Volunteering for Cycle the Erie Canal

Cycle the Erie Canal was not the longest or hardest of my many bicycle tours, but it had the most lasting impact. The friends I made on that 2011 trip, and the friends I made through them, revitalized bicycle touring for me and made traveling with friends something Sue and I now enjoy.

I’d thought about reprising that tour one day, but I knew I could not expect to recapture that same magic. Instead, I decided to try a different approach. I signed up for the 2023 tour not as a rider, but as a volunteer.

Across New York State by Bicycle

The annual Cycle the Erie Canal tour is a 400-mile bicycle trip from Buffalo to Albany. Organized and hosted by the nonprofit advocacy group Parks & Trails New York, it has a widespread reputation among cyclists as a well-run and highly enjoyable event. It attracts an unusually broad range of riders, from young to old, from across the United States and beyond. This year was the event’s 25th running.

A replica canal boat being built at Canal Place in Buffalo. It will float down the canal from Buffalo to Albany for the Erie Canal’s bicentennial in 2025.

Riders gather in Buffalo on a Saturday in early July for registration and orientation. Then they set out Sunday morning and ride about 40 to 60 miles a day for eight days. They camp at overnight sites established at schools or parks, fuel up on catered breakfasts and dinners served in camp, and enjoy informative talks and live music during the evening.

It’s a complex undertaking. This year, some 650 riders took part, supported by about 100 volunteers along with Parks & Trails staff. The support team manages the overnight sites, hauls riders’ luggage from place to place, sets up morning and afternoon rest stops, helps riders with mechanical issues, and provides other services and assistance.

My Volunteering Idea

Most volunteers work every other day and bike the route on the alternate days. (Their bicycles are transported for them on the days they volunteer.) I wanted to try something different. I offered to volunteer for the first four days of the tour, and to help on registration day as well. I would drive myself between overnight sites and bring my bicycle, so I could do some exploring in places along the way.

The volunteer coordinator gratefully accepted my unconventional offer. She told me they needed help at the morning rest stops, so that’s where I was assigned. By signing up as a volunteer, my tour registration fee was waived. Volunteers participate for free.

An Uncertain Start

I drove up to Western New York on Friday and spent some time revisiting the area south of Buffalo where I’d grown up. On Saturday morning I moved on to the Nichols School campus in north Buffalo, the home base for the tour. After attending a meeting for rest stop volunteers, I asked around elsewhere about helping out. My help wasn’t needed. The small army of volunteers seemed to have things well in hand. I felt a little lost.

The view from my tent at the Nichols School.

I looked around the campus for a good location to set up my tent and scouted out where all the restrooms and showers were. After pitching my tent in a carefully chosen spot, I biked around nearby Delaware Park, Buffalo State College, and the lovely adjacent neighborhoods, all areas I used to know intimately. Then I hung out in camp, restless and brooding a little over what I might have gotten myself into.

At the outdoor wine and cheese welcome reception just before dinner, I spotted a guy wearing the same “Cycle the Erie Canal 2011” tee-shirt I had on. We linked up and talked for a while, sharing histories (we both went to high school south of Buffalo) and touring notes. I then sat down on the grass with a woman from Baltimore, by way of Rhode Island and Washington, D.C., who was new to the event. We talked at length about cycling, Baltimore and Washington, and retirement, which she was contemplating. Those conversations boosted my mood and reminded me how much meeting people and socializing is one of the most rewarding aspects of a bicycle tour.

Ravenous Riders

I slept poorly that night, as I often do while camping. I was awake well before my targeted rising time of 5:30 a.m. That may seem dreadfully early, but it’s not on a bicycle tour. Being one of the early birds (and I wasn’t the earliest) pays off when it comes to restroom access and meal lines. I had to get myself squared away, get coffee and breakfast at the dining room, pack up my tent and other stuff and load it into my car, and be on the road by about 7:00, so I could get to the morning rest stop site by 7:30. It turned out that an hour and a half from getting up to getting out was plenty of time. I never felt rushed.

I needn’t have worried. I arrived before the rest stop coordinator and the truck bringing the supplies and two other volunteers. Along with a forth volunteer, we set up two tables beneath a pair of foldout shelters, put out hand sanitizer, and loaded the tables with assortments of fruits and snacks that varied somewhat each day—bananas, oranges, apples, pears, nectarines, cantaloupe; various kinds of granola bars, bags of chips and nuts, packs of cookies (Fig Newtons were a surprisingly big hit) and sundry other treats. One volunteer set up the critical water and Gatorade station for refilling cyclists’ water bottles. A bicycle mechanic set up shop to help riders with mechanical issues.

