The Champlain Canal was conceived and built with the Erie Canal in the early 1800’s. At Waterford, NY a little past Troy, the Erie turns west off the Hudson and makes its way to Lake Ontario. The Champlain, which was envisioned to bring trade and cargo from Montreal and the St Lawrence continues north on the Hudson until Ft Edward, where the Hudson turns west towards its source waters in the Adirondack Mountains. From there the Champlain Canals continue northward and were constructed to connect to the southern end of Lake Champlain. One of the surprise benefits of our trip this year is that the New York Canal System, which runs the Erie and Champlain Canals is celebrating their 200th anniversary and waiving all transit fees. Yay!
Although only 60 miles in length, it includes 11 locks. From Waterford 6 locks take you up about 150 feet, then the remaining 5 locks take you down to the elevation of Lake Champlain. From Lake Champlain, the Canadian Chambly canal system will take us to the St Lawrence Seaway.
For Loopers the choice of the Erie or Champlain Canals includes more miles (the Champlain) and lower air drafts (the Champlain). The lowest bridge (that doesn’t open) on the Champlain requires that the tallest part of your boat be no higher than 15 feet. This tends to divert many Loopers and other recreational boaters to the Erie. To make this lower clearance we had to remove our mast light and lower all our radio antennae. Our transit took 3 days and included a lot of time “locking through”! Commercial traffic has slowed and we might have seen one other boat every day we traveled so our trip was a quieting experience.
The towns along the canal are lost in the time of river travel that made them. Like Norman Rockwell paintings, small town America still lives on here.
The locks allow us boaters to bypass the falls!
..................and the lowest bridge clearances on the loop!!!!
Lock 12 in Whitehall, the last lock down to Lake Champlain (There is no Lock 10 anymore).