The Erie Canal

More than 175 years ago, the Erie canal was opened to traffic along it's 363 mile route with 18 aqueducts and 83 locks that elevated 568 feet from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. Much has changed since that time and there are only 34 locks on the entire canal. We will leave the canal at mile 160 to take the Oswego Canal into Lake Ontario and then into the Trent-Severn waterway across Ontario into the Georgian Bay area of Lake Huron.

The town of Waterford is where we start the Erie Canal; it is the oldest incorporated village in the US. They offer a free dock and electricity for $10. Usually you are only allowed to stay for 48 hours but because the canals are closed further west due to heavy rain we could stay longer.

Boats would come and go as many decided to start the Erie Canal and others ventured up the Lake Champlain route to Montreal, the St. Lawrence Seaway, Ottawa and the Rideau Canal system. We had originally hoped to do that route but is is much, much longer and we just don't have the time.

We stayed in Waterford three nights. On the second day we did quite a bit of exploring on our bikes and met one gentleman who took us and our bikes on a tour of the Cohoes Falls and the town of New Harmony.

The falls are impressive; one of the largest falls east of the Rockies and supposedly second only to Niagara Falls (a distant second if that is true).

The Mohawk River plunges 100 feet and then joins up with the Hudson near Waterford.

We had gotten a ride up to the falls and then it was a nice downhill run back to Waterford through Harmony Mills. Back in the 1870's, this was the site of one of the most technologically advanced cotton factories in the U.S. The Cohoes Falls were used to generate water power for the five huge factories. The town was called Harmony Hill and was completely controlled by the company; most of the factory workers were women and children. The company finally closed in the 1930's, one of the factories burned, and the others are now being converted into upscale condos.

After several days of doing chores, errands and shopping it was time to move on.

The first set of locks rise 169' in less than 2 miles, it's called the Waterford Flight; the greatest rise in the shortest distance of any canal in the world! This our first big lock, lock #2, it will take us up 34 feet. Our first big lock - obviously we were a bit nervous! (Note the construction on the bridge before the lock - this lowered the clearance so we lowered our mast.)

You slowly enter the lock and wrap a midship line around a cable, and hope you got your brand new big bumpers situated correctly. Valerie handled that line as I tried to get the boat in position and stopped and then grabbed one of the hanging ropes to help keep us steady. The main doors closed and up we went - much faster than we would have thought. No problem! One lock down, God only knows how many to go!

The lock has multiple 36" culverts that permit the water to flow into the chamber and the ride up is quite smooth. Before you know it you are up and ready to get to the next lock.

The locks are really close together and we just kept going up and up. This is from lock #4.

Once we got through the "Waterford Flight" the locks tend to be smaller in rise and are actually a bit more of a challenge; they really have the big locks figured out for an easy ride up. Most of the locks also have a dam next to them which causes some turbulence.

But the waterway is quite scenic

and even has the occasional private mansion. Called "Llenroc" (Cornell backwards), the five story structure has 30,000 square feet, 15 fireplaces, 10 bathrooms, an indoor pool and a bar with portholes that look underwater into the pool. Just something cozy for the weekends.

We were traveling with Werner and Kathie and decided to anchor below Lock 8 in a stream behind the Isle of Oneidas. Usually you can tie up to the walls on either side of the locks but the lock master told us the wall above the lock was full with construction barges. The stream was fed by the dam at the lock and so we had a gentle current keeping in the middle all night; perfect.

Hauled anchor at 7:30 to get the first lock opening at 8:00. We are actually on the Mohawk River through much of this first part of the canal. We passed the ruins of the Mohawk Carpet Mill factory which was a huge business at one time but is now in ruins.

But some enterprising individual decide to decorate the top of one of the 80' stacks with a Volkswagen Beetle. Nice job!

The river is paralleled by the I-90 interstate much of the way; it's strange to be motoring along at 7.5 mph next to transport trucks doing 70!

We stopped at mile 60.5 at the Canajoharie Riverfront Park with free docks and electricity. Canajoharie was the home town of the Beech-Nut Company (see the white building in the background) which produced all kinds of baby foods, canned food, gum, meat, you name it.

The company was originally controlled by the Arkell family and they were dedicated to keeping the factory in this town and treating the workers fairly (novel approach). The ladies working in the factory got free manicures on their breaks while listening to live piano music! The company eventually was purchased by Lifesaver's which closed the factory and moved production to a new site. Not much going on now.

Canajoharie means 'the pot that washes itself' in Native American and was named that because of the natural formations in the river where the water swirls around in a basin.