The first day’s morning rest stop at Uncle G’s Ice Cream near Lockport, after most riders had passed through.

Then we waited until the first riders began streaming in, and then more, and then many, many more. I spent much of my time for the next couple of hours replenishing or replacing various items as we ran out. We went through an astonishing amount of food. It was hard to believe these riders had just had an all-you-can-eat breakfast just a short while ago. After that first 15 or so miles, they seemed famished.

Packing Up and Moving On

The rest stop was scheduled to be open from 8:00 to 11:00 a.m., but we had to stay until the last riders passed through. We waited until a pair of sweeps (designated riders tasked with bringing up the rear of the widely spread-out troop of cyclists, to ensure no one was left behind) cycled up to the rest stop and told us that everyone had made it. Then we could break down the site and pack up the truck. That first day, we were there until 12:30.

Once we were finished, the truck crew moved on to assist, if needed, at the afternoon rest stop 20 or 30 miles down the road. I headed off to do some exploring on my way to that evening’s campsite.

Our especially nice campsite at Fairport’s sprawling Center Park West. My tent is at the far upper left; there are many more to come.

Each afternoon, as I drove around on my own, I roughly paralleled the route the cyclists were riding on the canal towpath. Over the next few days, I stopped off and walked around in some of the canalside towns they were passing through–Lockport, Medina, Spencerport, Pittsford, Fairport, Lyons, and Clyde. I revisited Lockport’s historic flight of five locks; the Medina Railroad Museum, with its gigantic HO scale model railroad; and the peppermint oil museum in Lyons. I took a side trip up to Sodus Point on Lake Ontario.

What I didn’t end up doing was biking. I was surprised to find that seeing those hundreds of cyclists along the route didn’t trigger an urge to join them. I felt quite content to drive around. But I also felt a little less a part of the touring group. I would arrive at the overnight site early; scout out tent sites, restrooms, showers, and other facilities; set up camp, and then relax until dinnertime. Evenings were for socializing, reading, writing notes, and planning tomorrow’s route and stopovers.

The End of the Tour, for Me

Seneca Falls was my last overnight site. Dinner was on our own, so I boarded a shuttle bus for the short ride into town. I got off at People’s Park, where a wine and cheese tasting table was set up for us at a farmer’s market.

The bridge that may have inspired George Bailey’s desperate leap in “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

After some sampling some local wines and cheeses, I had dinner outside at a nearby restaurant—beef on weck, a Western New York specialty. Afterward, I wandered around the downtown, visiting the It’s a Wonderful Life Museum (Seneca Falls was purportedly the inspiration for Bedford Falls in the beloved Frank Capra Christmas movie) and the Seneca Falls Heritage & Tourism Center. Then I caught the shuttle bus back to camp, just as a band was warming up for a concert in the People’s Park gazebo.

The next day, I drove to my fourth and last morning rest stop, at Port Byron Old Erie Canal Heritage Park. Today, we introduced cantaloupe, which was ripe and juicy and very popular. I spent most of my time slicing it up and scooping out the seeds and got very fast and efficient at it. After we packed up, my co-volunteers expressed their appreciation for my efforts, saying I was the hardest working volunteer on the team. I doubted that, but it was nice to hear.

As the rest stop truck drove off, I headed in a different direction, toward the Thruway to visit friends north of Albany, two and a half hours away. My part in this year’s Cycle the Erie Canal tour was over.

Afterward

I conceived of this trip as something of an experiment, to see if I could find a new way to become involved in bicycle touring that I might want to continue. I envisioned traveling up to New York every summer to take part in one of Parks & Trails tours, and using my free time to explore more of my home state. I also wanted to revisit my old hometown, which I hadn’t seen in 17 years. I accomplished everything I set out to do.

At Lockport’s historic flight of five locks, as a rider in 2011 and a volunteer in 2023.

Would I volunteer for the Erie Canal tour again? I’m not sure. The appreciative words my fellow volunteers had for my efforts were a warm ending note. But I also felt that I was not entirely a part of the tour the way others were. Perhaps volunteering and riding on alternate days might be worth considering, but frankly I didn’t seem to miss the cycling and enjoyed having the freedom to drive myself around from place to place. So I don’t know.

What I do know is that I’ll have another chance to immerse myself in bicycle touring. In late July, I will drive back up to New York to take part in Parks & Trails’ first annual Cycle the Hudson Valley tour, this time as a rider. Over the course of a week, I and about 300 other cyclists will bike from Troy, just north of Albany, to Battery Park and the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City. Thus, I will complete my bicycle journey across New York State that I began in 2011.

I can’t wait.

