UP THE HUDSON, THROUGH THE ERIE, OSWEGO, ACROSS LAKE ONTARIO

UP THE HUDSON, THROUGH THE ERIE & OSWEGO, ACROSS LAKE ONTARIO AND INTO "THE RIVER" (ST LAWRENCE AS IT'S KNOWN THERE).....

Bill and I left NYC Monday morning 28 May for the CANAL trip up the Hudson River. Traveling into and out of the NY harbor on your own boat is an experience never to be forgotten. It’s a shame that more people didn’t take the opportunity to join me on this portion of the trip. I didn’t stay long there because I’ve seen the sights in NYC and felt nothing could be added by doing more this trip. There is much more to see “up the river”.

The trip on the Hudson River is one of exploring what sources are available to assist with what you’re seeing along the ridge lines of the hills and mountains that contain it. We found Google Earth provides much information at your fingertips. You can also do a “screen capture” to provide history for your archive. We would see something interesting and these sources provided the visual as well as complete information.

The river to the end is 315 miles long. We did the portion to just above Albany, the NY capital, with one stop in Kingston… a trip of 10.7 hours over 110 miles and then on to Waterford the next day. It flows from N to S but is tidal from Troy down to the where it empties into the Atlantic.

Starting immediately are places you’ve heard of all your life, Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, along with the skyline including the 1 World Trade Center, Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, etc.

One of the early landmarks we saw on the river was West Point. The main buildings are impressive and look old but the newer wings were just that, no character. Around back as the river meanders, are the sports facilities. Heard the tour there wasn’t anything like the Naval Academy so we didn’t even try.

Next came a place I wanted to stop but to get there was problematic; however, I was prepared to go through calling a taxi and taking a 20 mile ride to get to the CIA! Our plans were to stop and eat at one of the CIA's famous 5 restaurants but they were closed on Sunday’s and since Monday was a holiday, they were closed then too. Dang!!! Was looking forward to eating at the Culinary Institute of America!

Other places of interest to see along the river, and tour if you had a car available, would be the Vanderbilt Mansion, Franklin Roosevelt’s estate, and that of Samuel Morse (famous for “code”).

We stopped in Kingston as a matter of convenience on our way to stage in Waterford for the beginning of the Erie Canal. By docking along the city wall of Waterford you sit right in front of the 1^st Erie Lock. If you chose, you can be first out in the morning. We pulled up at the very front because it was the only space left, but chose to let the main group depart early so we would not be crowded in the lock and could move at our pace.

What a historic, unheard of feat when built. America was beginning to develop commerce, a system was needed to transport goods coming into the Port of NYC, on to destinations Westward. The Hudson and Mohawk Rivers were chosen to construct this system by then Governor Clinton and the Erie Canal was started in1823. After 425 miles, in October of 1825 it was finished. There were 35 locks and raised us 565 feet above sea level. This finished two year effort opened up the whole Midwest for goods to flow both ways.

We used 3 days to transit the Erie then crossed Lake Oneida (21 miles in open water) to Brewerton NY. This is a popular place people leave their boats in heated, winter storage and come back next spring to continue their loop. I was able to get an electronics guy to look at my wireless remote for the autopilot but thanks to Raymarine and their greedy ways of providing equipment, I needed a short cable to combine them. Of course no one had the cable so part was installed and the rest will be when I get back. I ordered the cable from Amazon.

After Brewerton we entered the Oswego Canal system. This is a short system of only 21 miles. It combines the Erie with Lake Ontario and consist of 7 locks and changes the elevation 118 feet over this distance.

We stayed at Oswego and left early the next day for an easy crossing about 20 miles off shore to enter the St Lawrence River. We traveled to Clayton, where because of several days of nasty weather, I decided this was as good a place as any to put Phantom to sleep and head to my brother’s home in Tennessee to celebrate his 90^th birthday party. I will return around the 10-12 of June to continue my loop and head immediately into Canada, where I’ll probably be for the next month.

I'm atill looking for crew as Celia is starting a new business with her sister and Bill has returned to “honey-dos”! This will be a pretty good challenge….. locking through Canada and the Trent-Severn system single handed! Most say it’s impossible but according to what I read and talking with those who have done it, not with a 53’ boat granted, but Phantom has been kind to me (much more so than I to her!) but we have an understanding….. that we need to do this, so onward it is!