A Three-Lock Day for “Leg” One

 

38 miles

Heading north from Pittsburgh seems counter intuitive but geology and Mother Nature dictate the river’s path.  Very quickly we encountered the first of three locks for our first day’s route. The crew at Emsworth (mile 6) are accustomed to pleasure boats – referred to as Rec Boats – and quickly had us in the small chamber and on our way.  All three of these first locks require that we hand the operators our lines so we can be secured to the wall for the gentle ride down. Then, they toss our lines down to us and we are on our way. We encountered a slight delay at Dashields lock where they had construction or repairs going on in the small chamber, but just after we dropped the anchor to wait, they cleared us to enter the large chamber. Shortly we continued to Montgomery Island Lock and passed through quickly.  Then, we tucked in behind Phillis Island – a conservation area – for a quiet night. This anchorage is just a short distance downstream from Beaver Valley Nuclear Power station. Fortunately, the island trees blocked our view and we hardly noticed they were there but for a small cloud of steam hanging above the treetops.

Scenes long the river were a study in contrasts. Beautiful homes and rugged walls of forest broken by soaring bridges and massive industrial complexes. These ranged from crusty, rusty almost mangled structures to shiny and pristine modern wonders. Although we were cruising at trawler speed – a stately 6.5 knots – there was much to keep us entertained.