Herkimer & Perkins: Building Backyard Boats in Buffalo, NY

Messing About in Boats, Boots, and Byways:

Archive of Erie Canal Journal entries for 2003: 12 September 03

One of our favorite destinations is the Erie Canal, which originally began in downtown Buffalo, and later when the canal was widened and renamed the Erie Canal Barge Canal, the canal began, and still begins, at North Tonawanda on the Niagara River where Tonawanda Creek empties into the river. We have biked in five-mile bites from Lockport to Brockport, and we've rowed a time or two, too.

Erie Canal Journal entries for 2003 -- listed by headings with links to files
Erie Canal Journal entries for 2003 -- posted in one file

Erie Canal Journal entries for 2002 -- listed by headings with links to files
Erie Canal Journal entries for 2002 -- posted in one file

Never a dull moment on the canal

12 September 03: We have been checking the Erie Canal at the Middleport Launch Ramp and Guard Gate for about a year now, once a month, around the 15th. This time yielded a variety of images -- the usual reflections in the water, but also some fall color, a car on the towpath (strictly illegal), and a sunset of great beauty.

The year is moving toward cooler days and nights, and the temperatures on this trip were almost perfect. It's always a treat to go out together in the Harmonica.

We put in at Middleport Launch Ramp and headed downstream to Medina and back, about 5 miles total and three hours or so on the water.

Middleport Guard Gate in the afternoon shadows.
Car scoots down the towpath, which is reserved for biking and walking. Strictly illegal and extremely dusty.
It's the time of year for the beauty and the irritation -- goldenrod.
A spot of fall color.
Reflections in water and stone.
More reflections.
Maple sports its fall colors.
Evening light, strong shapes.
Rocky zig and zag.
Ducks in a row at dusk, framed by the Harmonica.
Water intensifies the sky's colors.
The reflection is so intense that it looks like the sky has been turned inside out.
Then there was fire and flames.
Blues yield to reds and yellows.
Another inside out effect.
The reflection sharpens the sky's image.
What planet is this, Sherman?
As the sun sets and the light show ends, the water begins rolling back to its usual appearance.