THE ERIE AND OSWEGO CANALS

Once we reached Waterford, NY (the oldest incorporated village in the US) this sign (above) clearly pointed our way to the Erie Canal. The Erie Canal completed in 1825, is the major component in the New York Canal system. It stretches from Waterford on the Hudson all the way west to the Niagara River. Its connecting canals run north on the east end to Lake Champlain; at about midway, north to Oswego--gateway to Lake Ontario or south to Onondaga Lake in Syracuse. We began the canal at lock 2( .3 mile marker) and departed (mile marker 160) at the junction with the Oswego Canal headed north.

On the route we chose, we went through 23 locks and under many bridges and guard houses. It actually seemed like hundreds as Captain John had to raise and lower the Lady's radar mast to get under some of those bridges and guard houses. The guaranteed depth is 14 ft. and the bridge vertical clearance is 20 ft. They often looked a lot lower and we never really met the man who made the guarantee, but we went through unscathed. The first five locks are called the Waterford Flight. We were raised 169 ft in elevation in less than two miles. This is the greatest height in the shortest distance of any canal in the world!

Up until lock 21, westbound canal cruisers (like us) have been lifted in the locks, but now we started going down . After lock 22 we reached Sylvan Beach, a resort town on the eastern shore of Lake Oneida. Guess What? It was Saturday afternoon of the Fourth of July weekend!!
Everyone was ready for a party, except ole gram and gramps here who had just gone through 21 locks in four days. Sunday July 3 was a day of rest and yes, we did see a few fireworks at the tail end of the show.

TYPICAL CANAL TOWN

On July 4, we powered through the Oswego Canal-24 miles, 14 bridges and 7 locks. The locks lowered us from 363 ft to 245 ft above sea level at Lake Ontario. We intended to cross Lake Ontario on July 5, but winds put our plans on hold. Hopefully, it will be better in the next day or two and we can enter Canada.