Day 45- St. Johnsville, NY to Sylvan Beach, NY

May 31, 2024

One of the things we were hoping to learn at the rendezvous in Norfolk was a way to gauge time and distance on the Erie canal. We just didn't know how far you could realistically travel, how long it took to transit the locks and, generally, how to plan the passage. Today, we learned a lot. You can go 50 miles in a day. No, we were not in a rush, but we were looking at places to stop and the guides were not too informative. So, we pressed on.

We did 7 more locks in addition to the 50.6 miles.

Most of the locks looked very similar to yesterday.

This is one of the "guillotine" flood gates.

We've seen several, but this one was well landscaped.

Now, this is different! Lock 17 is a big lift, about 40 feet.

Instead of the two swinging doors, it had its own "guillotine" door!

We really felt like we were in a DEEP hole this time.

The door goes straight down, counterbalanced by the big weight at the top of the picture. The gate and the weight are connected by the biggest bicycle chain I have ever seen. That's the ladder-like thing going up the side of the structure.

This video will show the gate and counter-weight in action. It took two minutes for the process. I sped the video up to take 38 seconds.

Line duty. Gloves because the lines are a tad slimy and wet.

Leaving Lock 17, a conventional pair of gates on the upper end.

So boring after the big guillotine gate on the other end, huh?

These are wild, just growing along the canal.

This section of the canal is all cut canal, the Mohawk Rivers is nearby, but we're not in it. The locks have no spillway. You can see water gushing in past the seams in the far door.

Do you feel like you are looking at an old TV when I take pictures from inside?

Here's a good shot that shows the water coming into the lock chamber from the piping under the lock. Sometimes these eddies can really push you around.

Tourists getting a free show!

I think we went under the Thruway about four times!

Good old Interstate 90, it also runs through South Dakota and goes all the way to Seattle.

Normally, these bridges go directly across the canal. This one? Not so much.

OK, this is a normal Canal work tug, a small one that pushes barges around. What made it unique was the first ever 'convertible' port-a-john I have ever seen, Open the door, fold the top back and you have all the ventilation you could ever want!

I took this picture for my Menno (the town in South Dakota where I grew up) friends. There is a Utica, tiny, tiny town, south of Menno.

The 'historic' Utica marina at the Portofino Restaurant. Only one of the power posts actually works, first come, first served on the dock. You can enjoy all of this for the low, low price of only $3/foot! That's about twice the going rate in this part of the world. You can see how popular it is. There are walls you can tie up to for free with more going for them than this.

At Lock 20, we are at the highest elevation for the part of the canal we will be crossing. From here, we go down to Lake Oneida and the Oswego Canal to Lake Ontario. The western section of the canal lifts boat up to over 500 feet above sea level at Buffalo.

This is how you can tell that the lockmaster is getting the lock set for you, the water is being released from the chamber to bring it down to our level.