We spent the day touring the gorge, the town (local Irish Bar for refreshments) and the Arkell Museum with a nice collection of paintings. On the main drag in town there is a traffic light mounted about 3' off the ground in the middle of the road. They call it the "dummy light" because it's not smart enough to get off the road. I just had to have a hat with that light on it - fit for a dummy! I'll send pictures....

We went through one lock where the gate drops down vertically instead of swinging open - apparently there are only two locks like this in North America, one here and one in Canada.

When we had asked about the clearance the lock tender said "around 20 feet" - we need at least 19.6' so we lowered the mast again! Spooky going in under the gate and then it closes and you rise almost 40'.

Moved on the next day to Herkimer which was settled by the Palatine Germans, 18th century emigrants from the Rhine region who settled in England in 1709 and then in NY in 1722. Tied up at a free wall next to a restaurant, had dinner there which was great except some nitwit forgot to turn off the outside music; got serenaded by Barry Manilow all night! Yuck.

As we move along you see lots of Canal System barges, dredges and tugboats, all painted in the distinctive blue with yellow trim.

And the occasional classic yacht.

This is a very scenic area and you can see large farms in the hills in the distance. We are basically going between the Catskills to the south and the Adirondacks to the north.

Hurricane Irene really nailed the lock system in 2011; there were many locks that were completely ruined. One lock tender told us the water was so high it was going through the windows of the lock house. The lock system has these guard gates which apparently weren't up to the job.

One more lock up and we reached the top: 420' above sea level. It's all downhill from here.

Stopped in Rome, NY at town docks for the night and visited Ft. Stanwix. Originally built in 1758 and completely restored. It is so large I can't do it justice. It was the scene for many battles during the Revolutionary War.

Then off to Sylvan Lake which is at the beginning of Lake Oneida, the only big body of water in the Canal - about 25 miles long.

Got another nice spot on the town dock, next to a small amusement park, lots of restaurants and ice cream stores and the requisite beach. Place is probably jumping in the summer.

Left at 5:30 in the morning for a perfect crossing of the lake. Past the original lighthouse

and then caught up with a sailboat that had left a bit earlier. Beautiful morning.

We spent two days in Brewerton at the Ess-Kay Yards marina getting mail, packages, shopping, etc. Marina owners (Kim and Ethan) entertained us with stories and advice on the next steps of our journey.

Up early and started the downhill locking to Oswego and Lake Ontario. The water levels are still high so locking down can be a problem. The deck of the boat is several feet above the dock and you have to grab the cable that is a foot below that. In several cases Valerie had to get off the boat, lie on her stomach and then loop the line around the cable, this is while the captain is trying to keep the boat in one spot. Some fun.

At mile 160 we turned right to Oswego, another 25 miles or so to go.

Stopped between Lock 7 and 8 at the town of Oswego. Once we go through Lock 8 we will be at the entrance to Lake Ontario and that is the end of the Erie Canal system. We will spend at least two nights there; the weather was pretty dreary but we did get in a tour of the restored Fort Ontario and the downtown area. The fort is pretty impressive but Valerie has pretty much had it with old forts.

And on the way back to the boat one more cool canal tugboat.

We have traveled 2,086 miles in just slightly over 2 months, burned $2,312 in diesel fuel, and God knows how much wine, beer and booze. No major foul-ups, didn't go aground or wreck the boat. So far so good. We will wait for a decent weather window to cross Lake Ontario and see what happens next.

The Hudson River

We stayed a second night at the anchorage by the Statue of Liberty across the river from Manhattan, just being lazy and enjoying the lack of pressure to keep moving. Went for a bike ride to see Liberty Landing Marina.

And unexpectedly ran into our slip mates from Utsch's Marina (Pat and Dick on "Gypsea"). They had arrived only a few hours before that after the long slog up the Jersey coast.

Off the next day, headed up the Hudson River to Croton-on-Hudson, about 35 miles north. Waited for the tide to start to turn in our favor. It wasn't at first but then eventually we were doing 10 mph instead of our usual 7.5.

We had a good view of the new tower, the New World Trade Center.

And the battleship Intrepid museum on the waterfront.

Who knows what this architect was thinking? And God only knows what it's supposed to be!

Approaching the George Washington bridge with barge traffic.

And then under the bridge.

We made good time up the river and got to the Tappan Zee after a brief rain shower.

Then only another five miles to the marina at Croton-on-Hudson.

Suz came on the train from NYC for a visit and to spend the night. Just had to take a selfie on the way to the restaurant!

Went out to dinner (long walk) and then back to the boat for more drinks! Then up early to see Suz off for the 6:20 train back to the city.

Rented a car with Kathie and Werner for some sightseeing. Beautiful day for a drive along the Hudson.

