Day 4 off 40.3 miles to Fonda, NY

 

       We set off from Ilion a bit later than planned at about 9:00 am. Terry (aka the Admiral) helped us with lines, and then she was headed off to drive back to Texas for some family events. Ann and I headed off east for a 40.3 mile trip to Fonda, NY with 6 lock along the way. It was warming up (hopefully) to a high temperature in the low70s with scattered clouds. The Mohawk River Valley is often narrow from here all the way to the eastern end of the canal at the Hudson River. The valley sits between the Adirondack Mountains to the north and the Catskill Mountains to the south. It was and still is the main transportation corridor from New England, including New York City, to the west. The does not seem to be much civilization along today's route so most of the photos will be of locks. Lock 17 (photo at right) has a drop of 40.5 feet, which makes it one of the highest locks on the canal system.  We went in first and were followed by the canal system workboat. The work boat was in transit so we actually went through three locks with her. The water leaking though the upstream end of the lock is coming through the gate that sits above the lock sill (or bottom of the entry channel).

     The last photo was taken over the stern and the next photo (at left) was taken looking over the bow. You can see a small fishing boat about to exit. On the down stream side of this tall loch the gates would have to be about 60 feet high if they swung open and closed. The tall locks have a fixed gate down to about 25 feet above the water. The lower portion of the gate is raised and lowered as a single gate, which evidently requires much less work (or energy). Since we are going under a “wet” gate, we do get a bit of a shower as we pass through.

      The third photo (at right) is looking back at gate 17 as the work boat exits. There is no dam connected to this lock as is usually the case. The dam is upstream back to the west on another branch of the Mohawk River.

     The Mohawk River Valley is quite narrow in the picture at the left. The railroad is right along the river edge as it passes the hill that is formed by the limestone bedrock that is resistant to erosion by the flowing water. There should also be a road along the railroad on that side. On the other side of the river (and canal) the NY State Thruway is also close to the river, and they had to create a large roadcut to make room for the highway. The narrow valley here has always funneled the transportation (e.g. horses, wagons, the early canal, etc.) through this narrow river cut.

      The photo at the right show a view of the dam at Lock 13. The photo was taken from the flybridge of Lucky Us as we are in the lock chamber. Here the canal is still following along the Mohawk River. You get a good view of how long the dam is and of how much water is pouring over the dam.

      This photo (at left) was taken looking back at the lock, dam and highway bridge after we have exited the lock. Compared Lock 17 in the earlier photos this Lock 13 only has a drop of 8 feet. The canal is within the Mohawk River through this area. Here the river has a low gradient (or “slope”) so unless you want to dig a new channel, there must be dams every so often to raise the river level in sort of a stair step like fashion.

      Just as you were about to scream “no more lock pictures!” we passed this lovely old “woody” or wooden boat (photo at right). I can only guess that it dates from the post WW 2 era. Maintaining any wooden boat is a labor of love, especially with all of the varnished mahogany. The owners of these boats scoff at the “new-fangled” fiberglass boats, but they definitely require less maintenance.

      Our destination for today was the Canal Corp free dock at Fonda, NY (photo at left). The area along the canal is dominated by this old crane an LOTS of grass so Lucky Girl was quite happy. They have a large shop area out of view to the left where they seem to fabricate large steel components for the locks. For dinner Ann and I set out for the little town. However, it was hot and sunny so we gave up and ate at the local burger/ice cream shop about a half mile away. The shop was also across the street from the local fairgrounds, which has continuously hosted an annual fair for 175 years. They also have weekly stock car races as well as “dirt drag racing”. My hamburger was decent, but the hand dipped ice cream was GREAT! The electricity on the dock was free, but we only had one 30 amp circuit, and in order to fully run the air conditioners and charge all of the batteries, etc., we need two 30 amp circuits. Thus, we did run the generator for several hours to cool things down and charge the house batteries. While the generator was running we also watched the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Boston Celtics on the satellite TV. As seems to always be the case, after another day on the water, it was once again early to bed (and knowing me -late to rise…).