Planning big trip. Two harbors MN to Northern PA. I would like to come down from the Erie Canal to Cayuga Lake and up Cayuga inlet as far as possible then portage to a feeder of the Susquehanna system. Recommendations?
portage
From Ithaca N.Y. to Candor N.Y. is one hell of a portage. Something like 18-20 mi. And I don’t know if the feeder from Candor to the Susquehanna is big enough.
Why not try the next lake west, Seneca, and put in at Elmira. This is the Chemung river-a large tributary of the Susqy.
Cayuga to Catatonk Creek
There is not much upstream paddling from Ithaca before it gets too bony to paddle. It is a long hike from there to the Catatonk Creek at Candor. But from Candor downstream its good paddling to the Susquehanna at Owego.
The suggested Seneca Lake route is not any better. Its a long hike from Montour Falls to Horseheads.
You could go up the Genesee from Rochester and do another long portage to the Chemung watershed. Would save you paddling miles of the Erie Canal and the long open water paddle down Cayuga Lake, but by then you will have paddled a lot of the Great Lakes.
Its an admirable adventure.
Bill
Susquehanna Watershed
One of my ambitions has been to do the route from Erie, urban portage to Lake LeBouef, down French Creek to the Allegheny at Franklin, up the Allegheny to Port Allegany, l-o-o-n-g road portage to the Su watershed.
Maybe more aspiration than ambition.
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rj