Day 249 - July 1, 2013: The north end of Lake Champlain

Here is another picture of the flooding last week on the Erie Canal. This is a before and after of the Little Falls in the natural river alongside Lock E-17. This river feeds the canal and reflects the large amount of water produced by the rains in the area.

Little Falls flooding

On this first day of July, just before lunch, we stopped at Shelburne Shipyards in Vermont to pick up an impeller. Shelburnes is a major maintenance and repair facility for both private and large commercial boats. They were extremely helpful and also had the lowest price for fuel on Lake Champlain.

Because we had seen so much of Lake Champlain by car, both on the New York and the Vermont sides, we were able to cruise this area rather quickly, and this helped us recoup some of the lost days on the Erie Canal. We are still seeing a large amount of debris in the water, some pieces large enough to do major damage to a boat's hull and running gear. This requires increased attention while piloting at all times.

Tree trunk and roots

Large log

The lake is quite large and deeper than I expected. We registered over 335 feet in one spot and these depths run within a mile or so of the shore in several areas. Many of the homes here sit on the high plateaus of solid rock overlooking the lake. We both marveled at the dark greens of the trees and the vast green grassy areas surrounding the homes. Vermont has the most beautiful grass we have seen anywhere on this trip!

Home perched on a rocky cliff

Home with large grasslands ( too much to mow, I think)

Tonight we are at the northern tip of Lake Champlain in Rouses Point, New York. Several boaters came over and assisted in our docking at the Gaines Marina. Being that we were still in the U.S., we were surprised that they all spoke French! Apparently, these are boaters from the Montreal area that dock their boats here so they can more easily cruise Lake Champlain. 

Tomorrow, to begin our trip back to the Great Lakes, we will start up the Richlieu River and Chambly Canal towards Sorel, and then take the Ottawa River north and up in altitude to Ottawa. From there, we will take the Rideau Canal south and back down in altitude to Kingston on Lake Ontario. This will involve many, many locks. 

We have lost so many days waiting on the Erie Canal that it is not likely we can finish the loop this summer and still meet our other obligations. It is likely that we will store the boat somewhere and come back next summer to finish the loop at a more leisurely pace.