Oct 4-7, 2008 - Up the Erie Canal

On October 4, 2008, we left Albany, NY to head up the Erie Canal. Our good friend, John Peterson, joined us in Albany to help with passage through the locks.

There are not many directional signs on the water, however, heading up the Hudson from Troy, we came to a "turn in the road". We chose to leave the Hudson and to turn left into the Erie Canal. We had 21 locks to go before we reached our destination in Brewerton, NY.

In this picture, we are heading up the Erie Canal toward a lock. On the right side is a wall where boaters can tie up for the night or to wait for a lock to open. In October, 2008, we did not have to wait for any locks. Diesel was over $5.00/gallon and people were not on the water. We only had one other boat with us in the 22 locks we traversed. Approaching a closed lock. To the right is a dam. While the lock gate is closed, the approaching boat will see a red light. When the gate opens and the lock is ready, the light turns green.

On our passage through the Erie Canal, we were going west and thus in all but the last two locks, we were going up. When we came into the lock, John and I would each grab a rope that was hanging down. We would use the rope to keep the boat stable while the lock filled with water. Captain Robert would stay at the helm to make adjustments to our position. The lock walls were slimy and very wet. Some had very rough walls with holes and cracks containing a whole ecology of life forms. We wore gloves that kept our hands from slipping on the rope. John would usually hold the forward rope and I would grap the rope towards the aft.

Once we are in the lock and holding the ropes, water comes into the lock if you are going up or goes out of the lock if you are going down. In this picture, we are going up, so water is coming in. The water comes in from down below. The water you see coming out of the gate is not where the water comes in. This is a leak.

As water comes in, the boat goes up the wall and the rope gets shorter and shorter. In this picture, we are near the top and I am holding the very top of the rope. When a boat is going down, you start the trip down with the rope at the top. It is hard to grab the rope in this position, so you use a long pole with a hook on the end. This pole is called a boat hook.

Since we are now at the top of the lock, Captain Robert checks on John and I. Good news! The Grand Fromage team has fulfilled all tasks successfully for this lock.

The lock is now filled with water and we are now at a higher level. The locks vary in height raised or lowered based on the elevation. A few are only 8-10 feet. However, one lock is over 40 feet.

Since the lock has now filled with water and the boat is at a higher level, the gate is opening to let us out of the lock.This is the little boat that shared a lock with us. An east bound boat is waiting for the green light to enter the lock and go down. The lock master.We successfully made it through the 22 locks. I have to say that it was a lot of fun and scenic as all get out. Since this was early October, the weather was quite brisk, but we had little rain.