Return to the USA & the Erie Canal, by Annie


On Tuesday, August 13th, we crossed Lake Ontario in calm weather (still no mast!) and re-entered the United States at Oswego, NY.  Since then, we have been doing the many locks that make up the Oswego canal and the Eastern half of the Erie canal, stopping at small town docks to tie up for the night.  There is a lot of American history on the Erie canal; history regarding early American industrialization as well as the revolutionary and civil wars.  We visited Fort Ontario and also Fort Stanwix during this segment; both have impressive histories.  The Erie canal itself is impressive for its history - the first version was finished in 1825 and revolutionized shipping at the time, opening up an avenue from the ocean to the great lakes.  It was acclaimed as one of the biggest advancements of its time.

There have been segments of the Erie that are very scenic, but as one may imagine of a canal built mainly for industrial purposes, there are also areas that are not quite as scenic.  We have also had several rainy, hot, and muggy days, and on these days we pine for the crystal clear water of Lake Huron, where we could always cool off with a swim.  On the canal, the water has rarely been clear enough for swimming (Lake Oneida being the most notable exception).  

There is no longer any commercial traffic on the canal.  In fact, there is very little traffic at all (especially compared to Canada's Trent-Severn).  There is a bike trail next to some of it, and some people do bike/camp or kayak/camp.  The main purpose of the canal and all the locks now is for flood and water management.

 One other update: we had our first visitor on the Endeavor!  Whitney, Rogge's mother, came to join our journey for about 4 days.  There was unfortunately a lot of rain while she was with us, but it was still great to have her. 

Below are some pictures of some of the highlights.

Jack and Fox in the water for a swim off of Main Duck Island, the morning before we motored across Lake Ontario to return to the United States.

Falls at Wintergreen Park in Canajoharie Park, NY.

Swimming hole at Wintergreen Park at the Canoaoharie Falls, Canajoharie, NY.



Eric Canal lock 17, Little Falls, NY.  This lock has a 40.5' drop, has a "guillotine gate," the only one we have encountered and very rare. 

Fox working the lines on a lock.
Fox and Rogge on the roller coaster at Sylvan Park, NY.
Jack getting ready for bumper cars at the Sylvan Beach amusement park.


Comments

  1. MattAugust 22, 2019 at 4:52 PM

    What happened to the mast? Is it down to go through the locks?

    Looks like you guys are doing well!

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownAugust 23, 2019 at 8:23 PM

    This looks like bumper cars at Como Town!! Did Daisy Doughnut ride on them?

    ReplyDelete

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