- 24.3 miles
- 3 hours 5 minutes
- 8 mph average speed
Today was a short trip that included our first big lock other than the two smaller ones we went through on the Dismal Swamp Canal.
Before arriving at the lock, guess what we passed? More barges! We also passed Albany, the capitol of New York.
Lock 1 on the New York State Canal System in the Troy Federal Lock. Planning for this lock began in 1903 and the lock opened in 1916. This is technically the first lock on the New York State Canal System but it is not actually on the Erie Canal so the first lock on the Erie Canal will be lock E2. Lock 1, the Troy Federal Lock, is 520 feet long, 45 feet wide and 17 feet deep. This lock raised us about 14 feet.
Shortly after Lock 1, we entered the Erie Canal.
Just after the turn to enter the Erie Canal is the town of Waterford which has a first come, first serve free dock along the wall on the edge of the canal and directly in front of Lock E2 which is the first lock on the Erie Canal. When we were about 2 miles out, we texted Misty and Darrel from Star Dust, whom we had first met in Southport and saw again at our last stop in New Baltimore, to make sure there was still room on the wall since they had arrived there earlier. They scoped it out and found one spot that had 50 amp power and waited there to help us tie up. It turns out this was the best spot on the wall as it was directly under a bridge and remained shaded throughout the day which was nice.
There were several Loopers tied up at the Waterford Docks, including a couple that is currently on their 32nd Loop! We met the 82 year old man who lives aboard with his wife and dog. They bought their boat new in 1987 and have been traveling the Loop ever since with no plans to stop!
Fellow Loopers Salty Peacock and Varlabania were passing by shortly after we had docked. They were going ahead to Amsterdam which will be our next stop. Since Lock E2 is directly ahead of the Waterford Dock, Ellen walked up to the top of the lock to take pictures of the two boats locking through and get a glimpse of what was in store for us when we lock through here.
We walked around the town and later had docktails on our flybridge with Misty and Darrel from Star Dust before cooking dinner on the boat.
The following day, we walked to the local grocery store after a morning of rain. Later, we took a 3 mile bike ride to see the beautiful Cohoes Falls. Once there, we had to descend (and later ascend!) about 100 feet, including about 86 steps on a steep stairway but it was well worth it! As it is now summertime, the falls are dried up compared to their peak Springtime flow but still stunningly beautiful. The falls span the 1,000 foot width of the Mohawk River and drop as much as 90 feet in height. These waterfalls were a barrier to mariners on the Erie Canal which led to the creation of the Waterford Flight which will be explained in the next post.
We had dinner in town at McGreivey’s with Misty and Darrel from Star Dust.
