Erie Canal

I’ve been lucky enough to add several blog posts over the last little while. Time and wifi enabled. So I wanted to make an entry dedicated to this wonderful canal system that the state of New York is kind enough to maintain for our boating pleasure.

I won’t bore you with the history, which in itself is very intriguing, and I’ll try not to talk about the not-so-friendly lockmasters, because they are easily outnumbered by the good and the great ones. What I really want to talk about is the atmosphere, and how it feels to be travelling down an old waterway, made by man, but still belonging to nature. And if I get some of the small facts wrong, I apologize, those who know me, know that perfect is not something I am capable of, nor willing to strive for.

First of all, for lock virgins, those who have never been through a lock, relax, its way easier than you think. The first couple will be tough, and you make little mistakes, but by the end of this system, you’ll be a pro, hopefully with very few scratches in the gel-coat, or dents in the end of the mast for those sailboaters with the stick hanging out either end. My only advice would be to get a 2”x6”x8’ fender board for the starboard side of the boat, or the port if you prefer using that side to tie up on. Two boards if your boat is longer. I almost didn’t get one, but found one laying in the pile in Oswego, and figured what the hell, its here. Without it my fenders wouldn’t have made it this far. Some of the lock walls are rough concrete.

Also, if you are the type that needs to have clorinated water, hot showers, and cafes, every night, you will probably miss the real feel of the system. You need to stay on lock walls, talk to the lockmasters. Or, as I have found out, lore-masters. These are the guys that know the system, history, structure, and happenings. To really get a sense of the how incredible this place is, you need to part of it, and the “lore-masters” are your doorway to a great experience. Don’t get me wrong, the little towns along the way are great, and the people for the most part have been extremely friendly, and helpful. Driving us around, offering to drive us around, directions, information, etc… Some places that have become popular have started to charge like marina’s, and unfortunately are loosing some of their appeal, especially to those like us, on a restricted budget. But there are still plenty of places along the way who will welcome you with open arms, and a free place to tie up your little ship.

The only thing that you really need to watch out for is the debris. From the eastern end of Lake Onieda on down there is a trail of debis left over from the floods back in June of this year. Most of the dead heads are stuck on bottom near the shores, but it is still important to be vigilant. And, don’t drive at night, especially if you have exposed props like a power boat.

Lock 16 provided us with an awesome view of natures power. When the flood came this year, lock 16 was where the torrent found its way back to the river. The water surged over the lock approach walls where a hoard of boats were tied up, ripping out the road, and tearing a swath down an old creek bed. When we originally saw the gorge left behind, we thought it had been made by machines; it was inconceivable that water would have done that, especially in such a short time. We were spared the real picture, because so much work had already been done to clean up the mess, and it was still phenomenal. We had stopped over in Little falls to do laundry and get a pumpout, and I made a trip over town to the hardware store. Little Falls, was the start of the flood of 2013, still not totally cleaned up, and in the hardware store the shelves from about waist high down were still covered in mud left over from the flood. A storm drain blew out just above the store, and the flood waters rushed in the back door breaking out the front window on their way through. Destruction was everywhere, and the cleanup effort had hidden most of it. This is a pretty common experience along the canal. Every few years somewhere gets nailed. 2006 was especially bad, and then again in 2007, like the gentleman in the lumber store said, “its happened before, it’ll happen again”. Sometimes it almost seems like a badge of honor for these people to have survived mother nature’s onslaught; but I have a feeling that they would rather have not had to go through it.

I am afraid that I really don’t have the words to explain how wonderful this trip has been so far. This is something that needs to be experienced first hand, no one can tell you.

For us, it is unfortunate that we have so little time going through, we would love to stop at every little place that had a free dock, and explore. Perhaps another time, when we have a different agenda. We know that we can never go back, so we’ll take this great experience with us and create a new one our next time around. 

I think the lock troll lives in here.