Mohawk Towpath Scenic Byway

Mohawk Towpath National Scenic Byway runs 26 miles from Schenectady to Waterford, New York, tracing the historic route mules once walked along the Erie Canal. The byway parallels the Mohawk River, the original Erie Canal, and the modern New York State Barge Canal, and much of the surrounding landscape still looks the way it did in 1825, when the canal first opened and transformed trade between the Atlantic seaboard and the Great Lakes. Historic districts built during the canal era still stand in the towns along the route, and at Waterford the byway reaches the Flight of Locks, five consecutive locks (E-2 through E-6) that lift vessels 169 feet from the Hudson River up to the Mohawk in one of the most dramatic engineering displays on the canal system. Nearby, Falls View Park in Cohoes overlooks Cohoes Falls, one of the largest waterfalls east of the Mississippi River by volume, often overshadowed by its more famous cousin at Niagara. The drive traces Native American, canal-era, and Industrial Revolution history along one continuous river corridor.

• Schenectady to Waterford
• 26.2 miles
• National Scenic Byway
• Waterford Flight of Locks (169 ft lift)
• Cohoes Falls
• Erie Canal history