Gorgeous day on the water! The temperature got into the low 70s with a light easterly breeze of about 7 mph. We were headed west (more or less), which meant that as the canal changed direction our 8mph sometimes cancelled out the breeze. The picture at the right shows the beautiful sky and the American flag just hanging down since we are headed down wind.
Our trip was 40.3 miles from Fonda to Ilion, NY, and we had 6 locks with a total lift of 105 feet, which meant for a busy day.
The first three locks were 8 foot lifts on each one over a distance of over 20 miles. Then we reached steeper terrain with higher lifts as a result. We had spent the night tied to a free wall provided by the canal system, and our dock mate was the tug Waterford with her tow of floating sections of dredge pipe. Waterford left the dock early, but we passed her after the first lock. She would also turn out to be the only vessel that we were to see going in our direction.
In the second and third locks we had groups of Amish families viewing our lock through. The second group was about 30 adults and children who were very talkative and seemingly quite interested. The Admiral fielded questions ranging from "how much did the boat cost?" to "where are you from?". We thought that perhaps this was a school outing, but they said it was a holiday, and many of them had never seen a lock before. Out of respect for their privacy we did not take any pictures of them at the lock. The Admiral said that she did see one young girl reach out to touch the varnished rail with her finger and quickly pull it back before she would be noticed. She said that it was just the cutest sight.
We did see groups of their horse drawn buggies parked in the fields, as well as other groups fishing along the banks on the approaches to and from the locks. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the outing on such a beautiful day.
The canal had recently been closed in this area due to flooding so it was not surprising to see repairs underway on one of the dams. In the photo at the right they are lifting in a new piece of a moveable flood gate. The flood gates can be raised /lowered to adjust stream flow and level. Given the huge size of some of the tree stumps and logs that we have passed floating in the canal, some must have been hung up in dams and cleared manually. Personally, it seems that the canal authority does an excellent job of maintaining the canal!
We also saw more geese and goslings on the shore. More often than not, there were several adults and up to 30 or more goslings. It seems like there must be a good "crop" this year. We do not seem to have many geese that winter in our part of Texas so it has been a treat to see them as we migrate north. Now, we get to see the offspring who will be joining the migration south next fall...
Once again we shared the route with the railroad on the north side and the NY State Thruway (I-90) on the south side. We saw two Amtrak passenger trains and MANY freight trains. These railcars carry large containers stacked two high.
The fifth of the six locks today (Lock E-17) was the highest lift so far at 40.5 feet. It was also different due to the nature of the gate at the East end. So far, all of the gates have been two swinging doors hinged at the outside of the lock. At Lock E-17 the East gate is a lift gate that go up and down. In the picture at the left we are approaching the downstream end of the lift lock. The gate is in the up position, which allows a vertical clearance of 22 feet. It really is kind of spooky when you go under the gate, which starts to close immediately behind you.
Otherwise it seemed much like all the other locks until you look up. Then it looks like you are in this deep (41 foot lift) "hole". Fortunately, about 15 minutes later you reach the top and can see all around. When you look back down stream, it looks way down there... The picture at the right is a view looking up from the bottom of the lock. It gives you some ides of the feeling of being in a deep hole.
We passed a dredge that was owned by the canal system. We were to learn later that this was the destination of the tug pulling the floating pipes that we passed earlier. There are many smaller streams that flow into the canal (Mohawk River). These streams carry a lot of sediment, especially during periods of high discharge, and when these streams flow into the slower moving water of the bigger river, the water slows down and sediment is deposited. Periodically, the sediment must be removed to maintain the designed depth of the canal. This is of course an ongoing process... The picture shows the drill/auger that rotates on the end of a large diameter pipe that sucks up the sediment loosened by the auger. The sediment (and water) is then piped to a settling pond on land.
Our destination for today was the town of Ilion, NY. The marina consists of a long concrete wall for side tie along. It also has parking spaces for RVs and the usual bathrooms, showers and laundry. The marina has this big neon sign along the waterfront to announce the marina and town. We are going to spend two nights here so that tomorrow will be a "rest" day. I doubt that it will be very restful, but at least I will get to sleep in...
Oh, did I mention the Ilion is the home of Remington Firearms? The museum is also on our list for tomorrow...
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