Biking Along the Erie Canal in Rotterdam Junction

From a parking lot on Rice Road off Schenectady’s I-890, one can bike west along the Empire State Trail and see multiple iterations of the Erie Canal. On a recent sunny day, my family and I biked out to Rotterdam Junction, checking out the 19th century Enlarged Erie Canal locks alongside the trail and observing the low water levels in the current canal, as we wait for the moveable dams to be lowered in the Mohawk River. We turned around at The River Road House in Rotterdam Junction, where trail moves into the road for several miles. Just before that landmark, we had biked alongside another section of the old Erie Canal, now a power line corridor. A delicious dinner at Scotia’s historic drive-in Jumpin’ Jack’s was the perfect way to end our adventure!