Woke up to a cloudy off and on drizzly day with 56 degrees. Decided to leave as planned as the weather was to clear up. We are dressed in our sweatshirts and raincoats!
This part of the Champlain Canal is actually the Hudson River with sections of man made canals built to go around the rapids in the river, so the waterway becomes more winding with small island and oxbows. We cruised past the outskirts of Fort Edwards and the shores were mostly farmland.
Next we entered a man made canal section that begins with a Guard Gate and Lock 6 which drops us 16 feet. Always fun to watch the gates to the lock open to see what vistas await us. In this case, we saw forested hills and shore line and a much wider water channel.
Next we tackled Lock 5 with its corresponding dam and descended 19 feet in Northumberland. On our way to Lock 4 we passed by the Saratoga National Monument which commemorates the Revolutionary War battle fought here. We also saw two more eagles, one was a bald eagle. The other one was a female and since I am no expert I will not guess the kind.
At Lock 4, we shared the lock with a canal work boat and dropped another 16 feet. Lock 4 is in the town of Stillwell which has a reconstructed blockhouse you can visit. These blockhouses were used to house a small contingent of soldiers to protect the waterway. There were many of these scattered all along the Champlain canal.
One mile later we dropped another 20 feet at Lock 3 for a total drop of 71 feet today. After the lock we pulled over to the free city dock in Mechanicville.for the night.
The Mechanicville area was originally settled between 1721-1764 depending on your information source. The town received its current name from the many craftsmen- millers and carpenters, who settled the town. Later in the 1800’s the Champlain Canal and a major railroad junction helped make Mechanicville a hub of commerce.
We walked to a restaurant for lunch and then wandered around town. It was evident from the once grand old homes just outside the center of town that Mechanicville was once a thriving town.
September 7. Day 143. On to Waterford. Nm. Total
After sleeping in, we headed south for the last leg of our trip on the Champlain Canal.
We have only a short run and two locks to negotiate. Lock 2 drops us 18 feet and Lock 1 14 feet to the level of the Hudson River. Will travel a short distance on the river before we turn west to retrace our steps on the Erie Canal.
Along the way mountains reappear to the east with farmlands and the western shore is developed with homes as we are approaching the cities of Waterford and Troy NY.
Before turning west we cruise under the bridge which signals the end of the Triangle Loop ( up the Rideau, Ottawa and St Lawrence rivers and down the Richelieu and Champlain Lake and Canal.) As we make our turn into the Erie Canal and tie up at the Waterford dock, we reminisced about the last time we were here in late June. We have traveled about 1000 miles since then. The dock was filled to capacity, but today we are the only boat here. They are planning a tug boat fest and have closed the dock for people staying longer then one day.
Once settled we ate lunch and walked to the grocery store for fresh veggies and fruit and yogurt. This will be our last grocery run if I planned correctly . And that is a big if! We took a different route and saw more of the town than last time.
