Albany, NY - Erie Canal

Here is our route from Albany, NY to Little Falls, NY.

We are Westbound!

Monday, June 24. We arrived at the Albany Yacht Club on the Hudson River. This would position ourselves for the Troy lock and then to Waterford where we would begin the Erie Canal. Darth took one of the bikes to pick up oil for a future oil change and I did laundry.

On the way to Troy lock. Starbuck Island has nothing to do with Starbuck’s coffee-being from Seattle, I had to google it. 1823—Valentine Starbuck, the British master of a whaling ship, sighted the island, which was previously called Volunteer Island. Now it is known as Troy’s newest luxury apartment community.

Tuesday, June 25. We pulled up to the Waterford ‘free’ dock. We were lucky to get a spot with power and were happy to pay the small fee to hook up. Jamie and Scott(daughter & son-in-law) would be joining us at the end of the week so we didn’t want to be too far through the Erie Canal—plus we wanted to explore Waterford.

The Troy lock is known as Lock 1, Lock 2 begins at Waterford, NY.

We walked up Lock 2 and found this mule. Mules and horses were used to power canal boats. Attached to the boats by a rope, the animals walked along a towpath next to the canal, pulling the boats behind them as they went. Teams of horses or mules worked in shifts. When they were off duty, they rested inside a stable located on the boat.

It was an interesting walk up the canal. It was HOT—our destination: ice cream-of course.

Wednesday, June 26. This is a Kadey Krogen Manatee-1987, the boat was introduced in 1984 and only 99 KK Manatees were built. Sarah and Ted named their boat Manatee when they bought it new. This is their 34th time doing the loop! It was a pleasure to meet these two legendary loopers.

Warterford, NY is also famous for the first American woman to win an Olympic Event. This was at a park by the bridge we took to provision.

While provisioning—-THIS!! Super light and yummy beer I discovered last year—its seasonal, I highly recommend. : )

Thursday, June 27. We left early to conquer the famous ‘FLIGHT OF FIVE!!!’. This means once you enter Lock # 2, then locks 3,4,5 & 6 are one right after the other. Lifting the boat up a total of 170’ give or take a few feet. The locks have cables running down the wall that we wrap 2 ropes around—holding one end at the cockpit and one from the bow. We then manually move the ropes up the cable. It was—ok ish. Another option would be to hang on to the dangling ropes the locks have on the wall—this would be ok if our boat was longer—there are too many feet between the ropes for our boat

We went through one more lock and stayed at the Schenectady Yacht Club.

Friday, June 28. We found another semi free dock at Scotia Landing. This would position us to move in the morning to pick up Jamie and Scott the next day at Mohawk Harbor. What we didn’t know was that it was the community’s annual 4th of July celebration—always held the Friday before the 4th of July. This would include a Revolutionary reenactment, waterski show, a band played, and fireworks just across the canal.

This dock was pretty crowded later in the day. We felt very lucky to get a spot.

This is Jumpin’ Jacks just down from where the boat was. If you order 2 hamburgers the order taker will yell something—but not 2 hamburgers. If you tip —the cashier yells SUBWAY and all the workers yell THANK YOU! Burgers were delicious and ice cream served from their building nextdoor was also delicious.

Reenactment—very loud!

Waterski show. They were great!

Super firework show!

Saturday, June 29. Arthur’s coffee shop—-these are welcome coffee’s. J&S have arrived!

It poured down rain, since J&S rented a car for two days—Scott suggested Cooperstown and visit the Baseball Hall of Fame Museum. It was alot of fun. Great ride through NY to get there too—beautiful part of NY.

Its blurry—but the plaque showed the former location of the Brewers 1969 in Seattle. The Seattle Pilots!!

We stopped at Canali’s Italian Restaurant—DELICIOUS!! When we arrived back at the marina the rain stopped—briefly.

Sunday, June 30. J&S took us to Wallmart for more provisioning then returned the rental car. We chose Riverlink Park in Amsterdam, NY for our destination. The locks only had ropes so we adjusted by holding onto them—here’s Jamie. It actually seemed easier.

Darth and my job got easier too with our added boat hands.

Here’s Scott—its hard to take decent photos of the person in the cockpit—we all took turns.

At the Riverlink park there is a bar right by —we had a fun evening getting to know Rich and Nancy, (Relief Valve).

The four of us walked across the bridge in Amsterdam from Riverlink park. We found the town very pretty.

Monday, July 1. Rich and Nancy checked with us to travel together starting early. It helps the lockmasters when boats arrive together, plus our destination was the same, Little Falls Rotary Marina 6 locks away. Looks like some serious strategy is being determined enroute.

Very dramatic approach to Lock 17—our final lock for the day.

This is a popular spot for rock climbing.

