In winter, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario’s vast coastlines look particularly inviting from astride a snowmobile. Nab the opportunity and take New York and Pennsylvania’s Seaway Trail to snowmobiling trails unlike those anywhere else.
When snow accumulates on Pennsylvania’s Erie County trails, prepare for adventure. Traverse the area’s many game lands and connect to other trails from State Game Land Trail 102, nine miles northwest of Corry, PA. Park at the trailhead of State Game Land Trail 218, southeast of Erie City, and enjoy 1.5 miles of frozen ponds, snowy roads and drift-covered fields. Test your skills on numerous other short but thrilling state game land trails only minutes from the byway.
You have likely seen winter season stories about snow piling as high as the sky in Buffalo and Oswego County, New York. Thanks to what is known as a “lake effect” from the Great Lakes Erie and Ontario, winter in the Northeast can turn the Seaway Trail into a snowy playground. Some sections of the 518-mile-long America’s Byway record more than 200 inches of snow in a winter. With the highest recorded snowfall east of the Rocky Mountains, the Tug Hill region of Oswego County offers vast territory for snowmobiling. More than 340 miles of state-designated trails cross through Oswego County and provide unlimited access to the Tug Hill and Adirondack Park regions.
You can ride for 14 miles from one village to another on the Fair Haven to Cato Trail or travel 50 miles of trails through Winona State Forest on the Tug Hill Trails system. In Chautauqua County at the far western end of the New York part of the byway, trails lead you to the café at Cockaigne Ski Center in Cherry Creek. The St. Lawrence County Snowmobile Association at www.slcsa.org offers information for traveling 500+ miles of groomed trails. New York State Parks found alongside the byway also offer snowmobiling trails to enjoy.
Even the central section of the byway along Lake Ontario receives over 100 inches of average annual snowfall. The more than 15,000 registered snowmobile owners in the area enjoy the use of more than 500 miles of marked, groomed and insured trails that are part of 11,000-plus miles of snowmobile trails across New York State.
From Pennsylvania to New York the Seaway Trail follows the distinctive shorelines of Lakes Erie and Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. Take advantage of the byway’s many trails in numerous state parks, state forests and other areas for snowmobiling destinations worth your while.
