My Augusts past on the canal with a camera go back to 2014, when i took the photo below in Waterford, the eastern end of the current canal.

I returned to the canal for work in 2016, and noticed vessels like the Montreal-based Vertige,

Duluth’s Freyja, and the

ubiquitous trains along the northside of the canal until lock 19. A Dispatches post from last year documented the long-standing juxtaposition of canal and rail. An image in this post goes at least as far back as the previous link.

August 2017 did not return me to the canal, but I did travel it in 2018, as saw this Milwaukee Lady Rae tied up over at the remains of the Rexford aqueduct.

A bit farther west, Bobby G and DeSager await their rowers near Rotterdam Juntion.

We departed the canal via lock O-8, where the lockmaster stood as a guard between the waterway and the vast system that extends westward to Duluth or Chicago accessible to laker Robert S. Pierson at the port, or even to the Mississippi in a smaller vessel.

August is quickly slipping away. Get out and enjoy the canal, which will close in less than two months.

And of course, please send along your photos and tell us about your highlights.