E22 New London

A little over a mile past its twin, Lock E22 finishes the job — a second 25-foot descent that hands boats down to the level of Oneida Lake. The naming here is a genuine tangle worth flagging: crowdsourced guides often call this the “Sylvan Beach Lock,” but the official New York State operator lists both E21 and E22 as New London locks, and that name governs. Below E22 the dug channel simply ends. The canal opens into 21 miles of shallow open water — Oneida Lake, the largest lake entirely within New York, and the canal’s longest unbroken reach across weather that can turn ugly fast. From the locks out to the Sylvan Beach breakwater the limit is about 5 mph; past the breakwater, a boat is on its own on the lake.