Day 8 into the Champlain Canal and north to Schuylerville, NY

       We set off from Waterford a bit later than planned at about 9:30 am. Ann and I headed off east into the Hudson River, and then we turned north to head up the Hudson River, which here is also known as the Champlain Canal, for a 21.9 mile trip to Schuylerville, NY.  After our “Lockathon” on Day 5 where we transited 11 locks, today we will go up only 4 locks for a total of 68.3 feet along the way. Our last lock on the Erie Canal was E-2, and Lock E-1 or the Federal Lock, as it is formally known, is further south (or down river) on the Hudson River near Troy, NY.  Thus, the Champlain Canal starts above Lock E-1, and we do not transit E-1 on this trip. Next year or whenever we stop spending summers on the Great Lakes, we would go through Lock E-1 on our way down the Hudson River to New York City and points south. The Hudson River is tidal until Lock E-1 so all we have to deal with are the wind and current. The photo above at the right shows our view toward the Hudson River as we left the dock in Waterford, NY. The thick clouds did burn off some, but we basically had a cool, cloudy day for the trip. My attire was the usual golf shirt with two, long sleeved but light weight sweaters, and on Day 1 I also had a light weight wind breaker as an additional layer. My theory is to dress in layers so that I can shed layers as it warms up. So far, that theory has only been put to use on one day…

       The photo at the left shows the lock and dam at C-3. The water was really cascading over the dam, and as we had seen along the canal, the lowest leaves on trees overhanging the water were often just below water level. The rains of the past two days had brought the water levels back up to nearer flood stage, but the daily emails from the Canal Corporation indicated that there were no closures on the Champlain Canal. Our visibility was somewhat limited otherwise I think that we should have been able to see the Green Mountains in Vermont to the east and the Adirondack Mountains in New York to the west.

      The photo on the right shows the interior of the lock chamber at Lock C-3. The red arrow shows a vertical pipe set in a recess in the lock wall. These pipes are mainly intended for commercial tows to tie onto so that their mooring line can slip up or down as the water in the lock goes up or down. Recreational vessels can use them by simply wrapping a line around the pipe. There are dire warnings to not tie the rope off on the boat. If the line becomes stuck on the pipe, the up or down movement of the lock will tear the cleat off the boat or even capsize small boats. Instead of the recessed pipes, some locks have heavy wire cables strung inside the recesses. Either way, the cables and the pipes are much cleaner than the ropes strung down the lock walls, and we prefer to use them when available.

      What we did see were old river terraces left behind as the Hudson River eroded down to its present level (photo at left). The terraces are very fertile and well drained so agriculture has always been big here. Today there are many dairy farms as well as sod farms. The milk and other dairy products have a ready market in New York City and vicinity. There were some bedrock hills that occasionally were right along the river. The bedrock is more resistant to erosion, and just as was the case in the Erie Canal, all of the modes of transportation get crammed into the narrow valley.

      Our destination for today is the small town of the Schuylerville, which as it turns out, was very important in the early part of the Revolutionary War. The town and surrounding area was originally called Saratoga, and the Battle of Saratoga was the first major victory for our fledgling country. So, I will be learning a lot of history while I wait for the Admiral. This beautiful yacht in the photo at the right was taking up nearly half of the fuel dock where we were supposed to stay. It was built by Burger Yachts in Wisconsin and is probably 30+ years old. There are many of these on the Great Lakes in particular. I had always wondered why a luxury yacht like this did not have a flybridge on it. Obviously, a flybridge would have made it too tall to traverse any of the canal systems, and it could have only left the Great Lakes by going out the St. Lawrence River and around the Maritime Province and New England. If you wanted to winter in Florida and summer on the great Lakes, making that long passage twice a year would have been an inconvenience, at best.

      Schuylerville is to be my “home” for the next two weeks until the Admiral returns from her trip back home to Texas. Ann, who has been such an able crew for the last week, will be returning to her home in Ohio in a couple of days. I will be getting a rent car to drive her back to her car, which was left at my brother’s home near Oswego, NY, which is over 150 (boat miles) from here. Thanks Ann for getting us started on this leg of the Great Loop Adventure.