Biking the Glens Falls Feeder Canal

For almost 200 years, the Glens Falls Feeder Canal has supplied water from the Hudson River to the Champlain Canal and helped to transport people and goods between Glens Falls and Fort Edward. Today, the Feeder Canal still serves its original function of sending water to the Champlain Canal, but also offers recreational opportunities to residents and visitors through the nine-mile Feeder Canal Trail. This route runs principally along the canal’s towpath and features dams, coal silos, combines, and other engineering landmarks that we will explore on this biking tour. Experts from the Feeder Canal Alliance, a nonprofit stewardship organization supporting recreation and education on the route, will guide our experience. During the day, we will experience numerous examples of the waterway’s extraordinary engineering history. Our tour will showcase the canal’s Five Combines, a remarkable collection of five locks operating in a continuous downhill run built to bypass the Hudson Falls. We will also tour the impressive remains of early 20th-century coal silos that once provided power to surrounding communities.

This outing is led by members of the Glens Falls Feeder Canal Alliance. The tour starts at 10 AM and ends at 3 PM.

The fee is $65 for AARCH members and $80 for non-members.

Attendees must bring their own bicycles and be prepared to bike up to 20 miles on stone-dust trails, pavement, and rolling terrain.  

Photo courtesy of the Glens Falls Feeder Canal Alliance.