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Old 08-25-2018, 07:16 PM   #18
Lou_tribal
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City: Quebec
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BandB View Post
The "true" loop is any that gets you to circle the eastern US. Generally, it's done counter clockwise. It is up the East Coast. Then multiple options.
1. Around Nova Scotia and down the St. Lawrence.
2. Up the Erie to the Oswego and it to Lake Ontario
3. The Erie west to Lake Erie.
As asides to those you can to the St. Lawrence directly or from Lake Ontario and then take the Trent Severn to Lake Huron.

It continues through the Great Lakes to Lake Michigan so that it always includes Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, generally includes Lake Erie, and may include Lake Ontario and Lake Superior.

From Chicago, on Lake Michigan, it heads south on the Illinois to the Mississippi. It can take the Mississippi all the way south to New Orleans and then the Gulf of Mexico but most take the Ohio to the Tennessee (short run often on the Cumberland) and then the Tennessee to the Tennessee Tombigbee and on to the Gulf of Mexico.

From the Gulf of Mexico, one returns to the East Coast either by circling around Key West or by taking the Okeechobee Waterway across.

Frequent side trips include the Bahamas and the Tennessee River. Other side trips can include the upper Mississippi, the Ohio, the Missouri, the Arkansas, and the Cumberland Rivers. Also, along the East coast they can include the Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware River.

The only real limitations to the loop are weather in the northern portion and winter shut downs. The Erie Canal is generally open early March to late October. This year it's May 18-October 10 so shortened time. Most loopers want to leave Chicago no later than September 30. Many Chicago marinas close on October 15. The Welland Canal (Lake Ontario to Lake Erie) also has a season but it's typically late March through Late November. However, it should be noted that this past year there were many commercial vessels that waited too long and faced heavy ice on the lakes and the St. Lawrence and got stranded.
Thank you for the info, I did not know there was so many variation possible!
If I had to do it, what I hope in the upcoming years, I would want to go to Nova Scotia, St Lawrence, up Ottawa river down Rideau Canal, up Trent Severn, lake Huron then til Chicago etc This should a hell of a trip.
I guess that if you start from somewhere in Canada as soon as the ice permit, let say from somewhere between Nova Scotia and Quebec, you have around 5 months to reach Illinois and head south before getting stuck.

L
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