Adventure

You Could Hike from NYC to Canada on the New Empire State Trail

Time to embrace your inner Cheryl Strayed.
Bear Mountain State Park fall Hudson Valley
Getty

On Wednesday, January 4, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced plans for one giant hiking path from Manhattan to the Great White North. Plans are already underway to connect Buffalo to Albany through a series of trails along the Erie Canalway, which would then hook up with a trail that starts in Manhattan's harbor and goes all the way to the border of Canada—one of Traveler's places to go in 2017—near Montreal. Connected, the Empire State Trail would be over 750 miles long, fully paved, the largest state multi-use trail in the U.S., and completed by 2020 if enacted.

Cuomo has proposed spending $200 million over three years to pave 350 miles of gaps between the Erie Canalway, which is nearly 80 percent complete, the Hudson Valley Greenway, which is close to half finished, and the completed State Bike Route 9. The East Coast Wild adventure would include the Adirondack Mountains, Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, Saratoga National Battlefield, Fort Ticonderoga, plus it would likely bring revenue and visitors to the surrounding towns and villages along the path.

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"The trail is great as it is, but closing those gaps will make it so much better," said Erie Canalway spokeswoman Jean Mckay told New York's NBC 4 about the Empire State Trail proposal. "If you're riding with your kids across the state, it feels a little scary when you have to go on the road for a couple of miles."

No news yet on whether or not the trail would connect with Canada's own transcontinental trail, which clocks in at 14,864 miles. Either way, we'll have to start walking the grid of Manhattan to prep for this, like, now.