(Not so) Dismal Canal

 

That's what we did today.  And with the fall-like temperatures (I wore jeans and a long sleeved shirt all day 'cause it was cool on the boat) and the slanting clear light, the canal was not dismal.

Strangely enough, the prettiest part and most "eery" part was at the south end, before we entered the locks and the official canal.

Okay, today the internet will allow me to load pictures, so here are more from the Dismal Canal trip two days ago.

It was so much fun to find these mirror images along the way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our first time through a lock.  We went through two yesterday and were told we were the only ones coming north that day.  I guess lock managers communicate so they'll know when they're likely to have to open the lock.   George, who ran the second lock (Deep Creek Lock) moved here from northeast Oklahoma 50 years ago.  He said he it's a better life here because it may cost a little more, but wages are a lot better than back home.

 

 

 

Our big job during the lock transit was to hold onto our lines and adjust them as the water came in or went out.  It rose 8 feet in the first lock and fell 8 feet in the northern one.   The water to do this comes from a relatively nearby lake.

 

 

We stopped at Dismal Island State Park(located next to a rest stop that serves both the waterway and a highway) and took a nature walk on a boardwalk, then a short hike.

 

 

There were paw paw trees everywhere and overripe ones on the ground.   I am so jealous because I have two paw paws back in Arkansas and anxiously await the ripening of the one or two I see each year.

 

  Out on the hike they had set up a still and labeled all the parts.  Not working though!

 

 

 

By contrast, the waterway between the canals, the part I'd consider the Dismal Swamp,

was not that scenic.  Mostly vines and trees and not much variety.