Cruising the Erie Canal

 **  Waterford, NY to Oswego NY  **

The Erie and Oswego Canals

Life has slowed down, we went from the big city lights and a city that never sleeps, to a comfortable cruise up the Hudson, to a different life along the Erie Canal. We didn’t really know what to expect, so much of our focus has been about the awe inspiring locks of the Trent Severn Waterway (Canada) that we didn’t think too much about the New York Canals we would be transiting first with the Erie and Oswego Canals. Our only prep was humming along to “I gotta mule her name is Sal, fifteen miles on the Erie Canal.” We would be transiting 194 miles on the two canals over six travel days and 29 locks.

Waterford, NY to Oswego, NY

The Erie Canal was built between 1817 and 1825, the original Canal traversed 363 miles from Albany to Buffalo connecting the Hudson River to Lake Erie. It was the longest artificial waterway and the greatest public works project in North America. The canal put New York on the map as the Empire State – the leader in population, industry, and economic strength.

Originally four feet deep and 40 feet wide, the Erie Canal cut through fields, forests, rocky cliffs, and swamps; crossed rivers on aqueducts; and overcame hills with 83 lift locks. The project engineers and contractors had little experience building canals, so this massive project served as the nation’s first practical school of civil engineering.

Remnants of the old Erie Canal

For eight years in rain, heat, and cold, they felled trees and excavated, mostly by hand and animal power, mile after mile. They devised equipment to uproot trees and pull stumps and developed hydraulic cement that hardened under water. With hand drills and black powder, they blasted rocks. Their ingenuity and labor made the Erie Canal the engineering and construction triumph of its day.

Canal Homes

The present canal was completed in 1903 and follows more the natural rivers and lakes of the area, crossing over the original ditch from time to time and you are able to still see some of the original locks and bridges along the way. Today the canal depth is 12’ and it is 340 miles long. We would lock through 20 locks and be lifted 420’ and then go down 57’ through 3 locks before turning off onto the Oswego Canal to motor to Lake Ontario.

Waterford – beginning of the Erie Canal from the Hudson River

The Town of Waterford is at the eastern end of the Erie Canal. The harbor hosts Lock 2, the start of the Waterford Flight. The Flight is a series of five locks spanning just about 2 miles and raising the canal way by 169 feet. The Erie Canal Visitor Center is here as well as free docks along a park wall setting. Typically, you can plug into power for $10, but our day found them working on upgrading utilities, so no services were available. It would be our hottest day of the loop this year with the thermometer topping out around 90. The heat wave hitting most of America was creeping into Up State New York too. We are able to run fans with our inverter and our sleeping quarters cooled off nicely. The overnight temperatures were also in our favor.

Sights along the canal

Following one night in Waterford, we gathered as a flotilla of five to begin the first lock of the day. The Waterford “Flight of Five”, moved fairly quickly, but it did take our crew the first few locks to get into our rhythm. A few verbal sparring matches in the beginning and then we settled into our routine. There is always a little more tension on board in locking and docking situations. Each lock varies from how high you rise or drop, how much turbulence there will be (how quickly they let in or out the water), which way the water is going to push you, and the makeup of the mechanisms to help you lock up or down. The “flight of five” all had cables and lines. We would tie a boat line around the cable that is vertical to your boat midship and then the line slides up or down with you. We then grabbed a rope at the bow and/or stern that hang off the lock wall and hold on during the rise or fall. With the turbulence of the water rushing in or out you can lose control of your bow or stern and must pull hard to pull it parallel, always watching the side of the boat so you don’t scrape your way up or down or hit one of the vessels surrounding you.

Locking procedure – enter in low water chamber, exit after chamber filled, tie off to pipe, grab lines, hold on, for dear life sometimes

Some days it’s easy and calm, other days it’s a wild carnival ride you can’t get off. You just never know how it is going to play out.

Waterford Locks

Our buddy boat, Live the Dash got into their rhythm too. Amazingly, 11 year old Lauren and 8 year old Reed did most of the work and did it well. Emily usually is in work mode (she works full time while cruising) and Jordon supervises and adds comic relief. Guess we need to incentivize Lauren and Reed to join our crew.

Live the dash kids working the locks

We did our “flight of five” plus one over 20 miles and completed our first day in Scotia, NY at the city docks. For $30, you could tie up and have power nestled along a channel by a large city park and near the downtown. What a deal!

Scotia, NY

Our dock location also included a ski show. A large ski school launches their boats about 100 yards from the city docks and uses the channel for their practice area. This channel is off the main canal. Ski practice went on a couple of hours, just feet off our bow.

We got into our groove the following day and things went much smoother running through eight more locks over 48 miles in seven and a half hours. Rain was moving in, so we covered more ground than planned so that we could sit out the next day on a town wall with power.  Rain doesn’t always bother us while cruising, but with the locks and wind it was a no go day for us.

Along the canal

We stopped at the little town of St. Johnsville. One night found us venturing out for dinner in a bar that was straight out of a horror film, a few characters in the bar included, and the second night in the rain we retreated to Live the Dash for dinner and a wonderful meal prepared by Jordan, who has turned into the chief cook of the crew and the Now or Never crew are always in for a treat when he’s cooking.

