The bike path, called the Towpath Trail, extends for 20 miles in the park (and well beyond its boundaries) and follows the old Ohio and Erie Canal route between Lake Erie and Akron, OH. Built in the early 1800s, it became obsolete with the advent of the railroad.
But now we can ride our bikes where the mules used to pull the boats along the canal. This isn’t the famous “Erie Canal” from Albany to Buffalo (“I’ve got a mule, her name is Sal, 15 miles on the Erie Canal…”), but it’s another technological, archaeological site that’s interesting to see—lock structures and walls remain, though the canal is filling back in with plants and trees replacing the standing water. Lots of wildlife attest to the increasing health of the river!
You didn’t know we had a little business on the side did you! 🙂 Kim