But first a disclaimer; Much as everyone speaks of navigating the Erie canal, very little of the original canal still exists.
After 8 years of construction the first Erie canal opened in 1825 allowing mule-drawn packet boats to be pulled along narrow tow paths paralleling natural waterways from Albany to Buffalo . Today, many of the towpaths have been transformed into Canalway Trail segments for hikers and cyclists and the new canal system has been rerouted directly through the natural waterways of the Mohawk river and Lake Oneida.
Stretching from Maine to Georgia, the Appalachian mountain chain has been worn down over eons of time by erosion. During the Pleistocene epoch which ended about 10,000 years ago, glacial movement carved out the lakes and rivers of central and northern New York, including the Mohawk river valley that cuts across the Appalachian mountain chain forming a one-of-a-kind waterway leading to the west. The Finger Lakes, draining to the north and providing source water to the western part of the canal system, were similarly formed.
Starting up the Mohawk out of Waterford there is a flight of 5 locks that raised us up 165 feet in just over a mile. This is the greatest lift in the shortest distance on any canal system in the world. From there we travelled mostly in the river through largely rural countryside toward Rome.
