Erie Canal - Part 1

 TRAVEL DAY 69 - Shady Harbor Marina to Waterford

July 5, 2023

3.8 Hours/24.7 Miles

    Sort of a rough start for this day. The night before, a microburst or something like it roared down the Hudson right at dark. The storm came in so quick and so violent it was unbelievable. In the aftermath, 1/2 of the docks (including the floating dock we were on) broke loose, twisted and pushed together. We were fortunate along with the other boats that we had no damage. Remarkably only a few suffered some scratches. The next morning our boat was trapped between the damaged docks. After the outer boats were moved, the marina staff disconnected and removed the finger dock blocking our way out so we could float our boat back. Once out into the river, we were on our way. 

Erie Canal or Champlain Canal?

    "Low bridge, everybody down, low bridge, we're coming to a town, and you'll always know your neighbor and you'll always know your pal, if you've ever navigated on the Erie Canal..." words from a song written by Thomas S. Allen in 1905 and covered by everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Veggie Tales was going through my head as we started "Betty" our trusty Volvo and pulled away from the dock headed for the historic Erie Canal.

Mule and their handlers pulling a barge on the Erie Canal

    Today's short journey took us past Albany and to a free dock in Waterford. We continued to dodge logs and debris as we fought the 1 mph current.  Transitions from one waterway to the next is always exciting. Once through the Federal Lock above Troy, it meant no more tides and slower currents!

Top of the Federal Lock & Dam

    With a 14' elevation lift, we cleared the Federal lock and came to the intersection of the Erie Canal and the Champlain Canal. We took a turn to port to the Erie, which is also the Mohawk River. This route will get us to Lake Ontario. We pulled up to  Waterford Harbor Visitor Center hoping for a free dock with electric, unfortunately the dock was full. We had to instead tie up to the wall. With no electric and a 90 degree day, we ran the generator for several hours to cool us down until the sun set and the temperatures dropped down some.

New Baltimore to Waterford

TRAVEL DAY 70 - Waterford to Amsterdam

July 6, 2023

5.5 Hours/36.9 Miles

    The Erie Canal was completed in 1825, connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. It is mainly a recreational waterway but does serve some barge and tow operations. Time to test our locking skills again, this time it would be 9 locks and a total elevation change of  240.1'.

    

"Low bridge everybody down..."

Amsterdam

    It was a long day but breaking it up with the lock sections made it fun and interesting. The lock masters are great and they get the boats through quickly. These locks fill and drain quicker than any locks we have done so far. The operator doesn't waste any time, as soon as the last boat is in, they are shutting the doors and preparing to flood the chamber. The number of boats in the chamber is limited to the wall space on both sides and they will lock through a single boat if that is the only vessel.  Today we traveled with 6 other boats each taking our position on the walls. The order into the lock, is the order out.

    

Lock Entrance

Top of the lock

    At Schenectady, 2 boats veered off for the night and the remaining 4 others and Pau Hana traveled on to complete the flight of locks and land at Riverlink Park in Amsterdam. This dockage was affordable at $1/foot and included electric. We were relived to see that there was still room when we arrived behind the faster boats. We had to lay up against a very high wall but we were still close enough to hook up our electric. Ahh, A/C without the generator noise. 30 minutes after we arrived, 2 other very large boats showed up and rafted together on the wall but were not able to plug in. 

Pau Hana "Chuggin' Up the Erie Canal"

    We made plans to meet with the other crews at the Tiki Hut for Trivia Night. 2 of the other crews were also folks we had briefly met in Half Moon Bay. We pulled tables together and ordered food and drinks. Our group of 8 made up our Looper Braintrust to challenge the Millennials at trivia. We had a great time and our group was able to secure a win at both rounds of trivia. Our first place wins gained us 2 free rounds of drinks. We really wanted the second place prize of free ice cream and offered to trade with the other group but they declined so we had to buy our own ice cream.

 

Looper Braintrust

    

Waterford to Amsterdam

TRAVEL DAY 71 - Amsterdam to Little Falls

July 7, 2023

6.35 Hours/41.9 Miles

    Seven more locks today. We pulled out a little early with one other boat, Next Chapter to tackle the next 7 locks. Still stepping up, today's adventure would gain us 108' of elevation. 

Little Falls

    We proceeded up the Erie as the Mohawk River continued to narrow, dodging the occasional "deadhead" but never seeing less than 12' of water under our keel. The debris was worse inside some of the lock chambers as that is were it tends to gather.  Fuel is scarce on the Erie and the few places that have it are expensive. We knew we could get reasonable fuel in Brewerton but that was farther than we could travel on our remaining diesel supply. With 1 lock to go, we pulled into St. Johnsville Marina and added 25 gallons and dropped 3 bags of ice in the cooler. We now had more than enough to get us to the cheaper fuel on the other side of  Oneida Lake.

Beautiful Views

    Once back out on the Erie we continued on. Just before Lock E17, the last one for the day, we got a call from our buddy boat Next Chapter. They waited at the lock entrance for us. This was a gracious thing to do as this lock was the highest lift of the day at 40.5'. Had we missed this lock, we would have had to wait well over 30 minutes for them to fill, then drain the lock of  5 million gallons of water.  We pulled into the massive chamber under the still dripping guillotine door, which is different than the traditional mitre gates of the other locks. As the gate banged shut, we were in a 60' well, exciting and a little unnerving. This lock is a port side tie only, and we figured out why when the water started to flood in, we noticed the strong current pushing us to the port side of the lock and against the wall.

Lock 17

Crew on the lock wall

    Out of the lock the view was spectacular and we couldn't help but marvel at the engineering feat of 1908. We were a short distance from our destination, another reasonably priced dock at $1/foot with electric and relieved to see a space at the floating dock.

Mohawk River Bypass

    We paid for the dock, shut down the boat systems and fired up the AC electrical systems. We grabbed our scooters and went across the water to downtown before the rain set in. We located Rock Valley Brewing Company, ordered a beer and a pizza delivery from a nearby restaurant. The bar tender gave us a lot of information about what to see and do while we were here. It excited us enough to decide to spend an extra day. 

Little Falls Marina - Rotary Park

DAY 2 - Little Falls

    We slept in and then made plans for a hike to Moss Island. Moss Island is located at Lock 17 between the Erie Canal and the Mohawk River. It became an island when the canal locks were built so boats could avoid the 40' falls. The island has "potholes" and cave like rocks on it as well as many, you guessed it, mosses. It was a great hike and we can always use the exercise. 

Great day for a hike

Moss Island Pot Holes

   While we were at Lock 17 we were able to see some Looper friends locking through. Looking down into the cavernous lock was almost as amazing as being in it. Their 43' boat looked puny in the chamber. 

Awelon-y-Mor in Lock 17

     After the hike we explored the town some then headed back to the marina. We got back just in time to help shuffle boats around on the docks to make sure everyone could get a spot for the evening. We all made plans to go to the Brewery and watch the live band for "Docktales". The Dockmaster Dave, gave us all a ride to Rock Valley Brewing and stayed with us for awhile. He was an interesting guy, a retired shop teacher so he & I had something in common. We hit the bunk around 10 pm for an early departure in the morning.

The Old Mohawk Dam

Docktales at Rock Valley Brewing

                                                

Amsterdam to Little Falls