Going Away Present

Ticonderoga, New York
43 49.04 N 073 23.65 W

The lake treated us to a splendid sailing day as a going away present. You see, this is our last day on the lake this season. Tomorrow is a working day, we have to take the mast down. By Saturday we'll be on the Champlain Canal.

The day started off very cool. We put on long pants and sweat shirts for the first time in memory. However within a few hours we were back to shorts and tee shirts.

It was sad leaving Vergennes for the last time this year. It was wonderful cruising down Otter Creek. The great blue herons seem to be used to Tarwathie now. Instead of flying away in panic as the boat approached, they just stood there and watched.

When we got out to the lake, surprise, there was a nice northerly breeze. It was just perfect to proceed southward under sail. No noisy motor to bother us.

I notices how splendid the Green Mountains looked from this southern angle. I started to prepare my camera to make a panoramic picture. But when I looked up from the camera, Mount Abrams had disappeared behind a hill. Oh no. A few minutes later, Camel's Hump also disappeared and after that Mount Mansfield too disappeared from our view. I looked back toward Ferdinand (see a future blog) and couldn't see him either. How melancholy.

The southern end of the lake has a very different character. It is narrow, not unlike the Indian River in Florida. However, the mountain foothils come much closer to the lake shore so we can see their details clearly. ALl in all, it is very beautiful.

We're anchored a mile south of Fort Ticonderoga and Mount Independence. Achieving the view from this spot was absolutely central to British strategies in the Revolutionary War and in the War of 1812. In the revolution, the British got here but a year too late for their strategy to work. The colonists had cannons on both sides of the lake at Ticonderoga on the New York side and Mount Independence on the Vermont side. They also had build a barrier across the lake made of stones and logs.

"Oh, the wind she blows on Lake Champlain,

And then she blows some more

They say that you will never drown

If you always stay on shore."