5 June, 2021. Climbing the Erie

 

28 SM, 8 locks, 6.0 hours 

Peaceful night at the Waterford visitor center free docks.  But it was time to head west and begin the climb to higher elevations.  We completed securing loose gear, disconnecting shore power and stowing the cable, inspected Serenity and finished our checklists.  Four boats departed the free docks, proceeding only  a couple hundred feet as the first lock scheduled opening was at 0700.  Lock opened at 0705 and displayed a green light signal.  Serenity was 4th in line.  Erie locks have pipes, cables or ropes to secure to while lifting up or down.  Pipe or cable you can put a line around and hold the boat against the lock face.  The ropes, which are wet and slimy, must be held by hand, a rope at bow and stern as the lock fills or empties with water.  Weather clear, forecast to be hot and very windy later in the day.

The Waterford Flight consists of five lift locks that raises vessels from the Hudson River to the Mohawk River and above the Cohoes Falls.  At the end of the flight are two guard gates, one that must be opened by the lock tenders.  The grates protect the locks against flood waters and allow to shut off the river flow during lock maintenance.  The Eastern portion of the Erie is mainly lift locks along the Mohawk River.  Later locks today were also associated with dams, and in between them were small lakes, not too wide.  There is current flowing east, so far less than one MPH.  

4th in line

Low bridge before lock

Another lock entry

Last guard gate—opened

This section of the canal has maybe a 30 MPH speed limit except near docks, bridges locks or congested areas.  No problem for us.  We continued westward passing private residences, small towns, folks fishing from the bank and boats and numerous rowers and kayaks.  We continued our transit of locks 7, 8 and 9.  A total of eight locks today with elevation gain of 216 feet.  

Big lock door behind; waiting for fill

Top of lock exiting

Entering lock for lift up

Flags on lock wall; wind picking up

Signage

Exiting a filled lock, looking aft

Each lock takes approximately 30 minutes to enter, fill and exit. Once secured in the lock I shut down the diesel.  So engine operating hours today are less than actual elapsed travel time.  Winds were really picking up; forecast called westerly at 15-20 with gusts to 30.  When it gets that windy, especially for our little boat, it can get squirrelly in and out of the lock.  So exiting lock 9 there was a nice free wall where we could spend the night.  Check in with the lock tender and he OKed our tying up.  At 1400, we secured Serenity in a very stiff steady wind of 17 mph.  Free wall map. Temperature approaching 90, so the strong wind helped cool.  Only three big boats entered and exited the lock west bound; 1700 the lock closed for the day.  We had the entire place to ourselves except for the resident Canadian geese and their new ducklings.  Up a very steep incline about 0.3 mile away was a very large convenience store.  We wanted the exercise and off we went.  Lots of goodies, but only got ice and a couple of pops.  As evening approached, the winds decreased and by sunset, a gentle breeze remained, not too buggy and a pretty evening.  No facilities at the free dock, but we are good to go.  Lock 9 free wall video

4209 SM journeyed; 1765.5 hours hobbs