Lisa Saunders, a Canalway Challenge Ambassador, shows off the back of her T-shirt, which encourages folks to speak to her about taking their own Challenge!
Lisa and Jim Saunders seen completing their 360-mile Canalway Challenge walk with their "end-to-ender" sign at the Erie Canal "East End" marker in Albany on April 23, 2025.
I just became an "end-to-ender," having walked 360 miles between Buffalo and Albany to complete the Canalway Challenge. When we commenced our journey five years ago, we assumed walking a mostly level path would be easy – but there were challenges! We've been chased by mosquitoes, biting flies, hissing geese and lightning. We've endured torrential downpours, floods, ice, blinding snow, chafing underwear, and aching feet. Yet, we found a way to persevere and enjoy the beauty and engineering marvels along the way. My book, Walking the Erie Canalway Trail: A Search for 7 Wonders, Bathrooms and Beer to Stop CMV, shares our adventure and struggles along the way ("Read sample to learn how and why we endured!).
Now I'm a Canalway Challenge Ambassador and excited to report that everyone can take a Challenge, with a goal that can range from 1, 15, 90, 180, 200 (only during bicentennial) and 360 miles (Challenges found on the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor website). My mom completed the One-Mile Challenge with me pushing her in a wheelchair. I am registering my walking grandson for the One-Mile Challenge with the hope I can encourage him to add his one mile to complete the 15-mile Challenge (kids can also become Junior Rangers). People can sign up as an individual or as part of a team. "People with disabilities and their family and friends are invited to take the 1st Mile Challenge or get going with Virtual Miles" (eriecanalway.org/explore/challenge). Those who find it difficult to get on the trail can exercise at home and earn up to 15 miles by watching 15 trail travel videos. Finishers of the various Challenges receive a certificate, magnet, sticker, and Erie Canal 200 commemorative patch. (More info on Canalway Challenge at Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor: FAQs and www.facebook.com/ErieCanalway/ or in my interview with Ashley Quimby-Simoni, Communications, Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor, on SEC-TV at: "Erie Canalway Challenge.") I had registered my 360-Mile Challenge with my husband as a team: “Lisa & Jim Saunders to Stop CMV, #1 Birth Defects Virus.” The website helped me keep track of our miles, where we stopped and started, and favorite sites along the way. When we finally reached Albany on April 23, 2025, I visited New York legislators asking them to pass a bill dear to my heart (my light-hearted, one-minute video shows how we advanced our cause on the Trail.) When we reached halfway across the state, I shared our story in the 30-minute video, “Hiking the Erie Canalway Trail, Vote on 7 Wonders, Stop CMV." When we completed our trek, I was interviewed on PAC-B TV. (My PowerPoint: "Walking the Erie Canalway Trail".)
In my upcoming speaking engagements (noted below my signature), I will discuss how my husband and I walked the Erie Canalway Trail between Buffalo and Albany and the issues faced by sedentary folks seeking to become "end-to-enders." I will also share my investigation into where my Great Aunt Rebecca allegedly drove into the Canal and how my ancestor Jacob Leach, an engineer and a distiller of whiskey, helped plan the opening of the Canal in 1825 with Governor Clinton's boat parade. I will feature my choices for "The 7 Wonders of the Erie Canalway Trail" and explain how anyone can take the Challenge, which ranges from one to 360 miles.
My next goal is to take the 15-Mile Challenge as a kayaker, so perhaps we'll meet on the Erie Canal!
Sincerely,
Lisa Saunders, Canalway Challenge Ambassador and author of Walking the Erie Canalway Trail: A Search for 7 Wonders, Bathrooms and Beer to Stop CMV
LisaSaunders42@gmail.com
Upcoming presentations include:
Hear the story of Canalway Challenge Ambassador, Lisa Saunders, who walked the entire trail from Buffalo to Albany, to bring attention to a worthy cause (congenital CMV), and to solve the mystery of her great aunt's tragic death. Lisa is the author of several books, including, Walking the Erie Canalway Trail and Mystic Seafarer's Trail. Weds, Sept 17, 2025, Noon, Baldwinsville Rotary Club, The Wood on Canton St., Baldwinsville
March 3, 2026, 6:30pm, Beauchamp Historical Club, Van Buren Town Hall (Baldwinsville, NY)
Saturday. June 20, 2026 1-3pm, Clay Historical Association.
BIO: Lisa Saunders of Baldwinsville is a Canalway Challenge Ambassador, an "end-to-ender," having walked 360 miles between Buffalo and Albany, is an interviewer for PAC-B TV and in addition to "Walking the Erie Canalway Trail," she is the author of several books, such as "Mystic Seafarer's Trail," which features her defeat as a sailor when she abandoned ship.
Lisa said, "I am am also a descendant of Jacob Leach, a Canal engineer who was on the planning committee when the boat parade came through Lyons 200 years ago!
"Jacob Leach (1777-1853), one of the first shopkeepers in Lyons. He was a miller of flour, distiller of whiskey, a member of Humanity Lodge, and an engineer on the first and Expanded Erie Canal. Jacob had his first whiskey distillery on the same property as The H. G. Hotchkiss Essential Oil Museum, but on the banks of Ganargua Creek before it was moved because of canal construction.
"Jacob helped celebrate the opening of the original Erie Canal by welcoming Governor DeWitt Clinton, a passenger on the Seneca Chief, to Lyons. The boat parade “occurred Oct.26, 1825, at the time the two ends of the canal were united in Lockport, and the 'waters were let over the mountain range.' The unique feature of the celebration throughout the state was the transmission of the exact time by firing of cannon – 24 and 32 pounders – distributed along the canal eight miles apart, a total distance 365 miles from Lake Erie to the Hudson River." In Lyons, the "32 pounder, one of the cannon in the chain across the state, was stationed on ‘an eminence west of the village overlooking the canal.’ At sunrise a salute of eight guns was fired from this piece. After the gun had passed along this ‘grand salute from the east,’ a procession was formed which marched through the principal streets of the village to the ‘new brick meeting house’ where the exercises of the day were performed consisting of prayer, psalm singing and oration by G. H. Chapin"(“’Grip's’ Historical Souvenir of Lyons," 1904).
