Friday, Saturday & Sunday - June 1, 2 & 3

Look like fun?

Still off season ........ Big Sound Marina, Parry Sound, Ontario

A picture says a thousand words ..............
On these less than perfect days, we are glad to be hunkered down at the Big Sound Marina in Parry Sound, Ontario.  When the weather forecast is at all questionable on Georgian Bay, it is highly recommended that you wait it out in a safe place.

Rainy, cold & nasty on Georgian Bay

Although this is a perfectly nice, friendly little town, we hope to be on our way soon.  We know that the best is yet to come and we hope to do it in "Chamber of Commerce" type weather conditions.

Thursday, May 31

Narrow channel crossing on Georgian Bay - trying to stay off the granite boulders

View of Georgian Bay - Beausoleil Island

Henry's dock

This morning at the Port Severn Lock #45 we left the Trent-Severn Waterway and entered Georgian Bay (part of Lake Heron).  Often referred to as the finest freshwater cruising anywhere, it is surrounded by deep water, thousands of remote anchorages and dozens of friendly small towns and establishments.  It is easy to see why this area gets such rave reviews. 
At all times it is imperative that you pay close attention to your location and surrounding depths with a combination of visual sitings, GPS and charts.  The difference here is that running aground or into something means hard granite ....... what looks like open water often is not and props, outdrives & keels can be instantly destroyed.
We headed for Beausoleil Island (5 miles wide and 1 mile long, it is the largest island in the Georgian Bay Islands National Park system).   Other than the fact rattle snakes live there, we enjoyed a leisurely hike amongst the natural granite formations.
Our next and final destination of the day was Sans Souci Island (meaning "without care or fear no-worries).   Henry's - World Famous Food, World Famous Service and World Famous Customers -

"Granite beach" - Beausoleil Island

ever popular with the boating and sea plane crowd is located here and we had to check it out.  You want local color?  It's got local color, including the official greeter - a crazed 2-year old chocolate lab.  Henry's is even served by 5 scheduled sea plane airlines that offer a fly & dine package for $38.00 a person - never seen that before.
The problem is we are about 3 weeks too early for the big action of the season.  Nonetheless, it was fun watching the two seaplanes (privately owned) arrive and depart from Henry's docks ........... an everyday occurrence in this part of the woods, but a novelty to us.

Wednesday, May 30

Big Chute Marine Railway - Breathtaking 57-foot vertical drop

This morning we crossed Lake Simcoe - 20 miles long and 16 miles wide - the largest lake on the Trent-Severn Waterway.  With a short chop it was an easy crossing and a taste of what will lie ahead for us once we leave this Waterway.
The final leg of the Trent-Severn Waterway is the Severn River.  The red & gray granite walls and out crops of the Canadian Shield become more prominent along this stretch.  It was interesting to see how people used these natural formations in their landscaping and the remote sections of this river were especially beautiful.
To many the biggest thrill of all on the Trent- Severn Waterway is the Big Chute marine railway.  At the Big Chute, water rushes down a long granite chute between the Upper Severn River and Glouster Pool.  Next to this, the Big Chute Railway lifts your vessel across land and down the chute on twin tracks.
Originally it was designed because there was a lack of concrete to build locks in this location and the railway was cheaper.

Severn River

This open-air carriage operates like a huge, partially submerged travel hoist.  You do not need ropes or lines and must remove all fenders from dangling over the side of the boat.  Driving onto the carriage and into the sling, the boat is soon floating over land - the seven-minute trip is fascinating!

Tuesday, May 29

Sunset - Kawartha Lakes - Trent/Severn Waterway

We burned up some gas today as we powered through this lake region.  House boating is very popular and thankfully we did not have to lock through with one.  We had been warned that often the operators are not very experienced & the boats themselves rather unresponsive ..... not a good combination.
The lakes today are wide open bodies of water similar to Midwestern lakes.  They just seem to go on and on.  At times it was hard to find the channel markers as they were far apart and often in the open water.

Rosedale Lock - highest point in the system

An interesting passage was the Trent Canal, a very long, shallow & narrow land cut through the Canadian Shield.  Through the clear water you could see the granite & basalt sides and bottom.  Luckily we did not have to pass any large boats along this stretch.

