We’ve had a month with Keith and Gayle on board. We’ve seen a lot and had a great time.

We, along with Keith and Gayle, took a week to tour non NYC New York. Other than the NYC area, New York has five cities about the size of Spokane WA. Everything else is smaller. Since New York was our most populated state until California overtook it a few decades back that was a surprise. We managed to visit Albany, Syracuse and Rochester.

Our high point was Letchworth state park which boasts three waterfalls and the deepest canyon on the eastern US. We saw the upper and middle falls and ate lunch in the small but very classy (tablecloths!) restaurant there. It has been voted the best state park in the US by some organization for several years running and has a sign up to prove it. Certainly the best state park we’ve ever seen. If you’re ever anywhere near it don’t miss it.

Letchworth middle falls. Just noticed I selected all Letchworth photos for this post. It was a great place.

We also went over to Niagra Falls, Canada and took the famous boat ride. The boat ride past the American falls was nice, and into the Canadian falls was very impressive. There was a lot of water in the falls for this time of year and being at the bottom of a huge waterfall stretching 180 degrees around us was something we have not done before.

Whenever we eat with a real table cloth I have to include it. The food was great as well.

Keith and Gayle left us to see Montreal and then return to Australia. We will leave Sunday morning for Canada, the Trent-Severn canal, Georgian Bay and North Channel. After that we will return to the US at Mackinac Island. Then it’s down the length of Lake Michigan and into the rivers at Chicago.

Letchworth Park upper falls and rail bridge. Still used. A train crossed 5 minutes after this picture.

Altogether that should take about a month and a half.

We turned right to go north up to Oswego on Lake Ontario.

Today’s 25 mile trip on the Oswego canal took us through seven locks, all down to Lake Ontario’s level. Locking down is almost always without turbulence, but lock O3 was an exception. There is a power house and dam just left of the entrance, and with high water in this section of the canal water was running off to the left something fierce. I could see turbulence welling up throughout the area before the dam and powerhouse and it came right up to where we were. I turned to the right and countered it pretty well, but then headed too far right as we entered the lock, corrected and headed too far left, right toward the left wall.

We saw wildlife on the Erie and Oswego canal. This deer was on the Oswego.

We saw three bald eagles today and caught two of them with pictures.

You need some headway to fight currents. Maybe I should have had more, but fortunately I was at idle speed and so could put the right starboard engine into reverse to both slow the boat and turn the nose right. At faster than idle speed the forward motion in the water keeps the prop spinning forward, which is enough to kill the engine when you shift into reverse. A dead starboard engine would be real bad while running into a wall on the left. We almost had a chance to really test those big fenders, but not quite.

Heavy recent rains closed the Oswego canal for a week. It opened the day before we were on it.

We traveled beside the river for the last three locks.

There were seven locks in all with the last three in a row just before we stopped for the day. That gave us a total of 29 locks on the Erie and Oswego canals, plus one lock on the Hudson just before Albany. That’s 30 locks from NYC to Oswego.

Other than locks, the trip was another great one with outstanding scenery. Due to high water the canal authority had no wake speeds for the entire Oswego canal, so we quietly glided along at reduced speed. The high water caused the river to flow faster, so we picked up 1 ½ miles per hour extra much of the way.

Upon arrival we rented a car and planned a road trip to include Syracuse, the glass museum in Corning and Niagara Falls.

Only one down lock after Oneida Lake.

Today we crossed Oneida Lake the long way, about 20 miles. Not too scenic since the lake is shallow. The deepest part is 45 feet, so we stayed in the center and watched for a few markers showing shallow spots. We zigged and zagged a little to keep our wake further from a number of small boats out fishing.

After crossing we entered the Oneida River. This had houses and docked boats along both sides, since we were on the northern edge of the Syracuse area. We slowed down on this portion and seemed to just glide along with little noise or impact on the water. There was only one lock, down with no drama.

We docked and took the loaner car to two supermarkets and stocked up on food and bottled water. Tomorrow we’ll finish this US portion of our trip in Oswego NY, on the south shore of Lake Ontario.

The Erie has been the most interesting part of our cruising yet, so I had to include a few more pictures. Will the Trent-Severn be even better? Can Sue and I do it on our own? We’ll see soon.

Ready to exit one lock with another ahead.

Erie cruise boats must clear 20′ bridges. In the east part it’s 15.5′.

Another dam beside a lock. This one not so hard to get into.

We had to wait here about 20 minutes while they flushed some wood out of the lock.

First down lock on the Erie. Different feeling to come in and look down ahead.

Ready to leave first down lock.

Sut and Keith getting onto the boat at Silvan Beach

No marina that can take our size boat at the east end of Oneida Lake, so we’re on a long wall that runs from the entrance to the lake back past an amusement park and a city park. No shore power or other facilities, so it’s like being at anchor except we can walk off the boat.

