I’m fascinated by rivers for one reason or another (especially living a block from the Mississippi) and am always curious where they begin & end. One day when I can afford a boat I’d like to travel on the rivers of the US. This site shows the rivers of the United States (a scaled down version that is easier to follow can be found here).
After studying many maps and recent travels to Chicago I’ve discovered that it might be possible to take a boat up the east coast of the United States, follow the St. Lawrence through the Great Lakes to Chicago, travel through the city channels, and connect to the Mississippi & ride it all the way down to the gulf.
My questions are this:
Is this possible?
Has this been done, & would passports be needed to follow the perimeter of the United States? Would I even be able to purchase gas for a normal boat along the way? Would it be safe?
Is there any other cut through from the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico to the Mississippi River? Some rivers in the north (Pennsylvania) seem to come very close to Lake Erie, and rivers in the south (Tennessee, Alabama) seem to connect to one another, completing a circuit.
Is there a way to go East/West across the United States in a boat? (Many rivers seem to start in the Rockies - see link #2 above). From the first link it appears many rivers are connected.
Can you go from the north of Canada (James Bay) down to Lake Superior? Would such a voyage through Canada even be possible, or would these rivers most likely be frozen rapids?
Many questions, but in general I’d really like to get a feel for the ‘connectivity’ of US rivers - i.e. is it possible to travel along them as if they are superhighways?
Is the Erie Canal(s) still open? If so, could you take the the Hudson to Albany and then take the Canal to Buffalo? <grade school Eirie canal song is running through my head>
You didn’t ask, but at one time you could go from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi via the Fox River From Green Bay to Portage, WI, thru a cal, then the Wisconsin to the Mississippi. But the Portage cana and most of teh locks on the Fox are closed (partially because they wer not used much, partially due to sea lamprey)
That map dosen’t take into account the actual breadth of each waterway, because if it did, most of the smaller ones would be invisible at that scale. Instead, all rivers are given the same symbol width so that they’re visible, although greatly exaggerated in many cases.
The Erie Canal is very open and very much used by boaters during the months that it is open. (It’s drained during the winter.) But the St. Lawrence Seaway is designed to bring ships all the way to Chicago. You probably could take either to Buffalo, though.
Depsite that astounding map of the US, I’m trying to think of how you would in reality get to the Mississippi. Rivers that flow north into the Great Lakes don’t intersect rivers that flow south into the Mississippi or Ohio.
The Chicago canal system is probably the best shot, if it’s open to boating all the way. There are a number of older canal systems in the U.S. - Ohio had major north-south routes, but few of them have been kept up.
And I don’t think there are any connecting rivers across the Rockies. They don’t call it the Continental Divide for nothing.
It is possible. Currently, a Passport is not required for U.S. citizens entering Canada, but it is getting to be a good idea. I believe you can get by with a photo ID (e.g., Driver’s license) and a birth certificate.
(and 3) The All-U.S. route would be to take the Hudson River north from New York City to around Albany, then the Mohawk River and the New York State Canals (successor to the original Erie Canal) to the west end of the state. If you exit in Lake Ontario, you’ll need to go to Ontario and take the Welland Canal up to Lake Erie. To stay in the U.S., just continue up to Buffalo and out onto Lake Erie.
From there, you can travel around Michigan’s Lower peninsula (shifting over to the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan to avoid onshore breezes) and down to Chicago.
From Chicago, you can take the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal (formerly the Illinois and Michigan Canal), to the Illinois River, down to the Mississippi, then either up the Missouri into the foothills of the Rockies (at least into North Dakota*), or down to New Orleans or back up the Ohio to Pittsburgh.
The Intercontinental Waterway System ends at Kansas City, but the river is navigable for small boats much farther North. I do not know, however, what the conditions are for locking around various control dams on the Upper Missouri.
The Intercontinental Waterway System is different than the InterCoastal Waterway. There is a map of it part way down the fourth page of the Chicago Canal .pdf document.
As far as I know, the farthest north you can go into Canda from Lake Superior is Lake Nipigon (and I don’t know that the connecting river is navigable). There is insufficient trade to have justified building canals across the northern forests or Taiga in the old days, and ecological concerns would get in the way of anyone proposing it today.
You can take the Tombigbee River out of Mobile, AL ; go north to the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway; which connects to the Tennessee River just north of Iuka, MS; follow the Tennessee River west and north until it empties into the Ohio River at Puducah, KY; go west on the Ohio until you get to the Mississippi River; follow that south to New Orleans; which is not too far from where you started.
Have you ever heard of the “Continental Divide” and what it means?
A useful source is Quimby’s Cruising Guide, which comes out every year. About 6 years ago one summer, I and a friend took an 18’ Bayliner boat from Cincinnati, OH to Mobile, AL. Quimby’s was indespensible in that it identified major fuel stops, marinas for docking for the night, places to camp or rent a room, and a host of other need to know info.
Wow, excellent in-depth responses (thanks!), SDMB always comes through for me! I’ve been thinking about this for months, and you all have really enlightened me, especially with all the little canals in New York, Illinois, & Wisconson I never knew about.
And I definitely need a guide & maps, thanks for the links. I do think, based on your responses, that the trip is definitely doable, and the Hudson River cutthrough is a great option. Hopefully in 20 years you’ll see me boating across America.
Continental Divide - doh! But those rivers in Montana/Wyoming that flow East/West come within a couple of miles of one another it seems, I propose we build a canal connecting them!
I’m sure that you’ll find some boaters to support the idea. However, you’ll probably be asked to pay for the pumping stations to get the water up there. After the Spring run-off (and then only if there was good snow cover) that region is dry. Most of the rivers coming down from the Continental Divide are too shallow to float canvas/rubber rafts, much less 18’ inboards–and they stay too shallow for many miles out onto the prairie. (Note that I did not promise navigation higher than North Dakota even though the Missouri wanders well into Montana. A steamboat brought the wounded from Reno’s and Benteen’s units back from Custer’s defeat, but it could not have gone much farther West.)
