About Erie Canal Guide
Erie Canal Guide is an independent, boaters-first field guide to the Erie Canal — the 300-plus miles of water, towpath, and towns that run from the Hudson River at Troy to Lake Erie at Buffalo.
Most of what has been written about the Erie Canal treats it as history. It is that — but it is also a living waterway that thousands of people still travel every season by boat, by bike, on foot, and by paddle. This guide is built for them: the cruiser planning a lock-by-lock run west, the cyclist riding the Empire State Trail, the paddler scouting a launch, and the traveler pulling off the Thruway to see where the canal crosses town.
What’s here
We cover the whole corridor, mile by mile: every one of the canal’s 36 transit locks, 25 town and port hubs, dozens of marinas, town walls, and free docks, trailheads, paddle launches, and boat ramps, hundreds of places to eat, provision, and explore, and a deep layer of canal history for anyone who wants to understand the water under their hull.
How we work
We hold ourselves to a simple standard: every date, distance, depth, phone number, and lock detail is sourced from official records — principally the New York State Canal Corporation and state open-data sets — or it is clearly flagged as unverified. Where sources disagree, we say so. Where a story is legend rather than fact, we label it. Boater-critical details are checked against more than one source. We would rather tell you that we haven’t confirmed something than guess.
That said, a canal is a changing thing. Hours, fuel, pump-out, depths, and closures shift from season to season and week to week. Use this guide to plan — and always confirm the details that matter with the New York State Canal Corporation and official Notices to Mariners before you travel.
Who publishes it
Erie Canal Guide is published by Evolve, LLC. We are an independent guide and are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by the New York State Canal Corporation, the New York State Thruway Authority, or any government agency.
Have a correction, an update from the water, or a business along the canal you’d like us to know about? Get in touch — we read every message.