Chapter 11- The River
Crescent Dam to Cohoes Falls
Discovery: Bass Holes & Pot
Holes of Cohoes - No Man's Land
August 6, 2002, 70 degrees, Breezy, Sunny
During the summer there is practically no water in the Mohawk River
between the power dam and the falls at Cohoes, but what there is was loaded
with crayfish . . . and smallmouth bass.
ducks at the bottom of Crescent Dam.
It's a mile and a half from the bottom
of Crescent Dam to the top of Cohoes Falls. At one time this stretch of
the Mohawk was a free flowing river at the bottom of a gorge. Today the
2000-foot long Crescent Dam---including a mid-river island---backs up the
river to feed the five locks that lower the Erie Canal into the Hudson
Valley. Less than a mile downstream is a 1500-foot long power dam that
diverts water through a canal to the power plant below Cohoes Falls. Between
the two dams is a small lake; between the power dam and Cohoes Falls is
no-man's land.
Preparing
to explore the Mohawk River in this area consisted of studying topographical
maps and observing small sections of the river from the road. Although
the topo map didn't show a road or trail into the gorge, it did show some
small buildings, most likely camps, on the east side of the river near
the power dam. Observations indicated there was very little water below
the power dam and almost none coming over the falls. So, our plan was to
launch the canoe below Crescent Dam, paddle down to the power dam, leave
the canoe, climb over or around the dam and explore the bottom of the gorge
down to the falls.
It was 9 a.m. when Dave Hamilton and I
launched the canoe from the parking area below the west end of Crescent
Dam. We paddled up to the bottom of the dam where a couple hundred
sea gulls and ducks sat on the rocks and in pools of water. Along the eastern
edge of the dam's midstream-island, but apart from the ducks and gulls,
a flock of crows congregated near the water.
A gold spoon cast into the shallow pools below the
dam produced some small bass.
After exploring the bottom of both sections of Crescent Dam, we headed
downriver. The breeze had picked up, so we rode wind and waves all the
way to the power dam, arriving at 10 o'clock. Several small boats were
tied up along the river and a variety of stairs (including one made from
wooden pallets) ascended a steep-sided shale bluff. Just below the
last camp, on the edge of the dam, a stream of water was spraying from
a pump onto the riverbank and running into the river.
We beached the canoe, grabbed our
packs and gear and "stepped" up to the top of the dam. The view was astounding.
As far as we could see was a broad, tree-lined gorge. At the bottom of
the gorge, sparse vegetation grew on solid rock and around pools of water
that varied in size and depth from shallow, algae-filled puddles to deep,
clearwater ponds.
Getting over the dam and into the gorge was much
easier than expected. A concrete support in front of the dam provided a
"ramp." From the top of the dam we slid on our butts to the top of
the ramp and walked to the bottom of the gorge. My first cast into the
pool at the bottom of the dam produced a small bass. A second cast took
its cousin.
As we hiked down the gorge towards Cohoes Falls,
we discovered that almost every pool of water was alive with crayfish.
Some of these freshwater "lobsters" were no longer than a fingernail, others
as big as the palm of a hand. When my gold spoon failed to produce in the
deeper pools, I switched to a small crayfish plug and continued to catch
smallmouth bass. None of them were big fish, but I suspect that some of
the deeper ponds hold big smallmouths and perhaps northern pike and tiger
muskies. During the summer these are all trapped fish, and as near as I
could tell no one fishes here.
As we approached the top of Cohoes Falls, Dave noted,
"This trip is almost over. We'll have to spend the rest of the morning
exploring somewhere else.
"Sure", I thought, "wait until we get to the top of the falls, and then
we'll see how fast this trip is over."
True to form, Dave couldn't resist exploring the waterless falls from
one end to the other. He was in photographer's heaven. He photographed
upstream, downstream, cross-stream and from every angle. He photographed
big potholes, small potholes, tall potholes and irregular shaped potholes.
It was hard to believe all of this is under the Mohawk River during high water periods.
Dave wasn't the only one interested in Cohoes potholes. Although I've seen hundreds in limestone, dolostone and even granite, these were the only potholes I had seen in uplifted shale. Considering how these upright layers of shale crumble, it was amazing to me that the sides of the potholes, whether plate-size or pond-size, were smooth and solid. (One pothole in this area was so large and so deep it preserved the Cohoes Mastodon.)
On the way back we avoided the circuitous route around potholes and bass ponds by walking along the east side of the bottom of the gorge. When we climbed over the power dam it was 11:45.
Dave explored the top of the waterless falls from one end to
the other, photographing rock formations, outcrops, and potholes of every
size and shape. He's that tiny white spot at the far end of the top of
the falls.
While I readied the canoe, Dave took a closer look
at the water pump gone awry. He discovered a small hose had come loose
from a fitting. When he reseated it, the electric pump stopped spraying
water and in a couple minutes stopped running. It hadn't rained in a couple
of weeks, but a battery was sitting in algae-filled water in the boat below
the camp, indicating no one had been there recently. No telling how long
the pump was running, but I'll bet the camp owner will wonder why his electric
bill is so high.
We hugged the east coast of the river to break the
wind and waves that impeded our upstream paddle, and then cut across to
the parking area where we had launched the canoe earlier that morning.
It was noon when we lifted the canoe out of the water.
What happened to the morning?
Follow the path of this discovery trip by clicking on Mohawk Valley Maps: by Maptech.
Type Cohoes select New York, press GO!
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