J&S slept under the dinette table—in the ‘cave’. It started on the first night when rain was predicted. What isn’t shown are the 7+ boxes of supplies-tools etc, life preservers, folding chairs, vacuum and leaf blowers, laundry bag, miscellaneous items we must have, all had to be taken out of the cave every night they were with us and re-packed in the morning.

These two are so easy—they intended to ‘camp’ but really this worked. Yes—Jame is pretending to sleep. : )

Tuesday, July 2. It was a beautiful morning. Jame had a meeting, we all wanted to bicycle and see the area. Consensus was to stay one more night during this important coffee meeting.

We rode the bikes to the nearby Herkemer Home. Unfortunately the buildings are only open Wednesday - Sunday.

This graveyard was on the property—it was interesting to walk the grounds of this historic site.

Situated overlooking the Mohawk River, this Georgian-style mansion was home to General Nicholas Herkimer. Construction of his residence on the colonial frontier was completed around 1764. General Herkimer's place in history was assured in 1777 when he assembled 800 militiamen, supported by 60 allied Oneida warriors, and marched to defend Ft. Stanwix against a British siege. Considered to be a significant turning point in the Revolutionary War, the Battle of Oriskany, fought on August 6, 1777, has been described as one of the bloodiest battles of the war. Although wounded in the leg, Herkimer kept command during the fierce combat. After the battle he was carried home where he died 10 days later from complications following the amputation of his leg.

We continued to bike around Little Falls. Everything except the grocery store and CVS drugstore were closed on Tuesdays. No ice cream on this ride. : (

We had a very nice ‘docktail’ gathering with 7 boats along the dock.

After ‘docktails’ Scott started searching for pizza—after knowing all places were closed I said I would pay $100 if he could find a place open. Note to self—-don’t give Scott a challenge. He has not seen the $100 though. : )

Wednesday, July 3rd. We were reminded how quickly life can change. One of our friends, had a medical emergency early this Wednesday morning. 911 was called and the emergency technicians quickly took him to the hospital. The small hospital in Little Falls assessed and determined he needed to be airlifted to Albany to receive proper care.

To be sensitive of their privacy, I will use Mr. and Mrs. as their names. Mr.’s wife Mrs. needed to rent a car and get to Albany as quickly as possible. Like most couples, although we are a team, usually docking and maintenance are handled by our husbands. In our case, for example, I tend to the ropes, fenders and research for our destinations. I also take the helm while underway. I have never docked the boat.

Also, we were 78 miles and 17 locks away from Albany. The best solution was to get their boat to a marina in Albany as soon as possible so Mrs. would have a place to stay while Mr. was in the hospital. Their boat is a 41’ older boat that Darth and Scott would easily be able to manage. Jamie and I could work the locks. It was a decision we all agreed to at once.

At one of the stops Jamie ran to get ice. Mrs. & Mr. had just provisioned and in addition to the refrigerator, they had food in a huge cooler. Jame was able to take a photo of the boat as we pulled up to pick her up.

We left Little Falls at 1:30pm and the manager had phoned the lock explaining the situation. The Lockmaster went into action—locked us down and phoned Lock 16 so they could prepare the lock if possible. This is a busy day for them as folks are locking the other direction, plus the boat is a slow boat 6-7knots so it would be challenging to get 17 locks in two days because the locks close at 6:00 pm.

When we were at lock 14, we thought this would be the end of our day as it was about 5:40pm and 8 miles to lock 13. The Lockmaster asked where we were going and we briefly explained the situation. He phoned lock 13 and they phoned lock 12—we went through lock 12 at almost 8:00pm. They sent us to a free wall with power just before lock 11.

Thursday, July 4. Locks open at 8:00am—Lock 11 had us come in at 7:50am and we were on our way. The next 4 locks had brief wait times as it was 4th of July. We were able to get the remaining locks behind us and pulled into the Albany Yacht Club at 6:00pm. It was windy on the approach and right in the middle of their 4th of July celebration. Darth got the boat in the slip like a champ. The four people that came to help told us they were waiting for us.

Mrs. met us shortly after with keys to the rental car as it needed to be returned near Little Falls. They would not consider a drop in Albany. We drove J&S to Albany airport so they could rent a car, get a hotel, and explore before returning to their home in Washington. We said our good-byes and then drove back to Little Falls that evening.

We were grateful for the care of the Little Falls Rotary Dock Manager, the Erie Canal Lockmasters and the folks from the Albany Yacht Club.

Having Jamie and Scott with us made this so much easier and their willingness to help is just who they are. Scott is a licensed captain, between him and Darth they were able to keep the boat moving without any trouble. Jamie and I easily grabbed the lines at the locks and between the four of us we were thankful to be able to help.

From the last communication Mrs. had sent to a few of us, Mr. is being cared for and we hope and pray he will have a complete recovery. Her words—hug your loved ones.