June 30, Day 17 - Waterford to Ft. Miller

We started the morning off with a trip to the Hannaford Grocery store where we did a little provisioning (about a mile hike & we forgot to take our little cart – another lesson learned). Had breakfast at the Broadstreet Café. Excellent omelets and great service.

Back at the boat, we topped off the water tanks and said our goodbyes to Earl and Eileen from Erlene and Tom from Mover as they were headed for the Erie Canal.

We became Champlain lock experts as we went through 6 locks today. We had planned to stay at lock 5, but the steam boats that were headed to Waterford for the 4th (about 20 or so) were docked there and we had to go through lock 6 (Ft. Miller) and tie up to the wall. Our anxiety levels decreased with each lock, so we were getting fairly comfortable with the process. Just before Lock 5, there was a significant current to deal with while approaching – it was good to get into the lock.

This part of the trip sort of reminds us of the Yellowstone River with lots of current in places, but slow and meandering in others. It is deeper and not as clean, but a pretty stretch of river. Of course, there aren’t any locks on the Yellowstone. We also saw a deer swimming across in front of us – a small Whitetail – too far away to get a picture.

The weather had been beautiful but then a major thunderstorm hit us just as we were leaving lock 5. It appeared to be over when we got to lock 6, but shortly after we got tied to the wall, the rain really started. We had to wait awhile for it to quite before going for a walk to check out the lock/dock area.

We had cocktails with Sterling and Judy from Sterling Lady. Great folks on a Morgan 36 trawler (Gerry had mistakenly thought it was a Marine Trader.) This is their 2nd time around the Loop. Lots of upset people in this area because of a big General Electric dredging project to clean up some old PCB contaminated areas. Has caused lots of delays in canal traffic and really muddied the waters. Folks are concerned about the potential for contamination of their water supplies downstream from here.

We are still trying to decide whether to go all the way to Lake Champlain tomorrow or to stop in Whitehall and try to get into the Finch and Chubb Restaurant which has received rave reviews from all the Loopers who have stopped there.

We are about a day behind our “schedule” so we have to do a little planning on where we want to go. Vergennes is a must stop, but some of the anchorages we wanted to stop at may have to wait till next time - - - - .

The phone and WiFi connection here is non-existent, but we will try to get something sent out.

This is what Cameron will look like when he gets older.

Falls at Lock 1

Kids playing on the lock wall.

Older kids playing in the canal

Nav aids on the upper Hudson River are really unique. Quite possibly, someone hit this branch before the street cones were attached.

Locking can be fun!!

Coming up on the "LOW" bridge.

Should we really be trying to get under this??

MADE IT!!

Steam Boats - there were 24 boats parading down from Lake Champlain. Neat looking old boats.

More Steam Boats.

Sterling Lady in the heavy rain. We have had way too much of this stuff.

Tied up on the wall at Lock 6.