Eight Locks on the Erie Canal

A small waterfall on the Mohawk River

We left Waterford, NY, this morning at 8:20 and started through the Waterford Flight, a series of five locks that take the boat up 170 feet above the Hudson River.  These locks are numbered 2 - 6 because the Federal Lock at Troy is #1. When exiting one lock, you pretty much move right into the next, or you see it around the bend.  All the chambers are open because the lock master calls ahead to report that you are coming.  There is no stopping between locks in this section.  These locks have a steel cable running from the top and connected at the bottom.  I loop our mid-ship line around the cable and pull us tight.  I like to be about 2 feet off the wall.  That way our fenders don't scrape, but we are not floating too freely in the chamber either.  We were the only boat in the first five locks, so it was easy and quick.  The lockmaster started closing the gates behind us before we were even settled.  

This is the view as we enter and tie up to the wall.

This is the view from the top, once we have been lifted 35 feet.  

We went through two more locks, # 7 and 8,  after the first flight.  Each of these was eleven miles down the river.  We had to wait twenty minutes for Lock 7.  While we waited about 100 yards off the lock, a fast boat came up, passed us, and went right up to the lock gate.  It was not proper etiquette, but it was just as well since he would have blown by us once the lock opened.  A jet ski entered the lock before the fast boat.  Brave guy.  

The Erie Canal in 2015 follows rivers and lakes and not the original canal.  We can see pieces of the original nearby at times and on maps.  Once power boats became common, the canal needed to be deeper and could follow natural waterways: The boats could go upstream. We were on the Mohawk River this afternoon.  It was quiet and lovely. 

At the end of the day, we went through Lock 8 near Schenectady and Scotia, NY.  We pulled over after the lock and tied up for the night on the free south wall.  There are a couple of boys swimming in the canal and sunning on the dock.  There is a barge stopped here too.  Daisy Belle III from Montreal, whom we met yesterday in Waterford, just pulled in.  The husband and wife are French and are named Michele and Michelle, pronounced the same way. We went out to help them tie up and met John, the friendly barge captain. He will be spending the night on his barge. 

In Lock 8 there were only ropes to grab to hold us to the wall,

another first for us.

This is our view off the stern:  You see the lock with the water at the top

and Gypsea, a looper boat, coming through.