New York State Erie Canal

• Oswego
• Oswego Immigration
• Oswego Canal
• Erie Canal Lock 23
• Erie Canal Lock 20
• Erie Canal Lock 15
• Erie Canal Lock 7
• Erie Canal Lock 2
• Waterford
• Castleton
• Hudson River
• Hudson River Castle
• New York City

Erie Canal Summary

September 1-13, 2003

Traveling Erie Canal is great fun, although we had to take the mast down and listen to our outboard motor every day. Along the way we enjoyed number of small towns with free docks to tie up and go shopping. Upstate New York in the fall is very beautiful but can also be wet and cold and sometimes very foggy in the mornings. I was relieved to find out that moving our boat through the locks was much easier than I was lead to believe. Erie Canal has quite a history and lockmasters were usualy very friendly and happy to show me around. At any lock we could tie up over night at no cost, which was great. When we were travelling there early September, there was hardly any traffic. We took some 10 days in the Oswego Canal enjoying new scenery and frequent stops in small towns. We also liked Waterford welcome center with its free docking and bathrooms. It was a great stop before taking on Hudson River. This was the first time we were introduced to tides and tidal currents that can be quite strong. If you were ever to venture there with a boat make sure you have tide tables and you understand them. I had the tide tables but I was surprised how strong the current can get. We had a quite a scare In New York city when our 8hp outboard was barely moving us upstream while we were running on fumes desperately looking for fuel. This was also a difficult time for us personally, but you can read all about it in our updates from New York.

NEXT   |  POST A MESSAGE