The Eastern Leg of the Erie Canal

We’ve been remiss in posting… Memorial Day weekend weather meant we spent 2 days on the wall in Schenectady and after that it was days of water, trees and locks so I knew I could catch up and you wouldn’t miss anything…

Schenectady – Beth on Board!

We escaped the solitude and cold rain with a delicious, gracious breakfast with Beth (our Cambridge neighbor!), Barbara and Jane, then a tour of Schenectady. Beth was kind enough to schlep us to the grocery store, too! Thank you, Beth!

Canal Days

To be precise, our Erie Canal journey, until yesterday, took place primarily on the Mohawk River which was co-opted as the canal in the 1920’s when the Erie Canal was widened for the second time. We entered “strictly canal” territory (besides the Flight of Five) after Lock 16 yesterday and then re-joined the Mohawk today. You would almost never know though from the view from the bow of the boat. The river just bends more…🙃

The Canal Way Bike Trail between Schenectady and Amsterdam
The ubiquitous trains… in addition to trees and water, the other constant on the canal.
We did NOT edit this photo…😜
For those of us that travel the NY State Thruway on a regular basis, this section is recognizable on land or water.
The infamous Lock 17… This was where the Erie Canal was effectively shut down the week of May 24th. A ~100 year old component on the lift gate broke and needs to be designed and re-fabricated to be replaced. The canal was “full” of boats waiting to transit this lock so until Thursday the 27th they were not letting any boats past Waterford. The lock will be closed again tomorrow (June 3rd) to swap out the crane currently operating the lift gate so we made a mad dash through yesterday.
Fort Stanwix National Monument

2 comments

  1. It seems like you all are moving through New York quickly. The pictures are great as usual.

    Reply

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