Four locks to do. And I'll give a "woo hoo!" right now because they all went swimmingly! No dramas, no issues. The first two had some currents but my power-through strategy remains effective. It's at this point that you get off the Mohawk River and really ride on the Erie Canal. Most of it no longer exists, and has been dismantled, filled, and paved over. We didn't get to enjoy it much because...
The rain started.
Big time!
Soggy day |
Weather maps showed that most of the rain was west of us. We were going to travel into some of it, but the bulk was beyond.
Russ in his rain gear |
Just after the fourth lock was the town of Little Falls, our destination. We sidled up to the wall with ease right around noon. Other boaters were already there, and as the afternoon went on, others came in. By 3 pm, things changed. The waters had risen over a foot. The current was rushing by, bringing with it some tremendous flotsam -- huge logs and entire trees.
Along the Erie Canal we've gone under guard gates, huge metal barriers that close off sections of the canal to control flooding. There are a set just before you get to Little Falls, which were opened when we came. They were closed by 3 in the afternoon. Moreover, we heard that the next two locks, 18 and 19, are also closed, at least for today. Possibly tomorrow. Lock 19 apparently has some mechanical issue and has failed. Lock 18 was closed to help manage the flow for 19. And all of this was because of the rain west of us.
Waters are so high they've flooded the entry to the floating docks. |
Turns out Little Falls is a decent place to be. Today there was an art walk downtown. By 5 the clouds had parted, the sun came out, and the sidewalks are filled with people.
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