12.8 Mile Ride on the Mohawk Hudson Bike Path and Through Cohoes
Wednesday, August 7, 2019
Today when I pulled up MapMyRide to get an estimate of the distance for the route I was thinking about, I noticed a trail I'd never seen before running from a park near the Harmony Mills apartments to just a bit short of the bike path. A bit of research suggested it was rideable on both mountain and road bikes, and zooming in with Googlemaps showed a clearly defined path, either stone dust or pavement.
Unfortunately I didn't print a map because it looked pretty easy to find - yeah, right. I rode the bike path from Colonie Mohawk River Park to the Alexander Street parking lot, then dropped down into Cohoes on my way back. After wandering around a bit and trying to follow signs supposedly indicating the Heritage Trail, I finally found the trailhead I was looking for - blocked by a fallen tree and looking mostly like a dirt singletrack into the woods. I think more investigation is called for, possibly on foot and starting at a different point on the trail (probably the park near Harmony Mills.)
Still, it was nice to ride a different section of the bike path that I haven't been on in quite a while. I considered going down into the park as well, but between the hills I'd have to climb to get back out and all the people who walk their dogs off leash there - I decided to save that for another day.
Spotted a few bunnies along the way, and lots of robins - it had rained earlier, which I guess drives their preferred foods out of hiding - plus catbirds and even a few flickers.
