June 22 Little Falls to Utica

June 22

It's officially summer according to the weatherman.  Not sure anyone up here got notified as it's been in the 50's  when we wake up and only getting into the low 70's  even with plenty of sunshine. With low humidity and a stiff NW breeze it's quite a change from the 90's we expect in GA this time of year.  Sweatshirts are still a normal part of our wardrobe in the mornings.

 We wound up being “trapped” in Little Falls for an extra day since the canal was closed due to the high water from the storm.  Not an issue for us as we planned to stay anyway to rest up and explore a bit more. With high water creating problems and delays in our next sections  - the Oswego Canal and the Thousand Islands – we continue to take our time and pace ourselves.

Even the town ducks knew not to get in the flooded river

 We had a full dock here with 9 boats tied up at the city marina with no one able to leave but also no additional boats coming upstream.  For a small town they have done a great job with their volunteer staffed dock.  Extremely welcoming and very helpful.

We slept in late on Friday for a change of pace and cooked up a nice breakfast on the boat.   Did a few boat chores (it’s amazing how dirty everything gets going through these locks) and then walked to town and visited the historical society museum, got a few supplies at the hardware store and meandered through some shops.  An early dinner at the Copper Moose again and another flight of local craft beer.  Sampled a selection of central NY lagers, porters and stouts Thurs. so went with an assortment of IPA’s on Fri.  The Agave Tequila IPA was pretty amazing and I’m not even an IPA guy.

Notification came out Fri night that the canal would be reopened westbound through lock 20.  Our plan was to go the roughly 20 miles and hit Utica next so only needed to get through locks 18 and 19.  The current was still running a good knot against us  but most of the debris seemed  to have flushed out so after a hearty stack of blueberry pancakes from Ann’s Diner  we headed off in the still flooded and chocolate milk colored water.  Despite a fairly stiff NW breeze at least it was clear and sunny.

Chocolate milk colored waters 

Gov. Roosevelt tug - built in 1928  and still in service 

Lock 18 was waiting for us with open gates.  Just us and Cat and Dogs so plenty of room and no issues.  At Lock 19 we had to wait a few minutes and a third boat joined us.  Still plenty of room for all.  The Utica dock is a bit small bit since no one was there we had plenty of room to tie both boats up on the floating pier section in deeper water.  

Under the 20' clearance RR bridge and into the awaiting lock 19

Martha holding tight lines in the lock - did I mention it was 53 degrees this AM

Exiting lock 19 with RR bridge now level with us

Downtown proper is a fair distance from the canal, so we walked the 1-1/2+ miles to get to a brewery tour.  West End Brewery was founded in 1888.   At some point they changed the name to F.X.Matt Brewery after their founder but it’s really known by most  everyone by it’s brand name - Saranac brewery.  Claim to fame - their Utica Club Pilsner (still made today) was the first beer sold after Prohibition ended.   Pretty good tour for $5 and then you get a token good for a pint at the tasting room.   Along with beer they also produce nonalcoholic carbonated drinks (soda) and also do consignment brewing for other craft breweries.   Due to it’s size, I’m not quite sure I’ld call it a craft brewery as much as a regional brewery.

Utica is a bigger city than most of our stops on the canal.  It’s more difficult getting around and despite it’s merits of having a  university, an up and coming food scene, some good arts programs and a proposed major medical center  to replace the blighted area  we had to walk through  to get to the funky brewery area, the town still just felt run down and disjointed.   Maybe if we had a car and could explore the city easier my impression would be different.   Anyway – on to Sylvan Beach tomorrow.

Journey for June 22