GL072: Erie Canal Part 4: Old Locks and Big Falls

 Here is the picture that Bob Stopper took of us at the Lyon's lock:

After Lyons the EC starts to look less like a river and more like, well, a canal. The Empire State Trail really starts to parallel the EC and you see lots of cyclists, joggers, and just people out an about.  

The area also gets more of a rural feel in stretches, we passed farms and orchards:

We headed to Pittsford, which is phenomenal.  The free wall is at Canal Park in the center of the village and within walking distance of three coffee shops, a great ice cream place and numerous restaurants (we liked the Greek place across the canal).   Best of all you can ride your bikes on the Empire State Trail all the way to Wegmans Grocery Store, which is like Whole Foods on steroids.   The trail goes by the original EC lock #60 which was neat to see.

Old Lock:

 

Re-purposed silo to office building:

Townhall:




We met up with Sandy, a cousin (in-law) of mine, and when I sent her a picture of our boat tied up, so she’d know where to find us, she texted back a picture of Hygge with a “LOL, I am at my son’s orthodontist appointment looking down at your boat.”   That night we listened to a concert in the park next to the boat, the high school jazz band playing brought back memories of attending our son’s jazz band concerts.  The next day we “mooched around” and saw some sites, the converted silo to office building was really cool (see picture).  The next evening, we enjoyed seeing the kids going to prom that night taking pictures at the park.  

Me and Sandy:

 

After two great days at Pittsford which included me cleaning, polishing and waxing the hull while in the water, we left for Brockport.  We quickly went through Locks 32 and 33, and bonus: the next lock was sixty-four miles away!  At Spencerport we came to the first of two lift bridges approximately three miles apart.  We didn’t get an answer when we hailed the bridge tender, so we decided to tie up to the free wall and walk around the town and have lunch (unfortunately, it being a Sunday, the Canal Museum there was closed).  After lunch we made contact and the bridge tender explained that he works at both bridges and was at the other one (Adam’s Basin).  Morale of the story: you must be patient!  

We then made our way to Brockport and tied up to the wall, which for a flat rate of $20, got us water, power, and bathroom/showers.  

Brockport has a nice little downtown of historic late 19^th and early 20^th century brick buildings and one of the country’s oldest continuously operating movie theaters.   We took the opportunity to see our first movie theater movie in eight months!  

 

The next day we went thirty-six n/m’s to Lockport.  The area started to get more of a rural feel, passing lots of farms and orchards.  When we got to Lockport, we had another double lock and went up Locks 34 and 35 in successive stages.   We tied up to the Lock 35 basin and managed to get the one power pedestal.  Lockport has limited free space, maybe just four boats at the lock, but there is a small marina a mile east of the town.  

Hygge at Lockport Locks:

 

Lockport was great, especially if you are interested in the history of the EC.  They have preserved the “flight of five” locks circa mid-1800’s and it is very interesting to see how those original locks and gate mechanisms worked.   The two lockmasters we met were absolute gems and spent a lot of their downtime with us giving us the lay of the land on the locks, area, etc.  There is the Erie Canal Discovery Center and the Locks District Museum right near the locks that are must-see stops.  

Flight of Five with recreation of a canal barge;

From Lockport we rented a car  and went to Niagara Fall and took the famous “Maid of the Mist” boat tour.  What can we say about Niagara Falls that hasn’t been said?  Just fantastic.

Niagara Falls videos with screaming kids at a class outing in the background:

When we got back, we chilled a bit and watched a tourist boat go through the locks:

Dave

Odometer: 4,539 n/m's

GL071: Erie Canal Part 3: Side Trip!

We left Brewerton on June 2, 2024 and headed west.  When we got to the Three Rivers junction, instead of turning to starboard to head up to Oswego, which was our original plan, we turned to port.  We had heard that the “Western Half” of the Erie Canal was the prettier half so we just decided to see for ourselves.

 

Interesting lawn ornament on the way:

Our first stop was the town of Baldwinsville and a tie up on the western side of Lock E-24, not a ton to see, but the BBQ restaurant at the Lock is excellent, and watching the lock gate mechanism work from “up top” is worth the stop.  

 

The next day we decided to take a side trip to Senaca Falls, so we turned to port again and headed down the Cayuga and Seneca Canal,passing this cool aqueduct on the way:

Senaca Falls is the birthplace of the U.S. Women’s Rights Movement having hosted the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848; it is also the inspiration for the town of Bedford Falls in the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”  Right before you get to the town you have to go through a unique double lock.  CS Locks 2 and 3 share one infrastructure.  You go up in Chamber 2 and then move into Chamber 3 for another ride up.  When the gates to Chamber 2 opened, we were a bit surprised to be face to face with a wooden sailboat (he of a port tie going east, us with a starboard tie going west).  Having once owned a wooden sailboat, I knew that Hygge, our Ranger Tug 29S, was the more maneuverable vessel, so we powered up the bow and stern thrusters and slid out of the sailboat’s way. 

 We tied up to the town wall and toured the town and had lunch.  Later Nancy went to the two women’s museums (I cleaned the boat).  Highlights included our impromptu tour of the beautiful Trinity Church which borders the Canal (a friendly parishioner asked us if we wanted a tour as we walked by it), and a bike ride over to the Sauders Amish Grocery Store for some wholesome food provisioning (though the “Hot Pockets” in the freezer section was a bit of a head-scratcher).   

