Bucket List: Waterford NY to the Border of Canada

Tom was our bridge height meter

The four boats left on June 17th heading up the Hudson to Lake Champlain and on to Montreal. The requirement for going this way is your boat can not be more that 17 feet high from the water. We had several fixed bridges to go under that were very close. Navigator would go under the bridge first because they were 15 feet and Tom would hold up his hands as he would go under to give us a good estimate of the height. Average Looper and our boat are 16 feet high and we cleared all the bridges with no problem. Our first stop was Mechanicville NY at the city free dock that had power and shower/bath facilities. We all stayed two days and went into town to get groceries and adult beverages for boat supplies. Next stop was Fort Edward and another free dock with power. You gotta love the New York canal system. We had to pay fifty dollars for a ten day pass to go thru all the locks in NY. We left Fort Edwards the next day for Whitehall also known as the birthplace of the U.S. Navy. After we tied up we all walked up this hill and went on a tour of this house called Skene Manor and then we all went out to dinner. I think from Waterford we went thru 11 locks to get to Lake Champlain. Leaving Whitehall takes you into Lake Champlain. On one side of the lake is Vermont and on the other is New York. First destination on the lake was Converse Bay where we all rafted up for the night. No one had ever rafted together at anchor and since that's all we did in the California Delta I volunteered to put it together. We had a nice relaxing night before heading to Burlington Vermont. The marina in Burlington was overtaken with boats from Quebec and everyone was speaking French. You would of thought you were in another country. Burlington was very nice and Navigator rented a car. We all went to the sight of the Ben and Jerry's factory and toured the facility. Everyone gets a free sample. We did have to stay an extra day because of weather but left on the morning of the 25th for the last marina in the U.S. before crossing the border into Canada.