First stop, West Point Military Academy for the army. This is where they produce the future generals. Briefly toured the visitor's center and then went on a one-hour guided tour.

West Point is a huge campus, over 16,000 acres, with multiple buildings, churches, stadiums, parade grounds, etc. I can't do the entire history (and it has a lot, dates back to the Revolutionary War) but it is a most exclusive school; every year they have over 15,000 applicants for the program and yet only 1,200 are accepted. 

We went into one non-denominational chapel that had beautiful stain glass windows.

And a pipe organ with something like 22,000 pipes! Here's the keyboard.

The commanders have their own houses on the campus.

Next to the beautiful parade grounds.

And the requisite statues to the fallen soldier - this one is for the Civil War soldiers from the North and overlooks the Hudson.

We then drove north to Hyde Park to have lunch at the Culinary Institute of America which is quite well known for the chefs that train here.

We had to wait for 45 minutes to have lunch at one of their restaurants which is run entirely by the students. Very good.

The we drove a few miles north to see the FDR residence at Hyde Park but it was getting late and we had an hour and half drive back to the boat so we just took a quick look around and left. Hey, you've seen one mansion you've seen them all.  But we did manage to squeeze in a side trip to the Croton Dam. 

The dam is only about three miles from the marina and the first thing you see is the waterfall. Construction started in 1892 and it was finished in 1906. The dam is 266' wide at its base, 297' high and 2,188' long. It took 850,000 cubic yards of masonry to build it and at the time, it was the tallest dam in the world.

According to one guide, it is the third largest masonry block structure in the world, only the Great Wall of China and the Giza pyramid are larger. The masonry is amazing. And it holds 19 billion gallons of water.

And the spillway for the dam is built right into the existing rocks.

You can then drive up to the top for an impressive view of the dam.

And look how perfectly it was made. Amazing.

So other than some laundry and last minute chores that was enough fun for one day. Returned the rental car the next morning and started off up the Hudson. There are very few anchoring spots here, the water goes from 140' to 2' in an amazingly short distance so we made a reservation at a marina for the night.

There are train tracks on both sides of the river; east side if for passenger trains and has two or more tracks while the west side has only one track for commercial traffic. 

It's hard to do it justice but this train was carrying tankers and was right on the edge of the water.

Valerie counted 109 cars being towed by two engines.

Most of the homes are separated from the river by the train tracks but this small group of homes seem to be clear of the tracks 

until I saw a train zooming by in their back yards. The poor people have waterfrontage, but also have a train track in their yard, while the rich have their mansions high above on the cliffs.

I couldn't figure out what was going on here until I spotted a swimmer in the water; can't make it out in the picture but the boat and kayak were escorting him/her down the river. Headed for NYC?

Then past West Point where we were the previous day. Boats used to be able to tie up at their dock but of course 9/11 ruined that.

And then past the Civil War Memorial from a different angle.

On Pollepel Island are the remains of the Bannerman Castle. Bannerman was a military surplus magnate who had a huge warehouse of munitions and equipment in NYC and moved most of the stuff here. In 1920, 200 tons of shells and powder blew up and that was then end of that!

And then on into the West Shore Marina for one night; no anchorages in this part of the river . No pictures because you're not missing anything! But the train did go right through the marina yard!

Off the next morning for an uneventful ride up to Kingston. More neat light houses in the river, this one dates back to 1871.

We went past Hyde Park and the Culinary Institute where we had lunch earlier.

And past the Rondout Creek lighthouse

to a nice anchorage at the end of the creek

with pet Canada geese

And interesting kayakers.

Took the dinghy down the creek that evening for "docktails" with fellow cruisers at a marina.

Showers and thunderstorms that night and a breezy day up to Schodack Creek; past more lighthouses.

Nice wide creek jutting off the Hudson got settled and spent a breezy afternoon on the boat. Next day was warm and sunny and we worked on varnishing the rails. 

Shortly after noon we got dive bombed by sea plane.

He was doing practice landings, sometimes called "crash and dash".

Rain that evening and a drizzle the next day so we spent another day at anchor doing chores and reading. Off the next day past Albany, the capital of New York.

How'd they get that truck up there?

And then into the Troy Lock, #1 of the NY State Canal System.

And then the moment of truth: Which way do you want to go????

We went left for the Erie Canal and tied up at the Waterford Visitor center, just at the entrance to lock #2 and the official start of the Erie Canal.

With boats waiting to lock up the first lock.

That's the end of our Hudson cruise and will be the start of the Erie Canal. We will stay here for several days doing laundry, groceries, etc. There are many towns along the way but apparently most are very small with limited stores and services.