Erie Canal

We passed another milestone today - 2000 miles. We are now over halfway to our goal of reaching St. Paul, MN by autumn (assuming the floods on the Mississippi River are done by then!)

Oops--checked the mileage just a bit too late

The past three days on the Erie Canal have been a bit of a surprise. I hadn't done much reading on the Erie Canal before we got here, but all of the photos of the Erie Canal that I recall seeing showed a typical canalscape--a narrow artificial waterway and picturesque canalside towns. Not quite what we've encountered so far. The present canal runs through the Mohawk River from just outside of Waterford to the town of Ilion (which is where we are this evening). The river was relatively wide near Waterford and has narrowed as we've moved west.  But river cruising it is, complete with current. The original canal of the early 1800's was very narrow and very shallow, and improvements were made continually in the years after its completion.  The modern Erie Canal dates to the early 1900's, as mule power was replaced by engine power. Much of the original old canal no longer exists.

Erie Canal/Mohawk River

Original side cut canal now
 used for water overflow

We have adapted our expectations and have enjoyed the unexpected river cruising. It's very green and very peaceful, except for the trains which run rather frequently on tracks quite near the water. Wildlife sightings are limited, but we've seen a few herons, as well as ducks and Canadian geese.

Current and Next Generation Golf Course Fertilizers

One of the main points of interest in traveling rivers and canals is going through the locks that allow us to change elevation. So far on the Erie Canal we have "locked up" 17 times--9 locks on Thursday, 5 on Friday, and 3 today. Yesterday's locks were probably the most challenging.  Significant cross-currents at the entries to some of the locks threatened to grab the boat and push it places it really shouldn't go--like hard into a lock wall. Lon did a great job of driving CARIB II safely into the locks so that I could set the lines to keep us secure as the water rose.

Lots of current created by
 the water over the dam

Lock 14

Pat holding CARIB II against the lock wall

Inside Lock 17

Our "lock buddy" in Locks 16-18: 84 feet of tugboat

Hurricane Irene in 2011 and flooding last year caused significant damage to many locks on the canal. At several locks repairs were ongoing.

Lock repairs underway

Several of the towns along the canal have built very nice areas for transient boaters and we've specifically sought these out for our overnight stays.

St. Johnsville Marina and RV Park

In walking through the towns and villages it's apparent that they've seen better days--such as during the heyday of the Canal when it was full of commercial traffic. Like small towns everywhere they are trying to reinvent themselves. Hopefully bright spots such as the Riverlink Cafe in Amsterdam (where we had a great dinner on Thursday) and the Bridge Street Bakery and Cafe in St. Johnsville (breakfast this morning) will survive the tough economic climate and help to breathe new life into their towns.

The towns were doing a good job in one important area . . . .

Ice cream in Ilion

Ice cream in St. Johnsville

Pat and St. Johnsville
 cone

It promised to be an interesting combo in Waterford.
Unfortunately, the ice cream parlor no longer existed.
Guess the awning was too expensive to replace.