June 15 - Locking through toward Lake Champlain

This was possibly the most challenging day so far -- how to get through the locks and get under low bridges.  Christine really wanted the Champlain canal route rather than the Erie canal because of the great scenery.  And there are wonderful great scenic views throughout this route.  But, you have to work for it.  We are going through locks to raise us up to the level of Lake Champlain, which is about 200 ft above the water level at Troy, NY.   Today, we went through 7 locks, several of them raised us up about 20 feet each.  But, at the first lock, the lockmaster had us measure the boat height, which turned out to be 16'10",   He was not going to let us on the canal system if we were 17 feet or above.  And for good reason--at lock 3 there is a 17 foot fixed bridge.  We crept up to that bridge and Grover stood on top of the aft deck and literally pulled us under the bridge because we only had less than 2 inches of clearance and boat bounces when I give it some throttle. But we made it.  It was a long but beautiful day and we made it to Fort Edwards.  Below are pictures with Becky and Christine at a historic Fort Edwards tavern, at the locks, and the famous 17' bridge (in the far distance)  that nearly took off our radar.