Day 273 Lake Champlaian Canal

The "Pack Mule" out in the rain.







This was a scarry sight. The spill way along the channel is exposed and the only safety measure keeping you from going over the dam are these steel cables. If you lost power, you had better get an anchor set PDQ or you are going for a very dangerous ride.







This is all that is between you and going over the dam.








Looking over spillway/dam to the water level below the dam.







Fun time at the Albany Yacht Club last Friday night






Albany Yacht Club with Hudson River in the background








Our first lock on the Champlain Canal system, and the rains came.







Well, it is time to make a choice, Erie Canal, or Lake Champlain route.




Diann has done such an excellent job keeping up the blog and I am grateful. Today wasn’t what you call the most pleasant boating day weather wise and she is just too tired to write tonight. So you will have to struggle through my attempt at keeping everyone in the “Loop”.

Milestone, We are completely out of salt water and the effects of tidal waters. Nothing but fresh water the remainder of the journey.

Last night (Friday 6/11) we were invited to join the members of the Albany Yacht Club for their weekly Friday night dinner and party. They had a live band on the patio, beverages and a very nice dinner prepared by club members. It was a very fun way to cap the end of our stay at Albany Yacht Club. The AYC members extended the most gracious hospitality.

Today we planned leaving our fun 2-day stay at Albany Yacht Club and heading north to start our venture up the Lake Champlain route. It was overcast, showers predicted but no high winds. It started drizzling about the first lock (8:00 AM) and hasn’t quit all day. It is 8:00 PM and it is still drizzling. Traveling in the rain isn’t so awkward if you are just cruising, however locking through (7) locks today made for amn unpleasant day. It is much like any canal system you have ever traversed. Narrow, no wake practically the entire canal, consequently you do not cover a lot of ground in a day. We departed at 7:00 AM, negotiated (7) locks, made headway for a total of 45 miles and decided we had enough punishment for one day. We are tied to the free City Dock at Ft Edwards NY. A very nice City provided dock wall complete with electricity and water connection. We planned on walking to town to find a restaurant, but it just won’t quit raining. After dinner on board we walked 1-block into the very small quaint town for view of the city as well as pick up a couple of provisions.

Once again we are just amazed at the history lessons learned on this wonderful journey. This Lake Champlain/Hudson/Canal route had such a huge contribution to the success of the American Revolutionary War. The Cities along the way are proud of this heritage and display it well. The little communities are so well groomed, quaint, and charming. All of the residents are so helpful and interested in your journey and where you started your trip. We see families walking their dogs and kids riding bicycles along the waterfronts. Pretty cool.

Lake Champlain is situated in the Lake Champlain Valley between the Green Mountains of Vermont and the Adirondack Mountains of New York, drained northward by the 106 miles (171 km) long Richelieu River into the St. Lawrence River at Sorel-Tracy, Quebec northeast and downstream of Montreal.

One of the difficulties of this route is bridge clearances. We have managed to reduce our air draft to 16-10”. Most Champlain Canal bridges are in the 18’ range, however there are about (3) bridges in the 17’ range and unfortunately the NY Canal system does not offer measurement gauges adjacent to the bridge as we have experienced everywhere else on the waterways. We were advised of a difficult bridge early this morning and the lockmaster assured us we would clear the next bridge. We knew it would be very close, Diann sat up on the hardtop (in the rain) while I slowly inched the boat under the bridge. We cleared by 2”, talk about white knuckles. We may have one or two of those dilemmas tomorrow also. I guess that is what makes the memories.