| U.S. by Boat - Part 2 |
[Jun. 7th, 2007|12:24 pm] |
I love rivers.
Sailing down its rivers is like seeing a country naked.
As with the railroads, the prominence of rivers and canals in the psyche of americans has faded. And yet just as with railroads, waterways continue to be crucially important for the economy due to their sheer efficiency -- on average, a gallon of fuel can move a ton of cargo 59 miles by truck, 202 by railroad, and 514 by a barge (so says the great sage Wikipedia).
So the waterways are there, actively developed or at least preserved from the past, but few people know or think much about them. They are somewhat secret and apart, a second America.
They fascinate and call to me.
My first thought was -- I want to see the U.S. from the water. Even the most landlocked states have large lakes or reservoirs, and since my boat is trailerable, I'd be able to sail in each and every state.
But then I thought, wait, now what if you never left the water? How many states could you actually get to (in a 26 foot boat)? So, after our trip on the Mississippi River, I started counting and thinking about it.
Here's how the numbers break down (I realize that I forgot to count Rhode Island in my poll, so those numbers were slightly off).
3: the three states touching on Lake Erie -- Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York.
8: + the states reachable by the Great Lakes -- Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan
26: + the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico states, by one of several ways: you can get from Erie to Lake Ontario (there is a lock and an alternate river channel to get around Niagara Falls), and from there to the St. Lawrence Seaway. I hear it's fairly cold (except briefly in the summer) up north where the St. Lawrence meets the Atlantic, and there are whales. Or you can take one of several canals (from Erie, from Ontario, etc) to the Hudson River, and end up in the Atlantic at New York City. There, you can go down the ocean coast (or via the Intracoastal Waterway) and into the Gulf of Mexico. Also, Vermont looks land-locked, but you can actually reach it via Lake Champlain, itself reachable via a canal from St. Lawrence.
31: + the 3 West Coast states, Alaska and Hawaii, via the Panama Canal. Obviously, this would take a while, hugging the coast all the way up and down Central America to go through the Panama Canal. Also, while Hawaii is theoretically possible (as in, connected by water) so as to be counted, it would be extremely dangerous and impractical on a little 26 foot sailboat; I would never actually try that (but switch to a bigger boat).
37: + the eastern states reachable by the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers (WV, KY, TN, MO, IA, AR). From Lake Michigan via a canal in Chicago, you can reach the big river and much of the midwest. I think you used to be able to reach the Ohio River from the great lakes, through a canal, but that is no longer operational (so you have to reach Ohio from Mississippi). These are old, powerful, well-developed waterways that helped form this country. We got a little bit of a taste for the Mississippi last year, but of course I want to see its whole length. I'm also entranced by the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers, and want to plan a trip on them sometime soon.
42: + the states reachable by the Missouri River. The Missouri starts in, and is navigable all the way up to Montana (at least it looks that way, this has to be confirmed by charts), and goes through Kansas, Nebraska, and North and South Dakota, and joins the Mississippi just north of St. Louis, MO.
44: + Oklahoma via the Arkansas River and Idaho via the Snake River. Forming at the base of the Rockies in Colorado and joining the Mississippi, much of the Arkansas River has been made navigable and turned into the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System. Similarly, the Snake River is developed and navigable, and joins up with the Columbia River and into the Pacific. (I didn't know about Idaho, actually -- this was pointed out to me by ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) dr_nebula and later darlox; at the time of the original counting, I thought Colorado was more accessible than it is. See below.)
-- [EDIT] --
As darlox points out, you cannot actually reach North Dakota and Montana via the Missouri -- there is a dam with no lock at Gavins Point.
So:
42 states
-- [/EDIT] --
This far I am reasonably sure. Now comes the hard part; not much hope for these states.
+1 if the Arkansas River is navigable past Tulsa, Oklahoma into Colorado. The dams and reservoirs of the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System officially end at Tulsa. Beyond that, the river gets a bit thin and shallow, but it looks remotely possible. Will have to research.
+2 if the Colorado River connected with the Pacific Ocean at Baja. However, all signs indicate that it does not -- it looks iffy on the satellite map, and Wiki says "The lower course of the river is essentially a trickle or a dry stream today due to use of the river as Imperial Valley's irrigation source." Also, I'm not sure there are locks to enable boats to pass through the Hoover Dam and the Davis Dam, on the way. Very frustrating! However, the Colorado River and Lake Mead would give access to Arizona and Nevada.
? - Utah. The Colorado River goes up to Utah, through the Westwater Canyon. However, aside from the problems with that river as stated above, at Westwater it gains rapids and whitewater, and is not navigable by the sailboat.
? - Wyoming. This is another close call. The Snake River flows through Idaho and into Wyoming, however, just at it falls into the Palisades Reservoir below Irwin, Idaho, there is an impassable dam without a lock (at least it looks that way, on satellite). So frustrating, since the Palisades Reservoir flows into Wyoming, and looks quite beautiful and navigable. A near miss, by about 10 miles. There are also various rivers that flow into the Missouri -- like the Madison River, for example, but again, how navigable they are is questionable.
? - New Mexico. mishamish claims that the Red River flows out of New Mexico and into the Mississippi, but I'm not seeing it. The Canadian River does flow into the Arkansas River, but the question is just how navigable it is -- it sounds very shallow unless during rainy season. Again, more research needed.
The interesting thing is that all 50 states could be reachable, if some of those southwestern rivers were more developed for boat traffic. Obviously it's not a priority (and water is scarce down in those parts anyways, just ask Los Angeles).
Now I have to scheme as to how to actually do this, to visit as much of the U.S. by boat as possible. Most likely in parts, but still. I'd love to see how far one can get. |
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