Crossing the Adirondacks by Tractor

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June 12, 2022

Preparing for the Erie

We left Shady Harbor Marina south of Albany last Tuesday, headed for the Erie Canal. The dinghy mostly deflated, the mast down, big orange balls freshly inflated. We are ready to go, hoping to get through 22 locks on the Erie as opposed to the 7 we were able to do last year. We only plan to do the eastern quarter of the canal before heading north through the Oswego Canal to Lake Ontario.

Heading up the Hudson to the Erie Canal

Although a bit windy, the wind was always on our bow so was not much of any issue. Just annoying as wind is my least favorite weather element. It was wonderful though as the river was not raging and so full of logs as last years attempt, so I have NOTHING to complain about.

Day 1 – Scotia

Day one we went to Scotia which is about mile 17 on the Canal. Does not seem like much, but there were 7 locks included in that and we climbed 211 feet out of the Hudson River Valley into the Adirondack Mountains. Most of the canal at this point is actually the Mohawk River.

Scotia is clearly working to attract boaters. Nice floating docks and power and well priced.
Jim and I in all our locking have bee very lucky to basically have no one with us. This sailboat, Karma, did 6 locks with us on the first day, The captain seemed to know how to drive the boat, but his crew of two were clueless. Could not grab lines, dropped a boat hook in the water, were always yelling at each other (no headsets) and manage to ram the mast into the lock wall several times. Scary locking for us as we worried they would hit us. We were so happy that they went past us after we stopped in Scotia and we never saw them again.

Day 2 – Canajoharie

Day two we did 43.5 miles, 6 locks and climbed another 83 feet. We stopped at the town of Canajoharie, one of those places no one knows by name. But, it is the home of Beech-Nut. The factory is now long closed, moved to a new industrial park in Amsterdam, New York,

The derelict Beech-Nut factory. I hate seeing this in any town.

There is a very nice museum however, the Arkell Museum, with history of Beech-Nut and a large collection of American art as the Arkell’s were collectors and very committed to their home town.

Beech-Nut was famous for using original art transformed into advertising. This is more purposeful, but they also took images from the Mohawk valley as they used the theme of purity of place for purity of food.
This Normal Rockwell image became a Beech-Nut ad. Rockwell did many illustrations for advertising.
I was excited to see this painting by Peter Hurd a native son of New Mexico. It made me a bit nostalgic for home.
This image by Gilbert Stuart is the image of Washington used for the dollar bill. Fun!

Definitely a proud town that is working to survive as many of the towns along the Erie are.

Day 3 – Lock 16

Day 3 on the Erie took us ust a bit down the Canal where we tied up just past Lock 16. This was 71 miles into our eastern Erie journey. We’ve now climbed another 36 feet from the Hudson River and added only 3 locks to our quiver. A short day on the Canal so we can walk the Erie canal Trail which covers the whole distance of the Erie Canal.

Almost all the locks have park setting where you can tie up for the night. This area was quite based upon East Coast setting. Interstate and rail noise not too far away, but pretty peaceful.
A snippet of the Erie Canal Trail. Mostly flat, but there are some hills.

Day 4 – Little Falls

The next day takes us to Little Falls at mile 78.7. To reach this we have to go through the infamous Lock 17 which has a lift gate (not common) as opposed to swinging doors to enter and has a lift of 40 feet, the biggest on the Erie.

Getting ready to enter Lock 17. There were 4 boats in this lock. The most crowded we’ve been in a lock.
These locks can be a bit intimidating. Some of them only have ropes to hold the boat, as opposed to cables or pipes (which are much easier.)
An example where you can see the orange balls. Sometimes, especially with ropes, you can see Jim holding it, the boat floats out. Other times, with the cables or pipes, or the strong currents created when filling the locks, the balls are smashed against the wall. It is very important to have lots of balls to keep the boat off the wall. Amazingly, generally one person, mid-boat can hold things in control nicely. Occasionally I’d grab a line or do a little thrusting.
It can be a VERY big lift. I can only imagine how it will look when we do locks on the St. Lawrence.

Little Falls is a cute town, again struggling but working to state a comeback with a revived Mill District of antiques and eateries. Apparently this area was a major producer of cheese many moons ago and still has a festival in the fall. Alas, you cannot find any of the local cheese in town except during the festival. Go figure.

The little falls. This would NOT be fun in Rincon.
Little Falls had a lovely dock set up owned/managed by the Rotary Club.

Day 5 – Sylvan Beach

The last day on this part of the Erie was longer than planned. We wanted to stop in Rome to visit Fort Stanwick, a Revolutionary War fort, but the docks were way too rough for our liking with pilings and cross bracing falling into the water. So we forged on to Sylvan Beach at mile 128.8. This made for a 50 mile day, 5 more locks and our summit of the Erie between Locks 20 and 21 (420 feet above the Hudson). Locks 21 and 22 took us down into Sylvan Beach on the eastern edge of Lake Oneida. (Yes, Oneida of silverware fame is just south of there.) We’ve also passed through Mohawk Carpet and Remington Arms territory to reach Sylvan Beach. We have now dropped 50 feet in two locks to reach Lake Oneida.

What a shock. We felt we’d just been transported into another world as Sylvan Beach is a resort town. Very beachy, lots of boats cruising the canal and…. the East Coast Watercross series was in town. Something new for us! They had rigs that reminded me of going to motocross races, but they are various jet skis. Fun to watch.

Looks very much like motocross but on the water.
The starts are very much like motocross. A rubber band start.

As I mentioned, a beach/resort town.

There were pontoon boats everywhere. This marina had twice this many, all identical for rental.
It looks peaceful in Sylvan Beach, bit it was just crazy with boats.

We are now headed across Lake Oneida to Brewerton, NY. We’ll tie up at a marina there for a few days, rent a car and do a little road trip. We’ve always wanted to see the Corning Museum of Glass as this is as close as we’ve ever been. Also the George Eastman house in Rochester and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca. Then back to the boat and we’ll head up the Oswego Canal to lake Ontario and the Thousand islands.

A bad day on the Erie Canal

Oh, I never clarified why crossing the Adirondacks by tractor. Our little 225 John Deere engine is basically a tractor motor that has been marinized. Yes, we can go to a tractor dealer for some parts. And, we can do a good 10 MPH. So, one can cross the Adirondacks by tractor. Takes about 5 days.

A little graphic from Skipper Bob showing the ride from Waterford (Lock 2) to the high point Lock 20 on the Eastern Canal. Lock 1 is actually on the Hudson and called the Troy Federal Lock.
Chicha usually slept through locking but occasionally took an interest. Nikki was never the wiser as she is always under the covers on our bed while we are running.

Comments

Crossing the Adirondacks by Tractor — 3 Comments

  1. How far is the jaunt to the Corning Glass Museum, etc.? Overnight or several day trips? Kitties?

  2. Funny, when I heard Beech Nut I thought of chewing tobacco, Crystal thought of gum. I don’t remember the brand otherwise. Great adventures. Thank you for sharing. I’m excited about your Corning visit. Enjoy

  3. We’ll do a little multi-day road trip with hotels. Everything is about an hour and a half to 2 hours away by car. We COULD get fairly near to all via boat, but it would be a much longer and harder endeavor and require backtracking. We are excited to get off the boat for a bit and do a little road trip. This is a very pretty area.