Old Jimma from the Old Country from Endicott, Maine, Union Center, Albany, Buffalo, Fredonia, Brocton on 1/1/2023 2:18:37 PM:
Golly! That's a hard question to answer! Could it depend on personal tastes and preferences about the weather?
Here is a web page from the NY State Dept of Conservation that describes cross country skiing activities in the state's many parks: https://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/353.html
You may be well advised to focused on that page's info for Regions 6,7,8, and 9... since they cover geographic areas that the canal runs thru. Also, you might be able to use info on those pages to identify areas that pertain more specifically to where the canal is.
I think weather in NYS has changed somewhat over the past 50 years... that may be described as being more variable with greater extrenes,,, with perhaps even greater severe snow storms and sudden "corrections" in winter temperatures that would not be good for XC skiing. Probably best to do a little research on daily temperatures for the locations you are interested in... that can be found with a little effort on the National Weather Service web site.
Good luck and have fun!