Glens Falls Feeder Canal(from Cycling Along The Canals of New York State.)
The Glens Falls Feeder Canal extended navigation to Glens Falls by bringing water from the Upper Hudson River to feed the summit level of the Champlain Canal. The Glens Falls Feeder Canal Trail is on the old towpath and is unpaved but well maintained. It is seven miles of great scenic and historic bicycling.
The ride begins on Bike “9” in Fort Edward. Follow Bike “9” uphill until you cross over the railroad and pass Fort Edward High School. Turn right on County Route 37 (Burgoyne Road) and ride two miles until you come to signs identifying the Glens Falls Feeder Canal Heritage Trail. You’ll intersect the trail at a small park. On your immediate right is a remarkable canal site, a flight of five original “Combine Locks.” These are very interesting and impressive because the five locks were never enlarged and are in their original fifteen-foot width. This is perhaps the best place in New York State where you can see what a flight of locks of the original Clinton’s Ditch looked like.
The Five Combine Locks. In canal days, it took fifteen minutes to traverse each lock, dropping eleven feet with each step.
After visiting the Combine Locks, turn around and take the trail westward toward Glens Falls. The trail follows the towpath of this historic, virtually “original” segment of canal. Along the way, you’ll find excellent interpretive signs explaining the history of this small canal. Don’t go so fast that you miss the “Turn Around Basin” at Martindale Street. The basin was once large enough to hold sixty canal boats; today it is a small park. Further along, the path switches to the other canal bank. ...continued