"Jacob's 10th and last child, Augustus (also my ancestor) was born during the famous Erie Canal 1825 boat parade and grew up to become an Erie Canal engineer. Work on the Enlarged Erie Canal began in 1835 with Jacob Leach as resident engineer in the region. Jacob built (with Robert Ennis) "the section extending west from Perrine's hill to the poorhouse lock [Lock 56]" (The Sisson Family of Lyons, NY, 2005, p. 233). Jacob Leach died in 1853 at the age of 75. He is buried at the Lyons Rural Cemetery."
Photo caption for the following images
Jim and Lisa Saunders pushing Mary Ann Avazian on the Erie Canalway Trail in DeWitt for a photo shoot for Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor. Photographs by Call of the Loon Productions.
NOTE TO: local parks, businesses, recreation departments and canal sites:
If you wish to promote the Canalway Challenge in your community, I can have the following supplies sent to you:
Outdoor banners (3' x 6'). Banners will arrive directly from the printer, rolled up in a tube.
Posters (11" x 17"). Usually mailed in a cardboard envelope so they don't get wrinkled.
Rack Cards
Trail Cards
Stickers
Please give me your address where they should be sent, or contact:
Ashley Quimby-Simoni, Communications & Outreach Manager, Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor, at Ashley_Quimby-Simoni@eriecanalway.org
(for my interview with Ashley, click on "Erie Canalway Challenge").
Media coverage of our 360-mile Challenge
Eagle Newsroom: “B’ville couple completes Erie Canalway Challenge: Saunders continue to spread CMV awareness” (Edwards, A., May 19,, 2025). (Print)
Eagle Newsroom: “This CMV Awareness Month, mother continues to share her story” (Edwards, A., June 19, 2024).
CNY Central: Baldwinsville mother applauds federal push to protect babies from CMV - CNY Central (Coleman, M.,March 8,2024).
The Citizen: “Bill in Congress aims to boost CMV newborn screening, research” (Robert Harding, Mar 8, 2024).
NBC3: Baldwinsville couple's advocacy inspires legislation for CMV awareness (Coleman, M., Nov. 30, 2023).
Eagle Newsroom: “Baldwinsville couple walking Erie Canal, raising awareness,”(Baldwinsville Messenger, print, Davis, J., Oct. 25, 2023).
Democrat and Chronicle and Lohud,: “New York begins screening newborns for CMV virus that causes birth defects. What to know” (Robinson, D., Oct. 4, 2023)
USA TODAY: This virus is a leading cause birth defects. Why isn't it screened more? (Eduardo Cuevas, 2023, print).
The Citizen: “NY to begin pilot CMV newborn screening program” (Harding, R. Sept. 28, 2023).
Public Access Channel Baldwinsville: The Path to CMV Prevention - 03/20/2023 (my 30-year cytomegalovirus journey and laws passed and hoped for).
The Post-Standard: "How a Baldwinsville mother fought for 30 years to pass a law that might have saved her daughter", Emma Vallelunga, Jan.1, 2023, Syracuse.com, Dec. 27, 2022 (Facebook).
CNYCentral.com:”Baldwinsville mom celebrates new law in daughter's name to protect pregnant women, babies,” Coleman, M., Dec.15, 2022 (Facebook).
The River Reporter: Viral alert: A silent virus that scars for life, Dec.13,2022
New York Family: “Elizabeth’s Law for CMV Education Passed in New York”, Kaitlyn Riggio, Dec. 8, 2022.
Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor: “Congratulations to Lisa Saunders, Author/TV Host and her husband, Jim, two Canalway Challengers who have walked half the length of the Erie Canal to raise awareness [of] the impacts of cytomegalovirus (CMV)” Dec. 6, 2022
The Citizen: “Our View: Elizabeth’s Law poised to help families avoid heartache,”The Citizen Editorial Board, Dec. 1, 2022
The Citizen: "Hochul signs 'Elizabeth's Law,' named for Auburn native's daughter, to raise CMV awareness", Robert Harding, Nov. 29, 2022.
Twi-Lights, “Trail Works Inc. Recognizes CMV Awareness on National Trails Day” Fall 2021, p.5-7, TRAIL WORKS, INC.
The Citizen: "NY lawmakers OK CMV awareness bill named in honor of CNY couple's daughter", Robert Harding, June 1, 2022.
Eagle Newsroom, "Baldwinsville couple advocates for 'Elizabeth's Law' to stop cytomegalovirus: Bill named in memory of their daughter," Dec. 14, 2021.
Spectrum News: "Couple pushes for law in memory of their daughter" (Houghtaling, J., Jul. 01, 2021). Includes an interview with Dr. Sunil Sood.
Finger Lakes Times, "Trail of Hope celebration in Lyons marks CMV Month in New York" (Buchiere, S., Jun 11, 2021).
Finger Lakes Times: "MAKING A DIFFERENCE: Couple brings awareness to threat to infant health: CMV", (Buchiere, S.,June 4, 2021).
The Citizen: "NY Senate passes bill, named for CNY couple's daughter, to boost CMV awareness", (Harding, R., June 2, 2021).
Syracuse Woman magazine, "Fighting CMV One Step at a Time (p.28)", (Vallelunga, E., May 2021)
The Citizen: "'Elizabeth's law,' named for CNY couple's daughter, would boost CMV awareness", (Harding, R., May 4,2021)
