Sylvan Beach to Clay NY

Days along the Erie have been basically the same. Rob took lots of pictures of cool working boats, which I liked too (despite the fact that the colors are Blue and Gold (UofM colors)/

 We started seeing houses and boat traffic as we got closer to Oneida Lake.  It's so much more interesting when you can view backyards, lawns, porches, decks... and boats.  Lots more pontoon boats in this section... including many with little enclosed cabins for sleeping... some also have canvas enclosures.  I've not seen this brand of pontoon before and it seems like a perfect Erie canal boat to me.  You could do a lot of exploring AND have quite a bit of space on a boat like that.

We spent a night at Sylvan Beach on Oneida Lake.

Unusual pontoon boat

Sylvan Beach has miles of lovely sandy beach... It's an old beach/resort town with a permanent (but small) amusement park at one end.  We had a fun dinner at a very large 50's style diner (and I don't mean it was 50's decor, but that it was probably built in the 50's).  The place was packed and the food was good.

Nice beach at Sylvan Beach... Those are boats anchored close to the beach; people swimming off them

The next morning we cross Oneida Lake which is a large lake but very shallow.  Everything I've read says for boaters to pick their conditions.  It was a calm trip for us.  About halfway across the lake, though, the water got greener and greener.  Right now there is a huge algae bloom problem on Lake Erie (Toledo residents can't drink the water)... so, even though we're not close to Lake Erie, I'm thinking we will see these conditions for the rest of our time on the Erie Canal.

We stopped for the day at Pirates Cove Marina which is in Clay NY.  Its a really friendly place, with a pool and restaurant.  I took advantage of the pool while it was still sunny and hot.  That night there was a live band playing at the restaurant...but we had a big storm and didn't venture out.  

It has rained nearly every night on this leg of the trip (since NYC) and we're getting really sick of it.  At least it has only been at night!  Rob purchased an umbrella somewhere along the Hudson, and I was sure that once we started carrying an umbrella, we wouldn't need it anymore.  That talisman didn't work!

Canajoharie to Illon (Locks 14-18)

We woke up to the strangest scene... clouds on the water?  ice?  It was frothy bubbles headed downstream from the dam.  They weren't there the night before, and they dissipated within an hour.  But it was a surprising way to start the morning!

Just when we were thinking that the day would be the same as yesterday, no houses to see, no interesting birds or wildlife, very few boats on the water and lots of locks...  As we finished Lock 16, the lockmaster told us a big cruise ship was coming in behind us.  He recommended we pull over along the wall on the other side of the lock and climb up to watch the cruise ship.  Besides, he said, you probably want to get behind this ship along the way.. you probably don't want to be in the locks going west with them.

So we climbed up on the lock, watched the big Blount Cruise Ship come through.  I talked to one of the crew.  There were 52 passengers and they were cruising from Rhode Island to Chicago.  Then they were doing the reverse trip with the next set of passengers.   I recalled meeting a C-Brats couple who had retired after being captains on these boats for years.  The boats were similar to the European River Cruise ships but didn't look nearly as nice.

While I was talking to the crew person, Rob followed the lock master around asking him questions.  He was great!

Built exactly to the width of the lock

After the cruise ship passed we climbed back into our little boat, and at the next lock, lock 17, we waited a long time for the cruise ship to get in and out... because this lock was HUGE and a lot of water had to fill and drain out of it.  Suddenly we were hailed; someone calling a C-Dory!  We didn't see them at first, but behind us was a Ranger Tug 29.  He, of course, knew C-Dorys.. (a predecessor to Ranger Tugs) and we chatted back and forth for the rest of the afternoon.

Lock 17 raises the water level by 40.5 ft.  It is the largest lock in the NY canal system and it is one of the largest (tallest) locks in the world.

We shared this huge lock with the Ranger Tug.. they had bow thrusters.. no fair!

The next lock was smaller but at a prettier town... "Little Falls,, NY".  The landscape had changed to become more hilly...and very rocky.  In fact there were people rock climbing in the park there.  It must have been a huge project to cut into these rocks and divert the falls to a power plant here.

Rock Climbers

At various points along the way we came upon these Guillotine Gates.  They are not part of the locks but a separate water control system between the locks.  It looks exactly like a big Guillotine and it is a bit freaky passing under them.

We said goodbye to our Ranger Tug companions and went on to the little town of Illon NY.  There is a small marina/RV park here which is really very nice....except that the water in this section of the river is full of flotsam and jetsam... just filled with pieces of floating trees, slimy water and floating junk.  Hopefully this is just a part of the river where this stuff gets "stuck" and we will move onto prettier water tomorrow.

Schnectedy to Canajoharie (locks 8-13)

We are "pros" now on the locks but we have many more to go!  Today we did locks 8-13 and pretty much, a lock is a lock and there isn't much to tell.  The river was pretty nice through here but the land, surrounding the river is fairly flat.  Very few houses to see, and we only passed a couple of boats.  It was kind of boring and the Activity Director started wondering if we should pull the boat and take another road trip.

