The Hudson River leads to the Champlain Canal System which is part of the 524 mile New York State Canalway Trail Water System that links the Niagara and Hudson Rivers, the Finger Lakes, Lake Ontario and Lake Champlain. We encountered our first set of locks in Troy which is one of the largest we’ll see on this trip. We expect to go through over 100 locks in the next couple of months! On the following photos, you can see the progression as one of the locks fills with water.
We traveled about halfway through the Champlain Canal System which is actually the upper Hudson. The canals and accompanying locks are used to circumvent the rapids. We passed through five locks on our way. Some of them opened quickly for us, but others required us to wait until southbound traffic went through first. At one lock we had to wait for almost 30 minutes because a barge that was behind us has priority over pleasure craft to go through locks. Also, no other boats can be with it in the lock for safety reasons.
By late afternoon, we reached Schuylerville which is on the Saratoga Plains, the site of a noteworthy Revolutionary War battle. Last time we cruised up here we rented a car and spent time in Saratoga Springs but we skipped that fine side trip this time.
After going through the lock, we tied up at the lock wall next to a pretty little park. Boats can tie up here for up to 48 hours. There are no services but we could get out and stretch our legs and explore the park on foot.
The day was starting to get rather hot so we decided to go for a swim which is getting commonplace for Jonny but for Lynn, it was just her second time this trip. The water, though cold, was very refreshing and we are now definitely out of any traces of salt water.
Because it was Father’s Day there were lots of phone calls with Stephanie, Andy, Lisa, and others who we are arranging to see on the trip. We expect to be in Lake Champlain by the next day.
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