in the towns. That turned out to be a difficult thing to do because of the short time that I had in each. My style is to capture people doing the things that they do. In most cases, the sidewalks were almost empty and I didn’t have time to wait for things to happen. Most of the images that I captured were architectural shots of classic upstate New York buildings.

One thing that I noticed after riding this route for six years is that many of the towns seem to be experiencing a revival. For example, in Buffalo neighborhoods that were blighted just last year are undergoing renewal. Many defunct buildings are gone and new ones are rising to take their place. Medina, our first overnight, has a beautiful main street with fewer empty storefronts each year.

Each day Eric and I left camp at between 7:00 and 7:30 in the morning. Eric rode far faster than me and was usually one of the first to arrive at camp each day. Even with my stops in the towns along the way, I managed to arrive at camp myself in early afternoon.

Our thanks to the staff and volunteers who make this great ride possible each year.