Well we are headed to our next set of locks E-32 (Pittsford) has a 25 foot lift and E –33 (Henrietta) has a 25 foot lift and they are only 1 mile apart. The sun is shinning today so I think it will be a good day. After going through these two locks we have 64.4 miles to the last two locks 34 & 35.  They are called the staircase locks, which I will go into more detail when we get there.  I think it’s funny that there is so much difference in the levels of water between the oceans and the great lakes. We had I am thinking 2 or 3 locks in the middle of the canal system that we went down in the lock. Probably had something to do with coming out of the Appalachian Mountains area. For the next 64 miles we have 16 horizontal lift bridges to go under. We will have to have them lifted for us even though our mast in down.  These bridges are very low.  Even lower than “Low Bridges”.

 

We said our goodbyes to Edie & Eddie at Bushnell Basin

 

As we headed up the canal, I noticed someone carved a tree out of a tree.. something good came out of a dead tree.

 

This is probably a day park.  Boaters are allowed to tie up for the day to have lunch or take a walk.

 

There are so many neat towns to visit along the Erie Canal.  Unfortunately, we cannot stop at all of them.  But we are taking our time to avoid “CanalFest” at Tonawanda.  We understand there is no place to stay due to the huge influx of boats.  And we need to put our mast up near by.

 

Passing through Pittsford,NY, we can see the available dockage. We wanted to visit but we needed to get some mileage in today.

 

Yet there is always a way to explore the canal.

 

As we came upon lock 32 it was a bit nerve racking to see water bubbling next to the lock.  It looks like an underwater pipe bubbling under the water.  Apparently the ducks like to play in the bubbling water.

 

We waited for the lock operator to open the lock for us.We will have a 25 foot lift in this lock.  Boy..Look how big the water fall is inside from the water leaking in from the far gates.

 

We had about a mile to go to reach lock 33. They are very close together. This will be another 25 foot lift. They were doing construction on the bridge the runs along the lock. They had the doors open waiting for us. But look another pool of bubbling water!

 

Talk about gushing water!!  Maybe a good white water kayaking place.

 

As we reached the top of the lock there was a sign that read “westbound traffic 64.4 miles before you reach lock 34 & 35”.  Lock 33 had cables to use for the springer cleat. That is always nice. Not as good as the floating bollards that we had in the Mississippi locks. But it was nice they had the cables.  Bryce is holding the bow away from the wall with the pole and pulling in with the line.

 

Look at this dock walk up in the air.  It must get lowered for a boat?? I don’t see any clear path to walk up the hill…

 

So I am thinking they might be getting ready to start dredging the canal.  This is an unusual suction type dredger.

 

Not far after the lock we started seeing lots of bridges.  This was Rochester, NY.

 

Passing through Rochester, NY.  No real place to stop though.

 

Seems near the cities we see more canal construction.  But no canal work only bridges. LOL

 

Maybe they are building a new bridge?

 

I found the construction zone ends… Now we can speed back up to 5 miles an hour; our normal speed.  LOL

 

What.. I thought we were done with locks.   When we looked closely you can see bridge after bridge after bridge. And these aren’t even the 16 horizontal lift bridges yet.

 

As we approached the gate closer we got a better view. Ok.. just a double gate.

 

I like the design of these concrete bridges.  These are apparently a bit old.

 

This is another photo that reminds me of the barges lining the canal in the Illinois Canal.

 

Another head chopper!!! Or maybe in this case it’s a boat chopper. But it is really a gate that they close when the drain the water out of the Erie Canal for repairs or in the winter.

 

OM… I think some locals are having some fun under this bridge.

This was under one of the bridges we passed under. Several nice paintings of the Erie Canal early years.

 

We came in nose first. But had to turn around to reach the electric connection.

 

We took a walk and found the local stores. They are really only a hop-skip–and-jump away. We ran out of our collection of grapefruit juice and had to restock.

As always thank you for following us.