July 5 – Thursday
This was a dreary day. The weather was grey and overcast with drizzle off and on as we cruised west. The water way in this section was actually a dug canal and consisted of long straight stretches with wild scrub tree growth on both sides for much of the way. There were a total of 4 locks – 2 up and 2 down, a total net drop of 13’. It is in this area that the water feeding the Erie Canal changes from the Mohawk River which flows east to Wood Creek which flows west. Utica, Oriskany, Rome all slid by without an offer of interesting landscape. Of coarse, the dreary weather didn’t help. This has been the least interesting day since we launched from Rock Hall. Boring isn’t all bad – we did not get any of the thunderstorms listed as a possibility in the forecast.
We ended the day in Sylvan Beach at the east end of Oneida Lake. The free dock wall barely had space for our 2 boats to tie up (Safe Return decided to continue west and cross the 25 SM lake) but we squeezed in. It seems Sylvan Beach is a local version (much, much smaller) of maybe Wildwood, NJ. There are some dated amusement rides, a swimming beach, restaurants and rental houses for vacationers. Pontoon boats and bass boats cruise around and people are constantly walking the wall, just like they do on the board walk at the Jersey and Maryland shores. For us, the best thing about Sylvan Beach was free dockage, and friendly people.