This was our fourth trip with Erie Canal Adventures, and the longest yet - we were on the boat for…read more11 days.
The canal boats are easy and fun to drive, exceptionally well maintained, nicely equipped (the knives are awful, but aren't they always?), comfortable, and supported by a great team of exceptionally helpful staff.
The Erie Canal and upstate New York are amazing. The summer climate is outstanding, mosquitoes are few, the cities and towns along the canal are so much fun to explore, and fellow boaters are friendly and helpful. We only used our A/C two nights out of eleven, and slept out "in the wild" two nights.
This year we went west for the first time, after traveling eastbound the last 3 adventures. East and West provide very different experiences. West is far more urban and upscale, east is generally more rural, natural (passing through the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge), and definitely quieter both on and off the canal.
A couple of tips...before you choose to tie up for the night, check the distance to the train tracks on the map, and listen for a while before finalizing your decision. The train noise can be thunderous depending on proximity of the tracks, and it varies greatly by location.
Go slow, but...at low speed, these boats are almost indestructible. Don't worry, you will be well trained in both the theory and practice of navigation before your trainer turns you loose on the canal, and yes, you will handle it just fine. Bring your own knife, but pretty much everything else will be supplied that you need. We eat in most nights, but you can eat out everywhere to the west, and in most towns to the east if you prefer.
Read a book about the history of the canal before you go if you're into that sort of thing (or bring it along to read along the way). It's almost impossible to overestimate the importance of the Erie Canal in creating the country we live in today.
Tech support is top notch. We discovered we were missing a screen the first night out...and called in to base to ask for a replacement. They had one fabricated on the first weekday we were out, and delivered it to one of the lift-bridge masters we were heading toward. The bridge master brought it down to us after we passed under the lift bridge.
Finally, the moment where you get to pilot your boat over a bridge, and look down on the highway passing underneath your boat is super-cool.
I've rented houseboats in Voyageurs National Park and Lake of the Woods in Minnesota/Ontario, Lake Roosevelt in Washington, half a dozen times on the Mississippi River between the Twin Cities and south of Dubuque, and owned a small houseboat on the Mississippi. These canal boats are cooler, as is the Canal. I'd recommend this trip over any of those for the boating experience (unless you're really into fishing...that's a different trip).
