I went for a walk early on Thursday (8/20) and saw a small runabout in the canal. I assumed it was waiting to lock through at 7 am, but found out later that vandals had cut its dock lines and it had drifted perilously close to the dam adjacent to the lock. This type of thing happens so rarely but can be so dangerous.
We locked through #12 and entered the lower end of Lake Champlain, but with its narrow width and army green water, it did not look much different yet from the Champlain Canal. As we rounded its twists and turns, it reminded me of an amusement park kiddy boat ride---wheee.
Then the Green Mountain of Vermont on the east side and the Adirondacks on the New York west side came into view and we knew we were entering another world. Lake Champlain is 120 miles long and 10 miles at its widest and missed designation as the 6th Great Lake but it is next in line. It has 70 islands (ok-that includes some rock outcroppings), secluded anchorages, wildlife preserves and parks and clear, deep water when you journey further north. It seemed to us like a hybrid of a small Lake Superior and a large Colorado alpine lake.
You are going to have to take my word on that for now as we again have less than optimum photo conditions with fog, haze, humidity and/or rain. Didn’t we just have a month just like this in the Chesapeake? Locals assure us that when Hurricane Bill passes and the stalled wet fronts can roll through that the sunshine will return.
Here’s whose sharing the lake with us today. The Peckinpaugh is a 259’ historic canal barge making its way south to celebrate Samuel de Champlain’s European discovery of this lake in 1609. It’s not getting as much press as Henry Hudson’s voyage but some local college kids were intrigued and are doing Lake Champlain on a homemade raft.
We had hoped to anchor by Fort Ticonderoga but those darn t-storms were threatening. Look close in the picture and you might see also that Colonial soldiers were setting the cannon to fire and we were right in their crosshairs so definitely time to move on. The book 1776 comes alive in this area when you realize the amazing feat of young Nathaniel Greene and the ragtag Continental Army who moved the cannons from this fort overland to Boston in the dead of winter to turn the tide of the war. We’ll be coming back here by car to visit this fort as well as Fort St. Frederic and Fort Crown Point. It’s amazing how many battles took place here on these quiet shores.
We pulled into Westport Marina on the NY side on late Friday morning (8/21) and were greeted by the Carroll family. This is one of the best run and friendliest marinas on the Loop with the entire family (Mom, Dad, grandparents, kids of all ages and extended family) making sure you have a good experience in the marina, gift store, and restaurant, and if you need engine work, Larry is your guy. The town of Westport is also worth a visit and has 2 vintage small grocery markets that reminded us those in the Bahamas where you can find a little bit of everything. The town reminded us a bit of Bayfield, our home port in Lake Superior, with its hilly streets, one of a kind shops and a great bakery café, Me and My Girls.
Time to get some work done also between rain showers so we put up the mast, cleaned the fenders and started some wax projects. Poor Bob had to redo our whole computer which crashed for unknown reasons and our Verizon Air Card and Wi-Fi were not working either. We’re back online so the fix worked.
We locked through #12 and entered the lower end of Lake Champlain, but with its narrow width and army green water, it did not look much different yet from the Champlain Canal. As we rounded its twists and turns, it reminded me of an amusement park kiddy boat ride---wheee.
Then the Green Mountain of Vermont on the east side and the Adirondacks on the New York west side came into view and we knew we were entering another world. Lake Champlain is 120 miles long and 10 miles at its widest and missed designation as the 6th Great Lake but it is next in line. It has 70 islands (ok-that includes some rock outcroppings), secluded anchorages, wildlife preserves and parks and clear, deep water when you journey further north. It seemed to us like a hybrid of a small Lake Superior and a large Colorado alpine lake.
You are going to have to take my word on that for now as we again have less than optimum photo conditions with fog, haze, humidity and/or rain. Didn’t we just have a month just like this in the Chesapeake? Locals assure us that when Hurricane Bill passes and the stalled wet fronts can roll through that the sunshine will return.
Here’s whose sharing the lake with us today. The Peckinpaugh is a 259’ historic canal barge making its way south to celebrate Samuel de Champlain’s European discovery of this lake in 1609. It’s not getting as much press as Henry Hudson’s voyage but some local college kids were intrigued and are doing Lake Champlain on a homemade raft.
We had hoped to anchor by Fort Ticonderoga but those darn t-storms were threatening. Look close in the picture and you might see also that Colonial soldiers were setting the cannon to fire and we were right in their crosshairs so definitely time to move on. The book 1776 comes alive in this area when you realize the amazing feat of young Nathaniel Greene and the ragtag Continental Army who moved the cannons from this fort overland to Boston in the dead of winter to turn the tide of the war. We’ll be coming back here by car to visit this fort as well as Fort St. Frederic and Fort Crown Point. It’s amazing how many battles took place here on these quiet shores.
We pulled into Westport Marina on the NY side on late Friday morning (8/21) and were greeted by the Carroll family. This is one of the best run and friendliest marinas on the Loop with the entire family (Mom, Dad, grandparents, kids of all ages and extended family) making sure you have a good experience in the marina, gift store, and restaurant, and if you need engine work, Larry is your guy. The town of Westport is also worth a visit and has 2 vintage small grocery markets that reminded us those in the Bahamas where you can find a little bit of everything. The town reminded us a bit of Bayfield, our home port in Lake Superior, with its hilly streets, one of a kind shops and a great bakery café, Me and My Girls.
Time to get some work done also between rain showers so we put up the mast, cleaned the fenders and started some wax projects. Poor Bob had to redo our whole computer which crashed for unknown reasons and our Verizon Air Card and Wi-Fi were not working either. We’re back online so the fix worked.
