I finally worked up to my 5 mile walk from home through Cohoes over to Route 32 and back up the Champlain Canalway Trail through Waterford. The portion along the old canal will be interrupted for the next seven months by the cleanup of a toxic waste site adjacent to the canal.

The former Friedrichsohn Cooperage site has been fenced off for years and soil sampling was conducted years ago. The cleanup project is just now getting underway and will last until late October. The portion of the canal from the Mohawk River to the current canal will remain drained while the work is conducted.

Information and documents about the cleanup can be found here.

Here are some shots of the drained canal followed by some shots of the cleanup area and the structures to keep water out of the area once the current canal is flooded.