E16 St. Johnsville

After a long run of gentle 8-foot steps, the canal suddenly climbs. Lock E16 at St. Johnsville lifts boats 20.5 feet at mile 71 — more than double the little locks just downstream, and the moment the Mohawk Valley begins to steepen toward the gorge at Little Falls beyond. This is where the movable-bridge-dam country ends and taller, conventional lifts take over. St. Johnsville makes the most of the pause: its village-run marina and campground offer fuel, power, showers and pump-out at a friendly wall, a rarity on the middle canal. Two miles east stands Fort Klock, a fortified fieldstone homestead built around 1750, its walls more than two feet thick and pierced with loopholes — a National Historic Landmark that weathered both the French and Indian War and the Revolution before any canal was dreamed of.