Over the past few weeks, I have described landscapes across New England and Southeastern Canada that we encountered on our roadtrip to Nova Scotia. Today, I must report on geography that was not seen.
Setting off from Albany, New York, at dawn this morning, we climbed westward through the Mohawk River Valley. Unfortunately, due to dense fog, I could not see the River or its associated terrain. However, I did see road signs indicating that we were crossing the Mohawk or the Erie Canal that parallels the River.
Near the end of the Pleistocene, Lake Ontario was three times its current size as glacial meltwater expanded south of the retreating ice sheet. Since the St. Lawrence Valley was blacked by the glacier, this massive lake (now known as Glacial Lake Iroquois) drained through the Mohawk Valley, now occupied by the Mohawk River. Sadly, I could not observe the remnants of that natural history today.
