Champ III: Going Places

The adventure starts here.

Schuyler Yacht Basin, Schuylerville, NY to Whitehall Municipal Docks, Whitehall, NY — June 15, 2014

01-Shoreline-of-the-Champlain-Canal/Hudson River
01-Shoreline-of-the-Champlain-Canal/Hudson River
02-Shoreline-Of-Champlain-Canal/Hudson River-North-Of-Lock-6
02-Shoreline-Of-Champlain-Canal/Hudson River-North-Of-Lock-6
04-The-Approach-to-Lock-11-on-the-Champlain-Canal
04-The-Approach-to-Lock-11-on-the-Champlain-Canal
05-The-Narrow-Champlain-Canal
05-The-Narrow-Champlain-Canal
06-The-Narrow-Champlain-Canal
06-The-Narrow-Champlain-Canal
07-The-Champlain-Canal-In-Whitehall-Note-Lock-12-Under-the-Bridge-on-The-Left
07-The-Champlain-Canal-In-Whitehall-Note-Lock-12-Under-the-Bridge-on-The-Left
08-USS-Ticonderoga-Exhibit
08-USS-Ticonderoga-Exhibit
09-Carving-of-Sasquatch
09-Carving-of-Sasquatch
10-Home-On-The-Side-Of-The-Mountain-Over-Whitehall-NY
10-Home-On-The-Side-Of-The-Mountain-Over-Whitehall-NY

We ended up staying at Schuyler’s Yacht Basin an extra day because Lenore was not feeling well and it was a nice place.  Lenore felt better later in the day and we went out to dinner last night. Judy (one of the owners) loaned us her car to use.

We had a lot of rain and they had all kinds of flash flood warnings out when we arrived.  The river level was down about 2′ from normal and once the rain stopped the river started to rise and it came up about 3′.  It is a good thing they had floating docks. The extra water did put some current in the river for our cruise today as all the extra water was going downstream and over the dams at each of the locks.

We left a little before 8:00 this morning as Lock 5, a little over 1 mile away, opened at 8:00.  We had to wait about 10 minutes for the lockmaster to drop the lock to take us up.  Lock 5 was the only lock we had to wait for today and we went thru 6 locks.  All of them had the doors open and were ready for us. Locks 5, 6, 7 and 8 all raised us higher while Locks 9 and 11 lowered us. There is no Lock 10.

The day started gray and the sun finally started to show a little by late morning and we had partly cloudy for most of the afternoon.  The temp only came up to the low 70’s after the sun came out.

It was kind of strange on the water because there were not very many boats.  We passed 1 fishing boat, 1 dredge work boat, 1 pontoon boat and 1 canoe with 2 guys in it.  For a summer weekend the waterway was strangely empty.

As we moved further north the Hudson River started to narrow down.  At Lock 9 we actually left the Hudson River and entered the Champlain Canal.  This was originally started in the early 1800’s and although it is essentially a large ditch that they dug, there are many mature trees along the sides and a good number of them are large pine trees.  The water was a milk chocolate brown from all the rain runoff over the last week.  The Champlain Canal got real narrow in a couple of places and I am not sure that 2 large boats could pass each other in those narrow places.  The depths were never a problem with about 9′ being the least water depth I saw under the boat.

We arrived in Whitehall with hopes of staying at their Municipal Docks because they provide water and power and there is no cost.  There is room for probably 8 to 10 boats but there are only 3 power pedestals and we were the second boat to arrive. We are right behind the Fire Station and the Police Department is right across the street.

There is a nice park on the north side of the Fire Station and when we walked south there was a museum and then a much larger park that had a boat launch at the south end.  I took a picture of the salvaged hull of the USS Ticonderoga that was a wooden schooner in the US Navy in 1814. The hull was raised and salvage back in 1958 and is displayed in the park.  The basic shape od the schooner is there but not a lot else. In the park they also had a wood carving, life size, of Sasquatch, or at least someone’s impression of what he looks like. I took pictures of both of these displays.

Whitehall is also claimed as the birth place of the US Navy. During the American Revolution, the village, Skenesborough (Whitehall’s original name), was captured by American forces in 1774. Benedict Arnold under Philip Schuyler built a fleet of vessels to confront British forces at Valcour Island (thus the claim that this is the birthplace of the US Navy).

Interesting and there were some really nice homes overlooking the river in Whitehall.  We took a picture of the most impressive one.

Tomorrow we have one lock and then probably 20 miles and we will be in Lake Champlain.