David Romanowski, 2023

Welcome to Great Falls Tavern

Many who enter this building dearly wish it was still a tavern. They’ve hiked the notorious “A” section of the nearby Billy Goat Trail or biked the entire C&O Canal towpath from Cumberland, Maryland, 170 miles away. A few hardy souls have walked from Cumberland, carrying a heavy backpack and camping at the primitive sites spaced about every five miles or so along the canal.

They arrive here tired and sweaty, and I wish I could pour them an ale or tingle their tongues with a glass of soda if they prefer. But alas, I cannot even offer them a bottle of water or a place to dump their trash. The C&O Canal National Historical Park is a “carry-it-in / carry-it-out” park. I can only offer a plastic trash bag. Sorry.

But most who come through the door are here just for a walk on the towpath or up the short boardwalk trail to the overlook to see the Great Falls of the Potomac River. They’ve stepped into the tavern to pick up a park or trail map, explore the exhibits, or check out what’s inside this odd-looking historic building.

Welcome to Great Falls Tavern.

A Little History

The building now generally referred to as Great Falls Tavern actually comprises three separate but attached structures. Shortly after ground was broken for the C&O Canal in 1828, a lockhouse for the yet-to-be built lock was constructed here. The lockkeeper soon convinced the canal company to add a tavern to offer food, drink, and lodging, as Great Falls was already a popular local attraction.

In 1830–31, a three-story tavern was added onto the north end of the lockhouse. It had a barroom and ballroom on the main floor, individual and dormitory rooms on the second floor, and a “honeymoon suite” on the third floor. Also, the roof was raised on the original lockhouse and a smaller two-story addition built onto its south end, for use by the lockkeeper and his family. The tavern was named Crommelin House, in honor of Dutch investors in the canal.

A front view of Great Falls Tavern. The tavern opened to the public in 1831.

The tavern underwent many changes in use over the years. In 1849, as the canal was nearing completion, the canal company decided to forbid the sale of alcohol on its property and closed the tavern operation. For years, the main floor was leased as a grocery store, while the upstairs served as a hotel. When the hotel and grocery businesses closed in the early 1900s, the former tavern was leased to a private club.

After a devastating flood finally ended canal operations in 1924, the building reverted to a tavern again for a while. Then the Park Service leased it as a refreshment stand and boat concession. Demolition was considered after a structural fire damaged the building in 1948, but fortunately the tavern was restored for use as a museum instead. Now part of the C&O Canal National Historical Park, it houses a visitor center on the ground floor and offices and other rooms for park staff upstairs.

This tactile model shows the three sections: the original lockhouse (center). the tavern (right), and the rear addition (left).

The building’s odd structural amalgamation makes getting around interesting. To go from one room to another on the ground level, you have to go outside, as none of the three sections of the building connect to one another by doors. To go upstairs, you have to use an external stairway. The three sections of the building don’t directly connect on the second floor either. You have to use the outdoor landing to go from room to room. I don’t even know how to reach the third floor of the tavern, the former “honeymoon suite.” Climb a ladder? Rappel up a wall to a window? Who knows what’s up there now.

Open the Door and Come on In

A necessary clarification: Great Falls Tavern is the visitor center for this section of the C&O Canal National Historical Park in Maryland. Great Falls Park, also a national park site, is right across the river in Virginia and has its own visitor center (currently being renovated). So when you talk about going to Great Falls, you have to clarify which side of the river you mean.

Anyhow, step inside. You’ll find yourself in a large room that certainly looks historic, with its brick floor, plaster walls, and twin fireplaces. In the center is the information desk, with its racks of brochures and a helpful park service volunteer standing by to assist you. The rest of the space contains various exhibits and objects. You’re pretty much free to put your hands on any of them, even the musical instruments an interpretive ranger recently put out. So strum away.

This visitor information desk. The Plexiglas barriers atop the counter and their white pointy mounts have been removed.

You can read about the history of the canal and how it was designed and built, examine models of a lock and a canal boat, enjoy touchable and even sniffable items, and watch the silent 12-minute video “Down the Old Potomac,” produced by Thomas Edison’s company in 1917, showing a trip down the canal by boat.

Unfortunately, what you won’t see are shelves and racks of anything for sale—guidebooks, calendars, postcards, tee-shirts, park passports, and so on—that you’d expect to find here. The retail operation, run by the park’s cooperating association, Eastern National, closed along with the visitor center during the covid pandemic. It hasn’t yet returned. [Update: It has reopened!]

Step outside through the back doors and you’ll find another room in the central part of the building, the oldest section that used to be the lockhouse. Now it contains hands-on activities for kids that continually change. A third room on the ground level, which has a video presentation on the park, is currently closed. [Update: It has reopened!]