 Trinity Church:

An old mill, now home to a Woman's Museum:

Tie up at Seneca Falls:

After our Seneca Fall visit we elected to take Hygge down to Ithaca by way of Cayuga Lake, staying at Allan H. Treman State Marina Park.  At Ithaca you can tour the Botanical Gardens at Cornell University and visit its word-class Ornithology Lab (but closed for renovation for us) and trails, as well as hike multiple gorge trails.  After our Cornell visit, we rented a car to go to the Watkins Glen State Park.  Hiking the Gorge Trail there is amazing.  Other tourists notwithstanding, we felt like we were on an expedition with Indiana Jones searching for a lost golden idol:

 

 

 

We then drove to the Corning Museum of Glass which was incredible if not somewhat overwhelming (you could spend a week there). 

On our drive back to Ithica we couldn’t pass up a stop at a historic covered bridge:

And we couldn't pass up one more gorge trail hike at Buttermilk Falls where we saw nature play out in front of us, but like Marlin Perkins in the classic TV show “Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom” we did not interfere.

 


On the gorge trail:

After two days in Ithaca we came back up north fifty-three n/m to Lyons back on the Erie Canal.  Lyons has a nice welcome wagon group headed up by 83 y/o Bob Stopper who met us the next morning and took a picture of us at the lock.  I was proud of myself that I resisted the temptation to take the short walk over to McDonalds for a large fry, I’ve gained too much weight on this trip as it is.

Dave

Odometer: 2,452 n/m's

GL070: Erie Canal Part 2: Heading West

On May 29^th, we left Canajoharie for Little Falls, but not before I removed a large tree trunk in our way and rowed it over to the nearby shore:

Along the way we went through a lock that had a lifting gate instead of swing gates, it was a bit intimidating to see that gate come down, not sure why, but it was.  I felt like I was in the movie "Brazil" by Terry Gilliam:

We made it to Little Falls after a seventeen n/m run and joined up with a decent sized group of Loopers:

 

I did some trouble shooting on the trim tab hydraulic system, ordering some parts to meet up with us down the road, and Nancy rode over to the Herkimer Home State Historic Site home to General Nicholas Herkimer, a Revolutionary War hero.  To wit:  https://parks.ny.gov/historic-sites/herkimerhome/details.aspx

The staff at Little Falls was fantastic, very helpful.    After Nancy got back for the Herkimer House, we took our bikes and road across the Canal into town.   So much potential, but clearly suffering from lost industry.  A very beautiful setting and it’s a shame so many storefronts were for rent, and large industrial buildings on the waterfront looked to be abandoned.  

 

The ubiquitous LaFayette marker:

Rapids along the town:

On May 30^th we left with a large group to head for Sylvian Beach, NY, forty-three n/m’s down the road.   With some big boats in our group, the locks got crowded, but we did manage to squeeze in each one.    At one of the locks we all had to wait, and we were strung out along the Canal for a at least a half a mile, it was a lot easier to hold Hygge in position than one of those seventy footers!

 

We tied up to the free wall (no power ☹) at Sylvian Beach and joined two other Looper couples for dinner and got a quick group shot.    We didn’t do any real exploring as it had been a long day. 

 

The next day we crossed Lake Onieda and made it to Ess Kay Marina in Brewerton, NY.   Here we had a bunch of packages awaiting us.  The staff at Ess Kay were the best of any staff on the G/L trip so far.   Very nice, very helpful with getting me some parts I needed.  We also used the free courtesy car to do laundry and go to the grocery store.

I attempted to repair the leaking trim tab system and thought I had it all fixed, but it started leaking in another place.  I think all my jostling about (very hard to reach places), loosened up another connection.   I can move the trim tabs up and down, but not without losing some fluid.  We really don’t use them that much, so I am putting this project on hold until I have more time to figure it out and research the issue.  

We stayed two days at Ess Kay, had “docktails” with some of the local “Basin Bums” who have permanent slips in the marina.  Met a couple who had sailed around the world.   We took some dinghy rides up the Canal and did some walking around.    Highlight of our travels was the ice cream place up the road a bit:

 

On June 2^nd we left Brewerton and headed west.  At the “Three Rivers Junction” instead of turning right to go to instead of turning to starboard to head up to Oswego, which was our original plan, we turned to port to head to Baldwinsville.  Our entry into Canada will be delayed, we want to see the “Western Half” of the Erie Canal as we just haven’t felt that “I got a  mule her name was Sal” vibe we have been looking for.   We’ve been told that we’d find it in the West.

Which way do we go?

You wind up going under a lot of "guard gates" on the Erie Canal.  These are essentially dams that can come down in the event of flooding or a breach in the canal wall.  These are not lock gates.

 We tied up to the Baldwinsville lock wall (power $5) after a nineteen n/m trip.  We took a walk “in to town” but as it was a Sunday, not much was open.  We did enjoy watching the lock from “up top” and seeing how the gate mechanism works.  Pretty cool.   

A gear turns and moves that lever arm with the teeth, which opens and closes the gate:

We had a most excellent meal at the BBQ restaurant adjacent to the lock.

Dave

Odometer: 4,331 n/m's