Just one not too long main street. Reminds me of where I grew up.

We did just that to explore the only main street of town. Just a few blocks long. This is a summer resort town for this area of the state. It reminds me of Coeur d’Alene in the 50’s, including the long gone Playland Pier amusement park. There are a number of ice cream shops, a post office and just a few other businesses. There are a few restaurants, but everyone here eats at Eddies. We already had dinner in the crock pot on the boat, but we’ll try that next year. Yes, we’re planning to loop again next year.

Urger was parked in front of us. The historical site plaque on its cabin shows its the flagship of the Erie tug fleet.

Since we can’t hook up to shore power tonight we are testing the power systems on the boat for anchoring. It’s all doing better than expected. We unhooked from shore power about 7 AM this morning. Now it’s after 10 PM and the genset still has not kicked in. That’s including using the microwave periodically throughout the day, running the TV awhile and cooking dinner in the crock pot. No air con needed today and Sue did not wash clothes or run the dishwasher, but everything else can be powered by the battery bank all day.

Greg put our new anchor on the front yesterday. We’ll have to try that sometime.

On the wall at St. Johnsville

We traveled more than 40 miles today, through locks E8 to E15. We are docked at St Johnsville Municipal marina where Greg has finally met us to fix up a few things that broke loose. He had to drive his truck up to Maine to work on another boat anyway, so this is not too far out of his way.

We had more drama this time at E13 and E14, where the dam is right beside the lock and makes a lot of turbulence that pushes into the long concrete wall on the other side. The boat wanted to go into the wall so I corrected. By the time we got into the lock the correction put us into the other wall. We got to exercise our big new “lock fenders”. These are 36×27” balls that hang down near the front. We bounced (and scraped a bit) off the rough concrete lock walls. We have not hit the boat yet but we have given those fenders a workout.

Dams beside the lock can cause sideways currents when entering.

The “stair step” locks E2 to E7 were easier yesterday because the canal separated from the river for them. Also where we entered E2 the was dam considerably upstream on a calm deep river.

St Johnsville is very small. It does have a small downtown, but no chain store area outside of it. Every house but a few that we saw had paint falling off and needed maintenance. Yuppieville this is not. There are frequent trains, both passenger and freight, that travel north/south between the town and the marina.

Two hundred feet up from our marina quarter mile long welded rail sections were laid from this train.

The marina is also a campground and has nice facilities. The westward section of the Erie Canal, which we will not travel, has been blocked for weeks due to high waters from unusual amounts of rain, so some larger boats wanting to take that trip have been waiting here and at a few other marinas for a long time.

The first half of our trip was rainy, with overcast the rest. Yesterday was perfect weather. We dropped the dinghy and have taken several trips up and down the river between locks E15 and E16. Pretty foggy this morning but sunny and warm later on.

Not all locks have turbulence. We just glided into this next one. No effort at all.

New York State Capitol building. It cost 2.5 times as much as Alaska, and really is pretty nice.

Except for NYC and its surrounding cities, cities in New York, from more to less population are Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany. We were as close to Albany from Schenectady as from Waterford, and so spent July 3rd there. It was worth seeing, especially the state capitol building. William Seward was governor here before he worked in the Lincoln administration where he purchased Alaska. He must have recognized what a deal Alaska was since the New York state capitol cost 2 1/2 times as much to build.

Senate chamber and one of many staircases in the capitol.

When Teddy Roosevelt later became governor construction was still in progress until Teddy simply declared it finished. You can see places where the carvings just end.

Indoor store for the Silver Fox Salvage company. A bit of everything here and a lot of history of Albany.

On the way back to the boat Keith spotted an interesting salvage company yard. They also had an indoor part.

We’ve just come into the first lock.

Today was the big day. I meant to get into the canal on July 1, so we’re only a day late. We locked through with four boats each time. We took the front right side of the lock all the way through. I learned that a group of boats going through a close sequence of locks keep the same relative position in each lock. This allows them to put their fenders of the port or starboard side and keep them there.

Looking back in the first lock, before the back gate closes.

All the Erie locks are 328 x 45 feet. This gives room for a gate swing at one end and three boats like ours along one wall. Four would fit but it would be crowded and more difficult to keep off each other. The original Erie canal was only 15’ wide. Our 16’ beam would not fit into that.

Right at Waterford we split off from the main stream of the Mohawk and went into the first lock. That turned out to be a bit hair raising as we figured out the best way to tie up our boat in an Erie Canal lock. Over the past year the educational videos and information I’ve had indicated you tie off at both the front and the back to hold your boat against currents and turbulence from the incoming water when locking up. When we got there the tie up cables were vertical, recessed into the wall, and about 80 feet apart. We finally wrapped our spring line, at midship, around the cable and held the boat at only one point. I bought a canal pass from the lockmaster at the first lock, and learned from him that we did things the right way.

Sue and Gayle relaxing on the Mohawk river (Erie canal).

