Western Erie Canal

We flew back to Syracuse and drove up to Brewerton where Happy Daze was having some work done in the Winter Harbor yard.

 She was still on the hard, waiting for a new prop shaft and bearings.

So we decided to take a couple of days to go visit Niagara Falls.  A first visit for both of us.

This is a view of all 3 falls, American, Bridal Veil, and Horseshoe.

They shine colored lights on them at night.

We took a short helicopter ride for a magnificent aerial view.

Here is Horseshoe falls from overhead.

We walked over to the Canadian side and visited a flower garden park.

 They had very detailed miniature houses and even a model railroad in the garden.

We returned after 2 days and Happy Daze was ready to go again.  The Western portion of the canal was a bit smaller and we saw few other boats.  Many of the small towns have walls you can tie up to stay for free.

The Erie Canal Trail was nearby much of the way.

 The scenery was rural and very peaceful.

Of course there were signs of humans scattered along the way.

The locks were old and in pretty rough shape, with lots of icky stuff growing on the walls.  You can read Angie's opinion by the look on her face.

This stretch also had several low bridges that lifted to get under.  Sometimes the bridge tender was responsible for two bridges and had to drive a few miles to the next bridge!



My charting software was not very accurate on this stretch.  Luckily, there were few hard to see hazards, and it was difficult to get lost!

Out last locks #34 and 35 were in Lockport.  The were back to back and lifted us a total of 49 feet.

The canal ended at Tonawanda, NY.  We stopped there for the night on another free wall.  Had a great meal nearby to celebrate our 340 mile Erie Canal crossing!

This map shows the western portion of the Erie canal we just finished. Next we go into Lake Erie.