Trent Canal - land cut through Canadian Shield

Monday, May 28

He used to be a sailor

Top of the Lovesick Lock - #30

Top of Peterborough Lift looking down on twin pan

Finally there was a big WOW on the Trent/Severn Waterway at the Peterborough Lift Lock #21 ......  it is the world's highest hydraulic lift lock.  As we "floated" up the 65-foot vertical lift in a quick 90 seconds we felt like kids on a carnival ride!
When it opened in 1904, it was quite an amazing engineering feat ........ it still is today.  The lock works like a giant balance beam scale.  At the green light you enter a large rectangular chamber shaped like a huge sheet-cake pan.  Parallel to that chamber, but 65 feet up on a huge piston, is another chamber - a twin to yours.  There are 330,000 gallons of water that weigh 1,500 tons in each pan.  When the upper chamber is filled with an extra foot of water (1 ft. = 130 tons) the increased weight in the upper tank forces it to go down, while the lower tanks rises on its piston.  It does not matter how many or what size boats are in each pan, as the boats displace their own weight.  It is amazing, we were tempted to turn around and do it again.

Bottom of Peterborough Lift looking up

Soon it was back to a series of 10 normal size locks ......... each with a vertical rise of only 10-12 feet and taking about 12 minutes to lock through ........ after the "Big" one of the day, the thrill was gone.
By afternoon we had entered the Kawartha Lakes Chain, once known to the Indians as "happy lands and bright waters".  They stretch along the waterway in a series of long open passages.  We meandered through island lined channels and tree lined coves ....... we were back in God's Country.
One of the lakes was called Clear Lake ...... living up to its name in a big way.  The shores were lined with some very expensive real estate - obviously "the place to be" in this part of the world.
It was such a gorgeous afternoon that we decided to quit early and pulled up to the upper wall at the Lovesick Lock #30.  Said by many to be the prettiest lock on the Trent-Severn, it is situated between two islands on Lovesick Lake.  Surrounded by a natural preserve and many other tiny islands, it was the perfect spot to drop in our kayaks and later enjoy a lakeside dinner.

Sunday, May 27

Centennial Fountain geyser  at Peterborough - C.L. needs one

Low water at Healey Falls

From Campbellford to Peterborough we traveled 59 miles and went through 7 locks.
 Chatting with one of the lock tenders we were told that the water levels were extremely low and without more rain in the next two months the Trent- Severn Waterway might have to shut down.   At the Healey Falls Locks 15, 16 & 17 this was very evident.  The guide book recommends taking a short walk to Healey Falls for a photo op........ here we could see first hand just how low the water levels really are, making us think of the parallel situation in North Iowa. 
We left the Trent River and entered Rice Lake -  20 miles long and three miles wide, it is the second largest of the many interconnecting lakes on the Trent system.  The lake was a giant granary in Indian times and was named for the wild rice that once grew around its shores.
Next we traveled  20 miles on the Otonabee River to Peterborough.  Most of the people on the water were fishing and the locks had little to no traffic.......... by now we thought that the boat traffic would be picking up but it seems we are still ahead of the pack.  By July the Trent will be so busy that often there is a wait of 1 - 1 1/2 hours at each lock.  Today we locked through by ourselves, except for the pair of ducks that joined us.

2 ducks - our only lock companions

So far we are not terribly impressed with the Trent-Severn Waterway, which does not yet have the True North appeal of the Rideau.  We have been told the best is yet to come.

Saturday, May 26

Coming out of Ranney Falls Locks 11/12

Bottom of Ranney Falls Locks 11/12

Entrance to Trent-Severn Waterway

Today we left Kingston and headed out onto Lake Ontario.  It was great to open the throttle of the White Label on the perfectly calm water......... finally we would be making some headway on our journey.  We traveled eighty miles to Trenton, Ontario where we entered the Trent -Severn Waterway.  The Waterway was built in stages beginning in 1833 and completed 87 years later, in 1920.   Through a series of streams, rivers and lakes, it connects Lake Ontario to Georgian Bay/Lake Huron.  It is 240-miles long and has 44 locks - some of which are especially noteworthy.
Today's cruise would be in the "ok" category ...........  the highlight being the Ranney Falls Locks 11/12.
In these flight locks, you move out of the first one and directly into the next one after the gate opens.  There is a 48-foot rise and when you come out from "the hole" it is quite dramatic.   Passing through twelve locks and twenty- two miles into the Waterway we pulled up to the City Wall in Campbellford - not a terribly exciting place to be on a Saturday night (no music, nasty looking Chinese restaurants -which went unsampled-  but decent BBQ).......... oh well!

Sharing a breakfast croissant with our friends