Daily stats
Start: 9:00 AM - Entrance to Erie Canal - Troy, NY
Finish: 10:00 PM - Outside of Schenectady, NY
Time: 13:00 Hours
Daily dist: 23 miles
Total dist: 3600+ miles
Companions: Pam joined Bill and I through the flight of 5 locks in the morning
Weather: Hot mostly sunny and windy
Notes: It took an unusually long time to go thorough the first five locks because they were short staffed today.
In only about two miles of horizontal distance, the “Flight of Five” locks at the east end of the Erie canal lifts boaters, I’m told, higher than any other series of locks in the world. To experience this unique feature of the canal, and to share a bit of my journey, Pam joined Bill and I at the put in this morning. By 9:00 we were all launched and ready to go, however, before we entered the canal Pam and Bill suggested that we take a quick side trip to check out a local waterfall. A few minutes of paddling up a branch of the Mohawk river brought us to a very beautiful channel wide water fall. After grabbing a couple quick pictures we headed back out to the canal and resumed our journey west.
Start: 9:00 AM - Entrance to Erie Canal - Troy, NY
Finish: 10:00 PM - Outside of Schenectady, NY
Time: 13:00 Hours
Daily dist: 23 miles
Total dist: 3600+ miles
Companions: Pam joined Bill and I through the flight of 5 locks in the morning
Weather: Hot mostly sunny and windy
Notes: It took an unusually long time to go thorough the first five locks because they were short staffed today.
In only about two miles of horizontal distance, the “Flight of Five” locks at the east end of the Erie canal lifts boaters, I’m told, higher than any other series of locks in the world. To experience this unique feature of the canal, and to share a bit of my journey, Pam joined Bill and I at the put in this morning. By 9:00 we were all launched and ready to go, however, before we entered the canal Pam and Bill suggested that we take a quick side trip to check out a local waterfall. A few minutes of paddling up a branch of the Mohawk river brought us to a very beautiful channel wide water fall. After grabbing a couple quick pictures we headed back out to the canal and resumed our journey west.
Pam
Pam in the lock
Because of a short staffing issue, the locks took much longer to negotiate than normal and we ended up not clearing the top lock until 1:00 PM. Bill and I knew we’d never do the twenty odd miles we’d planned until after dark but we wanted to put in the miles so we settled in and made it happen. It wasn’t just a mindless grind though, the area is stunningly beautiful and our route was marked by two more locks. To mark our last day on the water together, Bill and I decided to treat ourselves to dinner at the “Jumping Jacks” burger stand which is located right off the canal. The place was crowded with tourists and locals alike all enjoying one of the first truly nice weekend days in a while.
With bellies full of excellent burger stand food, Bill and I pressed on to and through Lock No. 8 before pulling over at a local community park to camp for the night.
With bellies full of excellent burger stand food, Bill and I pressed on to and through Lock No. 8 before pulling over at a local community park to camp for the night.
Bill at rapids
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