Our son Will loves classic muscle cars. Niki saw this reworked truck with headers and suggested it could belong to him. The licence plate was appropriate. These are for you Will!
Above Lock 16 the Erie leaves the bed of the Mohawk River for the first time. The canal parallels the river on the south side at a higher elevation. We passed under several guard gates that protect the canal channel from high water when the river is in flood stage. They must work fairly well, as we saw no obvious flood damage on this stretch of the canal.
Lock 17 at Little Falls is the highest vertical rise that we would encounter on our trip north. It raises the water level all of 41 feet. We were getting pretty used to locking through by our third day on the canal, but this lock presented some unique challenges for us. All the the previous locks had been of the same design, with horizontal swinging gates port and starboard at the bottom of the lock basin and another pair of matching horizontal swinging gates at the top. When we turned the corner to view Lock 17, we saw a huge four sided concrete tub with a single vertical lift gate.
You actually drive the boat under this massive steel door. The two buildings visible on top of the lock wall house the motors and cables that lift the door up. Once you are in the lock, they drop the single door straight down past the concrete wall to seal you in.
As we were waiting in the spillway for the green light to signal that we were free to enter the lock, a 50 foot powerboat came rushing up behind us. We hailed him on Channel 13 and asked him to slow down and give us a little more space. Yes, you can also be a tailgater on the water. We were already in the no passing area of the lock spillway, but the captain asked us if he could enter first. We said sure, thinking we would rather have this rude person in front where we watch him, and asked if he would pass us slowly on the port side. He ran right in and his mate grabbed the second line on the port side lockwall. We came in behind and grabbed the single first line that he had left for us. The captain of the 50 footer must have turned off his radio upon entering the lock, because the lockmaster kept trying to hail him on 13. The lockmaster was asking him to move forward in the lock to the next set of lines so that the sailboat behind him could grab two lines. No response from the captain of the power boat. His single deckhand was holding onto that second line while the captain was trying to maintain his position against the wall with bow and stern thrusters. Finally, the lockmaster leaned over the top of the lock and gave several sharp whistles. The captain looked up, and finally got the message, put his twin screws in gear, and moved forward a little. After we were able to secure Broad Reach with two lines, the lockmaster was satisfied, and began to fill the lock. We were very happy to see the 50 footer hit the gas and speed on up the canal once the lock was opened.
There is another town park and free marina in Little Falls just above the lock. It looks like they took the old railway station and converted it into a tourist center and park. We made a promise to each other to come back there for a stay someday.
Just above the marina, we were treated to a spectacular spectacle in the sky overhead. I wish we had a telephoto, because we were not able to get a good pic of the pair of American bald eagles that were circling above us. It must have been a mated pair. One bird made lazy circles high above the marina and lock, while the second bird followed our path to the west. After a few brief moments it became clear why the second eagle had diverted in our direction. He was chasing after another smaller raptor that was crossing his territory to the west. For the next ten minutes we watched what could only be described as an aerial dogfight. The smaller bird had sharply pointed wings like a falcon and very quick reflexes. The eagle had a massive advantage in wingspan and power. He quickly closed the gap on the tail of the smaller bird. Each time he got close to the falcon, the falcon would turn sharply away and try to gain altitude by wildly flapping his smaller wings. The falcon tried to evade being caught in the eagles talons by flying higher and tighter circles than the eagle. Every time that the falcon stopped circling and made a straight run away, the eagle was able to turn on the power of his greater wingspan, and the eagle was able to close the gap. The eagle made several midair grabs at the smaller bird. The circles got tighter and tighter. The smaller bird seemed to be tiring. It seemed inevitable that the eagle would catch the falcon, but then suddenly and inexplicably the eagle turned back to the east toward his mate. We thought the show was over, as the falcon circled higher above the eagle, but to our amazement after only a few quick circles for altitude the smaller bird folded his wings and swooped down on the eagle from directly above. The eagle must have caught a glimpse of the motion overhead, because he rolled onto his back just in time to parry the blow from the stooping falcon with his talons. The two birds finally disengaged, and flew off in separate directions. It was an amazing sight.
We kept talking about the eagles and what we had seen for the next few miles. At Buoy 510 is the old Herkimer homestead and fort. This settlement dates back to the early settlement of the Mohawk River valley in colonial days. We had a good view of the old cemetery and the historic buildings beyond. The sights became more bucolic as we made our way west. There were lots of farmsteads framed by rolling hills dressed in fall colors.
We were surprised that the city of Herkimer did not have much for dockage along the canal. There were a few restaurants on the waterfront, but nowhere for overnight, so we continued on towards the town of Ilion.
Just before the bridge that connects Ilion to the NY State Thruway on the south side of the canal is the town marina. It has a small campground and marina. The marina is full service and the staff were very friendly. While we were doing laundry, a local police cruiser pulled into the parking lot. I asked if there was some trouble going on, and was advised no, that all the town vehicles were helping to deplete the supply of gas and diesel in the marina underground storage tanks. At the end of boating season, the police, the highway department, and even the fire trucks line up for fuel at this little marina.
After laundry, we walked into town for supper. We ducked into Sorrento's Italian restaurant on Central Ave. While we were looking at the menu, we noticed that the place was owned and run by the Magro family. Turns out that they are cousins to the same Sicilian Magros that run Stefanos Pizza in Carthage, our regular fix for all foods Italian near home in upstate! We enjoyed our small world factor dinner and had a leisurely stroll back down to the boat for some sleep.
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