Capital Region & Eastern Gateway
4 towns · 8 locks · 10 docks & marinas · 17 launches & ramps · 52 places
This is where an Erie Canal journey begins for most eastbound-to-westbound travelers: the great four-way meeting of waters at Waterford, where the Hudson, the Mohawk, the Erie Canal, and the Champlain Canal all come together. It’s the canal’s eastern gateway — and its most dramatic opening act.
Just past the junction, the Waterford Flight lifts boats 169 feet through five locks in a mile and a half, the steepest lift-per-mile of any lock flight in the country. Nearby Troy anchors the Hudson end, and the canal then climbs the Mohawk past Crescent and Vischer Ferry — aqueduct country — toward Schenectady and Scotia. It’s a stretch thick with confluence, engineering, and Capital Region history.
Start your planning with the boating guide and the free town walls here, and read how the four canals rebuilt this route in Which Canal Is This?
