By the time we woke up all the boats at Little Falls had left for the day. We were the last ones standing. We planned a short day today with only 2 locks.
We passed through both locks easily and arrived in Utica just after lunchtime. The city dock has a good Italian restaurant available right at the dock. There are 2 docks at canal level as well as a wall. Power and water are available. We don’t want to stay here but have our eye on a quiet terminal wall at the entrance to the Utica Harbour Lock that was decommissioned 15 years ago. It’s a quiet spot with a bike path. Long grass and bollards to tie your ropes. We’re too short to use 2 bollards so we use the sign and a bollard to tie the boat for our stay. Birds are chirping and there isn’t much boat traffic. It is isolated as well. Nothing around. This terminal wall is a great place to tie up. No power or water but the quiet serenity is really nice. It’s 14 feet deep water at the wall as well. We are here for a brewery tour at Saranac Breweries.
We are pretty excited to see our first brewery tour with samples of Saranac beers. We find grass paths on google to follow to the brewery to cut off several minutes of walking. We soon realize that the paths have grown over with 8 foot grasses. So we turn around and begin the trek to find an alternative path. The bike path is paved and we do see people on bikes. It’s a hot day of 90 degrees so it isn’t very popular. We run into a couple and start asking questions on the best way to the brewery. After several minutes we are offered a ride to the brewery. Sweet! It’s at least a 2.5 mile walk in 90 degree heat.
The tour consists of the history of the Matt Family that bought the brewery in 1888. It is still owned by descendants of the original owner. They brew Brooklyn beer, Blue Moon and Sam Adams were brewed here first before they became big enough to have their own brewery. They do tours of the brewery Friday and Saturdays with samples at the end of the tour. We sit down with another couple and start talking about adventures. They are here for the day from upstate New York just because they can. They offer us a ride back to the boat. Sweet!
