West On the Erie Canal - Day #2

Overnight, there were thunderstorms and heavy rain. Emma has panic attacks during thunderstorms at home. We had set up a blanket and her pillow in the v-berth at the bow of the boat. It is the darkest place on the boat. When the rain started, Emma immediately left the salon. We found her in the v-berth on the blanket shaking. Thankfully, the storms did not last long. As soon as the storms stopped, Emma decided my bunk would be more comfortable and jumped, her head placed on my pillow. A big smile on her face... she was teasing me!

In the morning we left early to make the short trip to Lock E9. We wanted  to catch the first lift of the day. Aaron had told us there was a convenient store across the street here. The Lock Master let us tie up at the top of his lock, so we could go to the store.

Grace took Emma for her morning walk and I went to the store. Across the street was accurate, but not what I had envisioned. It was a fair walk up a steep grade and across four lanes of Rt. 5. I came back with fresh coffee, donuts, muffins, some snacks... oh, and three more gallons of water.

There was another sailboat tied up at Lock E9 when we arrived. Upon returning from the store, I noticed he was preparing to depart. We followed this little blue sailboat through Locks E10, and E11. He was a little slower than us, but not so slow as to be hindering our progress because the distances between those locks was so small. The distance from Lock E11 to Lock E12 is 10 miles. Here, I could put some distance between us and the little blue sailboat. The difference between his speed and ours would mean two additional locks by the end of the day.

Little Blue Sailboat

The next few locks went smoothly. It was becoming routine to motor a while; stop to be lifted at a lock; and continue on as before. The scenery didn't change much either. The picture above is very representative for a large part of the trip along the Mohawk River.

Lock E17 was a huge lift when compared to the other locks we've been through. Later, I read it was the largest single-lift in the world until 1959.

It is intimidating to motor your boat into this lock. First, unlike other locks, there aren't two doors that swing open. The single door lifts up, like a solid steel portcullis. After watching this behemoth being raised, you slowly motor under it. As the droplets of water drip from the door, you are hoping it does not slip. Once safely through in to the lock, 40' steel walls surround you with ropes hanging down. Once the boat comes to a halt, you grab a rope with leather gloves protecting your hands. These ropes are how you maintain control of your boat.

Every sound echoes. When the door closes behind you, everything seems to stop, no wind, no sounds other than the chugging of the small diesel engine echoing off the walls and a small waterfall from the water leaking through the seam of the door ahead. The water begins to swirl. There are eddies of swirling water forming on the surface all around. The boat gently, slowly slides backward. You tug on the rope to stop that motion. Now, the surface of the water is like a gentle boiling without the steam. You change your grip on the rope as the boat rises along the wall. If the mast on the bow of the boat starts moving towards the wall, you tug on the stern rope to pull the stern closer to the wall. If the bow moves too far away from the wall, it requires a tug on the bow rope to bring it back inline. Once you've been lifted to the top, it's like the whole world has just been opened up for you. There is the sound of chirping birds and water rushing down a nearby waterfall.

I was scrambling through the Cruising Guides to determine where we could stop for the night. One small note on the Lock E17 page said stopping above the lock was prohibited. Instead, you had to go to the Canal Terminal.  The Canal Terminal turned out to be the Little Falls Canal Harbor and Rotary Park. They had a new floating dock; a nice welcome center with a walking path; showers, and snacks. For just $1/ft we were given the key to the welcome center and told to make ourselves at home. We could have watched TV, but didn't. We used the microwave to heat some restaurant leftovers we had in the refrigerator on the boat. We even had ice cream sandwiches for desert. I left the $2 with a note stating what it was for. The snack sign listed ice cream sandwiches as $1 each.

We took turns walking Emma before turning in.