Erie Canal

After three days of travel and 17 locks, we were ready for some downtime and rest. We docked at Ilion Marina and RV park because they had room for all three boats. It ended up being a great spot: no wakes, beautiful scenery, nice area on the land, directly on the Erie Canal Bike Path. With all the positives were able to forget about the fry vent and trains.

Three Sons made it to the Erie Canal! We stocked up with extra fenders, lines, gloves and patience and are ready to take on part of the 363 mile journey. This historical canal in upstate New York, runs east – west traversing New York state from Albany to Buffalo. The canal was completed in 1825, to help reduce the cost of transporting goods and people. Now, it is used mostly for recreation and tourism and raises boats 566 feet from the Hudson River to Lake Erie through 35 locks. Since we can not fit under a low bridge on the western part of the canal, our plan is only cruise three fourths of the Erie Canal turning left once we hit the Oswego Canal.

Since lots of Loopers were headed up the Hudson from Shady Harbor, we decide to hang back one day. We enjoyed a relaxing day with a few chores and ended with dinner on Sweet Equity with Kim and Andy. Our departure from the docks with scheduled “wheels up” at 8AM.