Clayton, NY to Kingston, ON to Trenton, ON

Day #622; Loop Miles to Date = 7,412

We left Clayton, NY after a very enjoyable 4 day stay. We were delighted that Corkscrew caught up with us for a couple of days, and we had a ball of fun. One of the notable venues in Clayton is the Antique Boat Museum. It is extraordinary as boat museums go.

 

Our pictures don't really do the displays justice. Some really beautiful boats to be seen here...lots of history.

 

The other thing we did in Clayton was eat WAY too much ice cream. The local shop, Scoops, has some really wonderful offerings, and we will admit to only going there 3 times in 4 days. On Wednesday though, it was time to say goodbye to the US of A and head for Canada for a couple of months. We decided to pass on Gananoque as an entry point, even though we had finally figured out how to say the name, and opted to head to Kingston. It worked out perfectly. We had an easy travel day, and customs could not have been easier. We spent just one night here, although Kingston is a pretty good sized city. We imagine that there was more to do here than we initially thought…we certainly didn’t see it all in one afternoon of walking around. 

High speed passenger ferry at Kingston.

Spotted as we were strolling around Kingston...anyone know what these are? Beautiful.

On Thursday (when this entry is being written) we were going to head to Picton, or anchor out halfway between Kingston and Trenton. Ultimately we decided on a long day of travel (71 miles) and traveled all the way to Trenton. There is some weather coming our way on Friday, and we figured that we were best served by being settled by then. We stopped after about 40 miles at a spot to walk the pups…it meant having to drop the dinghy in the water and using a small boat launch, but it only took us about 45 minutes…no big deal this day.

You can see how the lake levels are affecting boathouses like this one...simply unusable.

Random lighthouse.

So, tonight we are in Trenton, the gateway city to the Trent Severn Waterway, which will take us all the way to Georgian Bay. If you want to learn more about the Trent Severn, click here. We are really looking forward to this section of travel, and are glad that we are poised to commence it. We plan to hang out in Trenton for 4 days, and then start our journey through dozens of locks next week. It’s hard to believe that we are already almost in July…we had planned to make sure that we were on the Trent Severn by about July 1^st, and it looks like we are right on schedule. There is such a short weather window to enjoy all of the Canadian portion of the trip, and we want to maximize our time here as much as possible.

 Stay tuned…next up…locks, locks, and more locks…and bunches of wonderful small towns to visit!

Oswego to Clayton, NY

Day #619; Loop Miles to Date = 7,320

We enjoyed our respite in Oswego...the lock wall was very peaceful and the town reasonably convenient. But after 3 nights there, we were ready to move on - and the weather window for crossing Lake Ontario developed as we anticipated. So, on Saturday, we locked through the last lock on the Oswego canal and headed out into Lake Ontario.

Our last lock on the Erie/Oswego Canals.

View of Lake Ontario from the lock.

This duck family had been camping out in the lock overnight...they scrambled out of the way as we passed through.

The lighthouse at Oswego as we entered Lake Ontario.

These Great Lakes are deep...here our depth sounder shows 518'...there are deeper spots for sure, but this was about the deepest that we saw on our 30 mile crossing.

The 30 miles across the eastern portion of the lake was reasonably smooth, and any seas that we had were following, so our day was very manageable. Shortly after we crossed, we entered the St. Lawrence River, the beginning of the seaway that 1000 miles or so to the east finds the Atlantic ocean. After another 30 miles, we found our marina in Clayton. This is at the western end of the 1000 islands, simply a gorgeous area to visit and cruise.

Yesterday, we took a day trip (by car and ferry) to see more of the 1000 islands, and to visit the Singer Castle and Boldt Castles. During the period from about 1890 to 1905, this area became vastly popular for well-to-do folks from the east to build their summer homes. And a number of these families decided that they would build castles! Some of these are still family homes today, but the Singer and Boldt Castles are now open to the public for touring. Massive amounts of money have been invested to restore these properties, and we found them both interesting and overwhelming at the same time.

This year finds Lake Ontario at record high levels. The prevailing truth is that there was some legislation passed to increase the level in the lake this year. This in order to support the ongoing effort to restore some of the native species that had been over fished in the 20th century. Unfortunately, this planned increase in lake level coincided with record rainfall. Thus, the lake is now at a level that hasn't been seen in more than 40 years. And, they can't simply let more water drain downstream, because that would cause flooding in Montreal. So, this area is stuck with high water levels until nature helps get the levels back down. Why we mention this is that this dramatically affects all of the summer residents of the 1000 Islands. Many vacation homes are built on tiny islands with fixed docks. The only access that these folks have to their homes is by boat, and the high water level has most of these docks under water. So, people simply can't get to their properties, and much or not all of the summer may pass before they can gain access. Thus far, this has not affected our travel plans, but there is a chance that we could encounter some hurdles in the coming weeks.

