Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Bye, Bye, Canals, Hello Ontario

After a down-day that was both productive and very lazy, we set out again this morning to reach Lake Ontario.  As you depart the west end of Lake Oneida via the Oneida River, the man-made Erie Canal branches off.  Here's the sign post directing you towards the canal and lock #23.


Although at this point we are only about half way through the Erie, Lock #23 will be our last lock.  A few miles later we come to Three Rivers where the Oswego Canal joins the Erie Canal and Lake Ontario, and emerges in Oswego, NY.  We took this cutoff and traveled the 25 miles and 7 locks to Lake Ontario.  By the way, if you continue on the Erie it parallels the entire length of Lake Ontario passing just south of Rochester and emerging into Lake Erie around Buffalo and just a bit upstream of Niagara Falls.

Shortly after turning into the Oswego Canal, we came across this large canal maintenance facility with all sorts of barges and work boats.  It must be quite the chore to keep the canals cleared of debris and running properly.

Syracuse Canal Maintenance Facility

Syracuse Canal Maintenance Facility

Throughout the Oswego we continue to lock down to Ontario's elevation of about 250'.  I tried a couple of other video's of locking which are below.  Let me know when you get sick of them.....


2 comments:

  1. I discovered this blog at this stage and thoroughly enjoyed the well informed, well written story. Too many bloggers are inadequate to write for public view. I'll keep following these loopers.

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  2. I myself have just found your blog and look forward to following your journey. I just recently discovered the "Great Loop". Good luck on your trip and many thanks for your informative blog.

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