Working Here as a Volunteer

The tavern is open from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday. It is usually staffed by one or more volunteers or by a park ranger if a volunteer isn’t available. The day is divided into two shifts: 9:00 to 12:30 and 12:30 to 4:00. Since February 2023, I’ve been working the Wednesday afternoon shift.

Wednesdays are far less busy in the park than weekends and holidays, so the visitor-greeting business in the tavern can get a little slow. (I always bring something to read for when I’m hanging around in there alone.) But there’s usually an intermittent trickle of people and an occasional surge. Recently, a large elementary school group flooded the place for what seemed like half an hour. I could barely hear myself think. Silence and solitude were a relief after that.

I worked as a visitor center volunteer for several years at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. There I was usually busier and had many more visitor contacts on a given day. But my interactions with visitors at the tavern, while fewer in number, are generally much more interesting and gratifying. While many people come in just to pick up a map or browse the exhibits and prefer to be left alone, many others ask interesting questions or chat with me about the park, their memories of it, or their appreciation for it.

If I don’t know the answer to a visitor question or I’m a little unsure about it, I make a point to find out later. This broadens my knowledge of the park and makes me better able to answer the same question again, as it will surely come up. One day I was asked twice about Supreme Court justice William O. Douglas and his role in getting the park established. I went home and reread the passages about him in my guidebooks.

“I Have a Question”

What people most often ask about:

Kids like to pet and climb on the tiny mule.

• Why is there no water in the canal? There’s a major canal maintenance project going on involving dredging a section of the canal bed and clearing debris and obstacles from it in several other areas. The canal had to be drained for this purpose.
• Will you ever have mule-pulled canal boat rides again? Yes, once the maintenance project is done and the canal can be rewatered. The boat is ready, and you may see rangers taking the mules for a walk on the towpath.
• Do you sell national parks passes here? They are sold at the entrance station—when it is staffed. Often on weekdays it is not because of lack of personnel. You can also buy them at Great Falls Park in Virginia.
• If there’s no one at the entrance station, do I have to pay park admission? You can drive (or bike or walk) right in without paying (the gate will go up). You can pay online; there’s a QR code posted in the tavern that you can scan to reach the website. But it’s on the honor system, so it’s up to you. Every paid admission helps the park.
• Do you have date stamps for Park Passport books? Yes, we have several: for the park, the Billy Goat Trail, and several of the lockhouses you can stay in via the C&O Canal Trust’s Canal Quarters program.
• Do you have any Junior Ranger activity booklets? Yes, they are quite popular, and we hand out Junior Ranger badges when your child completes the activities. One of our park rangers performed a Junior Ranger swearing-in ceremony for the entire school group that overran the visitor center that one day.

Other interesting questions:

• Were slaves used to build the canal? No. Immigrant laborers from Europe, mainly from Ireland and Germany, made up most of the workforce. Several people have asked about this.
• Was George Washington involved in building the canal? No, but he founded a company in 1784 to build a series of shorter canals to skirt several unnavigable stretches of the Potomac. In Great Falls Park in Virginia, you can see the remains of one of those early canals built to bypass Great Falls.
• How does water get into the canal? Via dams and inlet locks that divert water into the canal from the Potomac. The inlet lock at Violettes Lock (Mile 22) waters the canal from there to Great Falls (Mile 14) and on down to Lock 5 (Mile 5). The inlet lock at Lock 5 waters the canal the rest of the way to Georgetown.
• Where can I park to get to Little Falls? Yes, there is a “Little Falls” downriver from Great Falls. I had to consult Google Maps to find it. It’s just upriver from Chain Bridge (I think you can see it from there). You can park in several places nearby within walking distance, but it doesn’t appear to be easily accessible. One of these days, I’ll go out and see if I can find a trail to it from the towpath. Incidentally, this was among the stretches of river bypassed by one of those 18th-century canals.
• Are there bears in the park? Not that I know of, at least in the Great Falls area. But bears have been spotted on rare occasions in local suburban neighborhoods even closer to Washington.
• What about poisonous snakes? Yes, copperheads, which can sometimes be seen on the towpath. There are many other common nonpoisonous snakes too.
• Does the tavern ever get flooded? On rare occasions when the river level is extraordinarily high, floodwaters can reach the tavern. In that event, park rangers stack sandbags around the building. I have videos clips on my cellphone of two major floods in 2018 that I took from both sides of the river. I’ve shown them to especially interested visitors.

Come Visit!

One of these days, I’ll write a post comparing the parks on both sides of the river at Great Falls, as they offer different but complementary experiences. But this is it for now. As I mentioned, I volunteer at the tavern every Wednesday afternoon unless I’m traveling. Stop by and say hello!

David Romanowski, 2023