An island and home just across from our marina.

Here you can see where they have built a temporary dock on top of the permanent one that is just underwater. While the cleats are out of the water, these docks are currently unusable because boats need them to stick out of the water by 6"to12" just to be able to have fenders do their job. Otherwise, boats just float up over the dock causing all sorts of damage to both docks and boats.

A portion of a marina that is currently unusable.

Houses are built on the tiniest of islands up here. This one is just out of the water at present...owners are likely not able to get in here yet.

Singer Castle...remember...this is just a summer home...

Just one of the ventures that this family was involved with.

On this section of the St Lawrence, the border between Canada and the US is in the middle of the waterway. On our ferry trip from Alexandria Bay up to Singer Castle, we likely crossed over and back a couple of times. This is a large Canadian Coast Guard vessel we passed on patrol.

Boldt Castle. Stunning.

A really brief bio...George Boldt was a Prussian who came to the US in 1864. His dream was to build this castle as a testimony to his unsurpassed love for his wife Louise. His wealth came from his success with a couple of small hotels...the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, and the Bellevue-Stratford in Philadelphia. The construction started in 1900, employing 100's of workers. But, in 1904, construction ceased when Louise passed away. George Boldt never returned to the island after this, and for 73 years it sat vacant and exposed to the elements. Efforts over the years since have managed to restore about 1/2 of the castle to its original intended design.

One of the out buildings.

The den. You can't see it in this picture, but the huge fireplace mantel is all hand carved. On the right and left side are carvings of Hansel and Gretel, and in the middle is a carving of the Witch. Rumor is that the elder statesman saw himself sitting around a fire reading stories to his grand children. Interesting.

The family dining room.

 

The daughter's bedroom...her name was Clover.

One of the basement passageways.

 

A cool looking weather vane that topped the highest spire.

It's hard to convey the extraordinary amount of detail that is present here. An overwhelming amount of planning had to go into this undertaking. Sad that it sat vacant for decades fading into decay.

We just couldn't resist snapping this shot of a random family on the ferry on Fathers Day.

Sunset last night from our boat at Clayton Harbor Marina.

Our next stop is Canada...we think Kingston, and hopefully on Wednesday. Thanks for reading!

Erie Canal Photos

Day #616; Loop Miles to Date = 7,255

Found some WiFi...so here are the photos from our days on the Erie and Oswego Canals. There's a bunch of them...so have a seat and peruse at your leisure...

Albany

The USS Slater, a Cannon class destroyer...now open for tours.

 

The parade of boats headed for the Federal Lock at Troy, NY.

Inside the Federal Lock.

And now at Waterford...time to hook a left into the Erie Canal.

At Waterford, it is a free dock that is first come, first served. The boats in front of us took the last few available spots. But...

...as you can see here, we rafted off of our friends on Act III and it all worked out just fine.

Typical entry into one of the locks. This one is quite tame...some of them are a bit more turbulent...and exciting.

On this morning, we had a parade behind us.

 

Act III going into Lock E4.

This is a guard gate. They can lower these to control the water flow. Typically they are up, but when you pass under one that was just in the water, you get all kinds of canal water on your boat. This happened to us twice. Kind of like a huge Guillotine.

Dam beside one of the locks.

Debris left over from the recent high water...locks E8 through E20 were closed for 3 days due to this.

We stopped to walk the pups, and missed out on making this lockage by just a tad...you can see the boats already towards the top of the lift.

Marina wall at Amsterdam, NY.

 

Typically, there are lines dangling from the sides of the locks. Sandy grabs one at the bow, and Rob one at the stern, and then hang on as the boat is lowered or raised by the water level. Mostly it is a calm process...but it can get exciting if we start moving around. There was only one really bad lock experience in E8...3 of the boats on the other wall had a very difficult time hanging on due to the current created by a broken valve. The lock operator could have mitigated this, but chose not too. No damage was done, but there were some tense moments and sore muscles that resulted from this situation. It wasn't fun at all for the other boats, Act III included.

All of the Canal working tugs and boats are painted just like this. It's really neat to see these older tugs still working.

One of the dams beside a lock.

Debris clean-up still in progress.

E17 is the only lock where the doors are Guillotine style. All of the other doors open horizontally.

Neat entry into this lock...there is a bridge at a 45 degree angle across the canal on the approach.

Towards the front of the procession this day.

Much of the trip was just this peaceful...no traffic on the water, and beautiful conditions.

There were scads of Canada Geese with goslings all over the place along the way. Sandy must have taken 50 pictures of them!

 

And now some shots of the faces we saw along the way...many of these are the lock operators.

 





 

The morning we left Little Falls was idyllic.

All for now. We are still in Oswego, and plan to leave tomorrow (Saturday) for Clayton NY...about a 65 mile trip across the eastern end of Lake Ontario. Canada awaits.