Rexford Aquaduct 1842-1916

We did pass some ruins that made me think I was back in Italy.  Before there were locks, they connected the rivers (or by-passed waterfalls/rapids) with a system of aquaducts.  Typically the boats were towed by horses (mules, oxen) along the rivers.  And on these aquaducts there was a tow path across these stone archways.  Then, next to the towpath was a separate wooden trough on stone piles where the canal barges/boats were floated.

The other thing about this section of the river is that there is a freeway along one side and a very busy train track along the other.  It was so noisy!

We stopped at a lovely city park in Conjoharie where boaters are allowed to tie to the wall for free (no electric, no showers, but there are bathrooms).  Conjoharie is an Indian word meaning "pot that cleans itself".  Apparently there is a rock formation in the river or stream near here where it looks like the river is cleaning a pot?   Many locals were out walking the grassy park and sitting on swing/gliders to swatch the river pass by ((and it felt like we were on display).  Everyone was friendly and most stopped to talk.  The park not only had a highway on one side and the train on the other but there was a busy bridge between them.  A very noisy night was spent in Conajoharie.

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From the bridge

Burlington to Schnectedy... you can't get there from here

There aren't major highways between Schnectedy and Burlington... I guess that lake and the mountains get in the way.  We decided to go back along the other side of the lake.  It looked like, if you took the ferry, you could more easily reach a main highway.  Besides, wouldn't you want to ride a car ferry across Lake Champlain?

I could have titled this day "Battle of the GPSes"  (or is that GPI?)  We have decided our "good" GPS (a few years old) is doing nutty things so we also programmed our old (built into the truck) GPS AND my cell phone.  (Remember when the GPS was a new toy and hardly anyone had one?)  There seem to be numerous ways to get where we wanted to go, but none of them were particularly good... so we decided we'd follow "best 2 out of 3" routes.  

We finally got off two lane roads and onto the highway when the "Activity Director" (me) decided we really should go see Fort Ticonderoga.  It was about 30 minutes back off the freeway and back to the lake.  Rob initially balked, but he knew I was right (I usually am).  When will we ever come this way again?

The day was lovely and the setting, high on a point of land, overlooking the lake, is spectacular.  The fort isn't a National Park which surprised us, as it was so important in our history.  First it was a French fort.  Then the Brits overtook the fort during the French and Indian wars.  The fort was only lightly protected by the Brits but had a lot of cannon and munitions.  So Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Men joined forces with Benedict Arnold to capture the fort and move the cannon to Boston.  Somehow they got all these cannons to a hill outside of Boston, without the British finding out.. and Washington was able to capture Boston.  

The fort and surrounding grounds were purchased by a hotelier who had an inn here, and decided to reconstruct the fort as tourists were coming to see the ruins.  Eventually the fort and the family home and gardens were donated to a non-profit, and the non-profit does a fabulous job of making history come alive.  We were there on a weekday and there were "re-enactors" all over the place...all in tri-corner hats...even the guys working in the woods cutting brush out were fully dressed in uniform.

This is an earthen oven.. there are numerous small holes where loaves of bread were placed to bake

Inside the fort there were a couple of buildings like this.  Inside were museums or artisans demonstrating how things were done back then

A Who's Who list

The Adirondack mountains are exactly as you picture them from movies and TV.  We passed many gorgeous mountain lakes, and saw a lot of summer camps.  I smiled to think of all those summer camp movies!  Tiny towns on twisty roads...not many cars or people.. it felt like an undiscovered Lake Tahoe.  A wonderful vacation spot!

Sidetrip to Vermont

You probably don't associate Vermont with boating. We didn't.  We reached this sign and had to turn left or go straight.

We turned left to do the Erie Canal because many years ago I had seen a photo article on boating on the Erie and it planted this whole idea. Also, there is a restriction on "portapotties" in Ontario Canada so we couldn't legally go into Canada and down the St Lawrence.

But, since we were so close to Lake Champlain, and since Vermont was one of those states I had never visited, we docked the boat for a few days and took a road trip.  It was raining anyway.  In fact, its so rainy and cold that Rob has made the comment:  "Vermont looks so pretty.  We should come back in the summertime". (Recall that we are here in late July)

We looked for the Stafford Inn, owned by Dick and Joanna Loudon because we really wanted to meet Larry, his brother Daryl and his other brother Daryl.  We didn't find the Inn but along the way we did see the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory and also signs for the Ben and Jerry's factory.  Gorgeous farms and rolling hills... what we could see anyway.  I couldn't see mountains anywhere, though (because of the rain).  Since we missed out on meeting Dick, Joanna and crew, we settled on the Inn established by the Hamptons (aka Hampton Inn) just outside Burlington.

The next day was gray but at least not raining so we headed downtown to the lake and the Church Street Marketplace.  The area is gorgeous, even on a gray day.  Beautiful, well maintained, old homes and shops.  The college is very close to downtown and it has kept this very historic downtown vital and fun.

Here are some pictures of our day.

Lake Champlain

A yummy lunch (Rob had a watermelon beer; I had Vermont hard cider)

Love all the church steeples

The pedestrian friendly outdoor mall and restaurant row... 

Our new motto?

Cherry Garcia Street:  We were good and abstained... knowing that the Inn of the Hamptons specializes in homemade cookies in the evenings.