Life on the boat in the rain

We stayed up much later than our looper midnight (9 pm) to cheer on our granddaughter Abby, who was competing in NCAA track and field championship in Oregon. Representing her University of Cincinnati Bearcats in pole vault, she vaulted her way to All – America status, 2^nd team, finished 15^th, and is the only Bearcat pole vaulter to ever to be awarded this honor. She also holds the school record. She certainly has made us proud not only on the field but in everyday life. We appreciate Live the Dash’s hospitality and network provider access to watch Abby. What a great night.

All-America Abby

We also witnessed our 2nd wedding of the loop in St. Johnsville at the town dock park, this one with a twist, the officiant was a furry. Needless to say it captured our attention.

Marina park wedding with furry officiant

We would continue our week with stops in Little Falls and Ilion before setting up a run across Lake Oneida from Sylvan Beach. Each town a little different, we were able to find a treasure in each town, might be a diner, a grocery store, a place for a haircut, or a good park. Each providing town or lock walls or town docks.

River Falls and Ilion, NY

Arriving at Sylvan Beach where Lake Oneida begins, the wind and surf were up. Like way up. The following day it subsided just a bit and Live the Dash would cross, but the Now or Never crew remained on the wall one additional night to await calmer seas.

Sylvan Beach, NY

The wind so fierce that when Live the Dash aborted docking in the strong winds and a line was still hooked to the boat, it pulled the ring cleat right out of the concrete. Our crew watched from our boat behind in fear that the force and ring would hit the first mate. Luckily, it did not and all could laugh about it later.

Ring cleat memorabilia for Live the Dash

With just our luck, May flies arrived at Sylvan Beach overnight, that all too familiar invasion of these critters that cover your boat and die within 24 hours. Captain Dave would spray down our decks in the morning trying to rid Now or Never of their presence.

Our chosen crossing day of Lake Oneida, the 20 mile wide lake was beautiful, the lake was calm and we had a great cruise. As we entered the canal at Brewerton on the far side of Lake Oneida, Martins greeted us and began cleaning our boat from the May flies or Canadian Soldiers as we called them from our Lake Erie boating days. Lots of lots of birds diving, hovering, and catching a ride aboard Now or Never.

Martins greeting us in Brewerton, NY

We docked at Ess-Kay Yards in Brewerton for what was supposed to be two night. We fell in love with the mom and pop marina setting. As we needed some boat work done and part of the Live the Dash crew was heading home for two days, our stay was extended.

Over the past week or so, a pesky small coolant leak had become more pronounced. Concerning to the captain, Ess-Kay provided a good place to have it looked at. They worked us into their schedule within a day of arriving, confirmed our captain’s diagnosis, ordered a new heat exchanger, installed it, and we tested it with a shakedown cruise, all within five days. Pretty remarkable in the marine world. It all fell into place.

Ess-Kay Yards in Brewerton, NY

Ess-Kay was nestled along the Erie Canal with close proximity to Syracuse (easy flights and lots of services around). The marina had a big yard we backed up to with picnic tables, trees, and a hammock. A great ships store and a courtesy car that Tasha took advantage of. We set up camp in the yard, gathered for meals, drinks with other boaters, and even worked on this blog post under the tree on a hot day. The wind and shade during days in the 90’s provided the perfect backdrop for a comfortable setting.

While awaiting boat work, we did miss out on a trip to Niagara Falls, a bit disappointing as we hadn’t been since we were kids. But the boat running properly trumps fun. We were able to make a daytrip to Clayton, NY with the Dash crew to the Antique Boat Museum. Regarded as the premiere freshwater boating museum in North America it was a treasure trove of days gone by and the classics, some 320 of them. Our captain found a sister boat to his first boat he owned on Lake Erie, a 1964 Elgin 150 power boat. Captain Dave’s was in red. We would return to Clayton in a few days aboard Now or Never so this gave us a glimpse of what was yet to come on our voyage.

Sister boat to Dave’s first boat

Road trip to antique boat museum in Clayton, NY – Flat top was Alan Jackson’s boat

After eight days it was time to head up the Oswego Canal. The Live the Dash crew got delayed on their return from Minnesota, which left their captain motoring to Oswego singlehandedly through 8 locks. Jordan maneuvered Live the Dash like a pro and it set us up for our Lake Ontario run the following day. Our first lock of the day was the last of our 22 Erie Canal locks.

Canal Junction

We traveled 161.5 miles before turning north on the Oswego Canal. The Erie Canal would continue west with 12 more locks connecting with Lake Erie. The confluence of the two canals (Erie and Oswego), known as Canal Junction and was 7 miles west of Brewerton.

Jordan and crew Sherman soloing through locks

The Oswego Canal connects the Erie Canal to Oswego Harbor at Lake Ontario. The Oswego Canal is fairly short, only 24 miles, it drops 118 feet through 7 locks and has long provided a critical connection to Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River.

This would be the end of our New York Canal voyage at Oswego, NY right on the southern bank of Lake Ontario. We were happy the Dash crew returned to Oswego, it had been a little quiet the past few days.

New York Canals

The canals were amazing, like most of this trip. Beautiful, quiet, historic, and serene. It was great cruising and an experience we won’t forget.

Oswego, NY – end of the New York Canals

One night in Oswego before we would embark on our voyage across Lake Ontario to the Thousand Islands. Wow! We are back in the Great Lakes; it’s feeling a little like home.

Cheers!  David, Tasha,  

                  & Remy forever in our hearts!  –   Loop Dog for 1 year and 3357 miles

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