Locks E3 through E6 came one after the other, each opened and expecting us as we arrived. Once through these we rejoined the Mohawk. At each lock there was lawn on both sides, picnic tables, restrooms and everything a park would have. The lock areas double as parks and people come here to watch the boats. The Erie has a bike path along it as well. There are homes and small neighborhoods along the canal and the Mohawk. Not the mashed in home after home seen in other waterfront areas. It’s more spread out with lots of green between. One of the best “postcard cuteness” areas in the US.

We’ve just risen in lock E4. The gate for E5 is a little to the left.

Sign in lock E6.

The Erie is way prettier and more interesting than we imagined. Now I understand why the couple in the boat ahead of us last night will be spending this entire summer in the Erie.

Our final lock of the day was E7. A few miles beyond that was Schenectady Yacht Club where we are stopping tonight and tomorrow. Like our last two marinas, a pretty small place, but nice enough and right by a bridge.

We rented a car and the ladies are shopping at Target now. It seems like we’re out in the country at this marina, but the stores are just a short distance away from here.

Star Gazer at Waterford Visitor Center free dock. They ask for $10 donation to use the power. Great deal!

We turned off the Hudson at Waterford, 20 miles north of Albany. Waterford Harbor Visitor center is a free marina right at Erie Canal lock E2. Lock 1 is no more, apparently of historic significance. The canal is part of the Mohawk River. Where the river is dammed, a side channel with one or more locks has been constructed. We’ll be traveling on the third canal. The charts I use still show some old abandoned canal sections alongside the current one. I’m told that in one place a part of the previous canal goes over the current canal in a water filled bridge.

In the meantime Waterford, 25 minutes north of Albany, is an interesting small town. We saw a bit of it driving through on our way to Walmart for resupplying. The last major resupply was in Washington NC. We saw more in walks to the area across the bridge at our marina. We stayed an extra day here because it was forecast to be rainy all day. Not stormy or dangerous weather, especially in the rivers and canals we’re in now, just wet and a bit miserable. It turned out not so bad. I’m getting a bad reputation as a weather forecaster these days. I’ve done OK on wave heights and storm conditions, but pretty bad on rain.

The hot weather we had from Washington NC up to NYC went away when we got on the Hudson. Hudson weather was breezy and very agreeable overall, but we did have some light rain and a bit on the cool side on the last leg from Kingston to here.

I’m standing just ahead of where we’re docked. Under the bridge you see the lock E2 gate.

Anyway tomorrow and the next few days should be great. Water in this part of the Erie Canal system is maybe a foot higher than normal, but we should get under all the bridges. The lowest is right in front of us, made a little lower due to construction. The 4^th street bridge will be 20’. Keith and I measured the boat and decided it is maybe a bit less than 19’ high. I was thinking it was 20’. Looks like we’ll go under everything here.

Locks open at 8 AM tomorrow. I’m told nearly all boats go westward this time of year, so they should be opening in sequence to get us through quickly.

Old town Kingston from the old canal channel.

Tonight it’s Rondout Yacht Basin in Kingston NY. It’s more a small marina than a “Yacht Basin” with our boat clearly larger than any other here. This was an old PT boat base in WWII. At least four 75’ long PT boat hulls are partially wrapped up on the opposite bank of the river waiting for…?

Here is a Wikipedia quote about this historic town: “It became New York’s first capital in 1777, and was burned by the British on October 13, 1777, after the Battles of Saratoga. In the 19th century, the city became an important transport hub after the discovery of natural cement in the region, and had both railroad and canal connections. Passenger rail service has since ceased, and many of the older buildings are part of three historic districts, such as the Stockade District uptown, the Midtown Neighborhood Broadway Corridor, and the Rondout-West Strand Historic District downtown.”

We were in the last of the three districts mentioned above. While it’s called a city, it seemed more like a small town to us. Our 1 mile trip up Rondout creek (part of the above mentioned canal) to get to the marina had woods on the left and historic buildings on the right. We crossed under a new highway bridge and an old single lane suspension bridge currently under repair.

We had decided to stay only the night, although I’m thinking maybe we should have taken another day here. I still want to get onto the Erie Canal by July 1, however.

The smallest of all Vanderbilt mansions. The only one owned by the national park service.

We did not get to tour through the town because we discovered one of the Vanderbilt Mansions open for tours in Hyde Park a few miles across the river. Franklin Roosevelt’s home was there also, but we had time for only one.

We toured a Vanderbilt home last year and this home leads me to the same conclusion: Whether the rich really are getting richer I don’t know, but for sure they don’t live now like the Vanderbilt’s did then. They were truly a class apart. This was one of the smaller houses by Vanderbilt standards but still plenty big.

We finished off the evening at a restaurant on the river. We ate by the rail overlooking the water in the old part of town. A scenic, beautiful setting. If only the food had measured up, but you can’t have everything.