22 Locks down, 8 to go

Inside one of the lock chambers. Ahead are the
gates of the next lock.

We left Waterford on our Erie Canal trip westward on Wednesday June 24, having enjoyed our stay at the dock & meeting several other boaters.  At the time, we didn’t know that we’d meet up with them again for the next two evenings, since we all chose the same town docks to stay at.

The Admiral has everything under control

The first set of locks are 5 locks packed very close together, called the “Waterford Flight”.  Their claim to fame is that they provide the highest lift (about 150’) over the shortest distance of any Canal in the world.  The lock operators coordinate their lock doors so that one group of boats can proceed all the way through in about 2 hours’ time.  And it takes about an hour to cycle the locks.  So we’re sitting at the Waterford dock monitoring the VHF radio to time our departure to the first lock, and suddenly we see the lower gates opening up.  We either leave right now, or wait for an hour until the next cycle.  We unplugged shore power, threw off our lines, & were underway in about 2 minutes!

 

 

 

Approaching Lock 7. Lower gates are open & water
leaking thru the upper gates.

These locks are different from those on the Tennessee River and the Tenn-Tom Waterway in that they provide long wet dirty slimy ropes to hang on to or to wrap around the boat cleat, rather than providing floating mooring bits.  Using their ropes tied to the top of the lock, we’re at the bottom of the lock 30+ feet from the attachment point, which allows us to swing away from the lock wall by 10-15’.  Several times, Sue had to go back to the helm to power us back against the wall, so we didn’t hit the other boats in the lock.  Not a real good design, but I guess back in the days of the barges & the mules, it looked good on paper.

The Admiral volunteered to handle
the slimy ropes inside the locks

First the road bridge, then the lower gate lifts vertically
then the chamber & upper swing gates

We locked up during the first 20 locks, as we progressed west through the mountains of central New York.  The past 2 locks leading to Lake Oneida were descending.  Sue guided the boat to a perfect landing inside the lock 21 times, where she had to stop the boat within 4’ of the hanging rope, while simultaneously be only 1-2’ away from the lock wall.  And only once did she end up with a “do over” landing, but it was a doozy!

 

 

 

Tied to the small town dock of Amsterdam NY

We stopped for most nights at small town docks (yes, the towns were small & the docks were also), which were very inexpensive.  And for a couple more nights, we stayed at free docks, which had no power or water, but they were free!  Some people think we’re rich because we have a boat; but in truth, we’re NOT rich because we have a boat!

 

At Amsterdam, an unexpected water ski show right next to the boat!

At the wall of Lock 18 for the night.  It's FREE!
Note the spider web of dock lines, since there were only 2 places to tie.

 

We’ll finish the Erie Canal soon & head north to Lake Ontario via the 23-mile Oswego Canal.  Then we’ll wait for a weather window to go out onto the lake for our trip down the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Cruising the Canal through the NY mountains, sure looks a lot like the Tennessee River

 

A Canal working tug, sporting the colors of the NY State Canal Corp