Where does all that water from the Canandaigua watershed go? It flows along the Canandaigua Lake Outlet which empties into the Erie Canal at Lock E27 at Lyons, NY. It’s an endless cycle of rain falling onto the fields and forests around Canandaigua Lake, then slowly moving into the streams which feed Canandaigua Lake, and then on to the Erie Canal which moves the water to the Hudson River which empties into the Atlantic Ocean at New York City. The action of the sun on the water in the Atlantic Ocean evaporates the water which then falls as rain on Europe and beyond. It’s an endless cycle – sort of like time which has no beginning or end. It never stops. It just keeps moving forward.
Lock E27 on the Erie Canal at Lyons lowers the boats 12.5 ft. as they pass from west to east on the Erie Canal. Almost all of the boat traffic on the Erie Canal at Lyons is pleasure boats and I was fortunate to have been there when a boat was locking through E27. The end of the season is coming soon as the Lockmaster told me that the Erie Canal closes for the winter on November 14. The water level in the canal will be lowered and the NYS Canal Authority will use the winter time to repair any damage to the canal.
A fisherman was trying his luck by angling for his dinner. He did catch a pretty good sized fish but put the fish back into the canal for either a bigger catch or another species.
There’s a lot of history tied up in the Erie Canal which flows from Buffalo to Albany. Unfortunately, its commercial value was doomed almost before it was completed due to the railroads which took over the job of carrying the heavy freight. Canandaigua Lake is landlocked but the Erie Canal can be accessed from Seneca Lake and from Cayuga Lake. I think that it would be fun to follow the Erie Canal all the way to Albany and then down the Hudson to New York City.
