Erie Canal

We left off last week in Waterford NY and the start of the Erie Canal. You have a choice to make at Waterford, straight on the Hudson and the Champlain Canal or turn left on the Erie. We are traveling with our radar arch down to clear the bridges on the Erie but can't get short enough to clear a 17' bridge on the Champlain route...we turned left.

The first day on the canal we went through 8 locks and covered just 40 miles. The 1st 5 locks are within 2 miles of leaving Waterford. I imagine people who have never locked before may be pretty intimidated at the beginning.

Lock 2

 The equipment that runs the locks and maintains the waterway is vintage to say the least but everything is lovingly maintained by the employees. Everything is brightly painted in blue and yellow and the grounds around the locks are park like with picnic tables and landscaping. Most locks have free walls to tie up to for a quick walk or even overnight.

Polished Brass Controls.

 The tug Urger was built in 1901 and came to work on the Erie in 1922, she still looks great.

With the first 5 locks being so close you pretty much left one and pulled into the next. After these we were over 200 feet above Waterford and only 2 miles away.

Most of the 155 miles of the Erie that we covered were not very "canal" like as it follows the Mohawk river. What most folks think of as the canal is in the western section that leads to Buffalo. We would be exiting at the Oswego Canal that will take us to Lake Ontario. Along the way we really took a step back in time and saw some interesting sights in only a week. Below are a few pictures to prove my point....

One interesting lock on the Erie is Lock 17. It is the tallest lift on the entire canal at 40' and is one of only 2 in North America where the lower door lifts over your boat as you enter.

Another stop that took us back in time was New Sylvan Beach right at Lake Oneida. This place has an amusement park that takes me back to Coney Island in Cincinnati. I think some of the old rides and games must have come form there. Anyone else remember going down that big slide on a burlap sack??

Another find at New Sylvan was May flies....it was June 30.

Lake Oneida can be nasty on a windy day but we had a very smooth crossing. A few miles later we went through our last lock on the Erie and turned right on the Oswego Canal.

We are now in Oswego NY on the shore of Lake Ontario. We've been here for a few nights and Jill's sister Amy and boyfriend Alyn joined us for a great visit.

Amy (Alyn missed the photo op)

This has been a really nice town to visit over the 4th of July weekend. They had a huge parade on the 3rd followed by fireworks. It's funny how late the fireworks are but it stays light so late. They didn't start till almost 10 and it was still twilight. Can't wait to see what Georgian Bay is like!!

We will be leaving Oswego tomorrow heading across the lake and up the St. Lawrence river into the 1000 Islands. We'll be in Clayton NY waiting for a new AC pump before crossing into Canada and heading back toward the Trent-Severn Waterway. I assume we'll still find WiFi at some places and will try to get out a blog or two before we get back to the US in mid August.

Our phones will be off while in Canada but we will have one with a different number for use there. If any of you friends and family get a call or text from the 315 area code it's probably  us....please answer, we may need money!

Happy 4th of July from upstate New York!! See you in Canada.