A peaceful nights sleep was had tied to the Brewerton free wall after the winds died down. Erik awoke and heated a leftover cup of coffee in the microwave before starting a fresh pot of coffee. He quickly discovered when the coffee pot turned itself off that we had apparently utilized too much juice from our battery bank the afternoon/evening before and throughout the night. We had not been plugged in to shore power and were running off our inverter to warm food in the microwave, utilize the induction burner, make coffee, run fans, and we had watched TV before going to bed for an hour or so; apparently more than we should have 😬. Fortunately, the generator was now operating as it should and we were able to start it up briefly in order to make our all important pot of coffee as well as turn on the battery charger to give the house bank a quick charge. The house bank would continue to charge once we were underway as it also charges off of the engine alternators. The starting of the generator awoke the two sleeping beauties (Renee and Riva) from their slumber. We had talked the night before about having an early departure to take advantage of the minimal morning winds to make the run across a calm Oneida Lake. Since we were all now awake before sunrise we quickly prepped the boat and departed at 5:14am. The dawn departure rewarded us with a very peaceful and nice cruise across the lake.
 |
| Good day sunshine 🌞 |
 |
| Erik sped things up to a very fast (for us) 17mph, 21 mile cruise across Oneida Lake after sunrise |
Smooth waters
At 7:05am we pulled into Sylvan Beach and tied up at the free wall. Multiple other loop boats were preparing to shove off to make their lake crossing in the direction we had just come from. Now that we are on the eastern portion of the Erie Canal and the many loopers are heading west, mostly just a bit more before they head up the Oswego Canal to Lake Ontario, we were again amazed at just how many AGLCA members we encountered. Throughout the day Renee was snapping pictures of them, as we cruised eastward. By our count we crossed paths with 26 boats actively on the loop today alone 😮. Together with the ~18 we saw just at Winter Harbor in Brewerton yesterday that makes at least 44 loop boats we’ve seen; this does not even count multiple others that were down the canal at another marina (Eskay Yards).
 |
| 20 of the 26 AGLCA boats we saw today If you’re one of the 6 we left out please CashApp funds to us to invest in more robust photo editing app! We are still trying to figure out why y’all are GOING THE WRONG WAY?!? 😜 |
Arriving at Sylvan Beach early allowed us to break the rules and take Riva for a short walk on the very nice beach stretching along the towns waterfront before we came to the sign that stated “no dogs allowed….$250 fine”. This sign detoured our beach stroll up onto the streets of town where we walked another mile or so enjoying the sites of a throwback to the 50’s looking town. Being Tuesday and early in the day virtually nothing was open. We did discuss for a moment about going into a classic pancake joint but instead decided to move on.
 |
| Sites of Sylvan Beach |
Back aboard and continuing east we slowed our roll considerably to a still healthy 10+ mph cruise. It was another 45.7 miles and 5 locks including one that would be our last lock to ride UP. For the remainder of the locks on the Erie Canal we will be getting lowered down while descending to the Hudson River. The landscape did change noticeably and was much more hilly and mountain’ish for most of the remainder of the day.
 |
| There’s diamonds in them there hills |
We came into Little Falls at about 3:30 completing the 66.9 mile day. We were greeted and helped to tie up by several loopers who had arrived a bit earlier in the afternoon. After greetings and some pleasant exchanges we rode off on our bikes to explore the town. The town is set in a very cool and scenic valley with many pretty views of cliffs and small rapids of the Mohawk River. Like many of the small river towns that we encounter the depressed nature of the area was somewhat evident even though we could also tell the residents were proud of the charm of their town. We biked over the bridge where we could see the canal on one side of a small island and rocky, descending creek that created some small water falls. We biked past a hotel with a theater in it. Down a Main St with some really neat architecture, but closed or empty store fronts. After riding around for a while we found our way to the island. We passed a popular restaurant, some historic looking buildings that now housed some shops and businesses, but none of the shops were open. Erik was on a mission to find the “falls” of “Little Falls”.
 |
| Some of the falls of Little Falls |
 |
| Many cool old buildings from the towns hay day |
Biking down the island we found a couple of spots with some beautiful views and some of the smaller falls. We came to an area that had large cliffs on either side. Along the path we were riding were a group of people rock climbing on the face of the cliffs! Very cool! At the end of the island we came upon the hydro electric power plant(this is where they directed the falls to harness their power!) and the lock that we would pass through in the morning. This is one of the biggest drops we encountered on the Erie Canal so far(about 41 foot drop). We biked back into town for a meeting, then back to the boat.
 |
| Mural on wall at nice, clean park where we were docked And Rock climbers….On belay! |
No comments:
Post a Comment