Trent-Severn Waterway - Part II

Lock 32 Bobcaygeon was the first lock constructed on the Trent-Severn Waterway 160 years ago.  Today it is one of the system’s busiest locks.  The very narrow channel approaching the lock was congested with a flurry of activity - houseboats floundered amok buffeted by the winds and at the mercy of the limited skills of their newly-minted captains, jet skis stopped mid channel for casual chats with other jet skis, fishing boats seemed oblivious to the activity around them, and small and large pleasure craft vied for a place to moor along the wall.  Landlubbers of all ages stood above the wall licking their Kawartha Dairy ice cream cones, entranced by all the activity down below on the water. It was just another Saturday in Bobcaygeon!

Tim on Liquid Assets, joked that it was unfortunate that in Bobcaygeon (pronounced Bob Cajun) he could not find any place hawking Cajun food.  That was quite an amusing comment when told around docktails the following evening.  Not so much now…

Anyway, back to Bobcaygeon.  We were happy to transit the lock and get Lazy W out of the madness.  We headed towards Centre Point Marina where we had a place waiting for us beside the fuel dock.  Many of the marinas on this section of the waterway cater to smaller craft than Lazy W but are willing to make room for us on their fuel dock late in the afternoon.  We arrived in a gusty wind and the dock hands helped tie us up.  Upon close inspection, the aft cleat on the dock proved to be a bit wobbly so a guy with a wrench was quickly summoned to tighten it up.  All was well – for now!  And the marina held the promise of perhaps having the dinghy fuel line replacement that we so needed.

Overnight the winds picked up but we were still securely attached to the dock in the morning.  Using the hair dryer had tripped the marina’s shore power breaker so now we had to run the generator. Shortly after breakfast, I heard a snapping sound and looked out the cabin porthole to find that Lazy W was still attached to the cleat. And while the cleat was still attached to a wooden board, the wooden board was no longer attached to the dock.  A flimsy plastic rub rail stretching down the dock and across this board was all the attachment we had.  As the stern floated further from the dock, Frank jumped off and pulled Lazy W back in, securing us to a ‘sturdier’ cleat.  We purchased our replacement part for the dinghy and headed out before we did any more damage.  Centre Point Marina was probably glad to see us go!

It was quite windy as we cruised across Sturgeon Lake towards Fenelon Falls, another tourist town along the waterway.  Lock 34 bisects the town and a mooring space along the wall there is highly coveted real estate.  In recent years the local Chamber of Commerce lengthened the upper wall and installed power pedestals, making this lock the only one on the Trent-Severn Waterway with this service.  We secured Lazy W along the wall below the lock while Frank scoped out mooring availability above the lock.  Not surprisingly, there was no room for us up top so we stayed put.  Most of the boats up there were staying for the second day because of the winds that were stirring up the waterway beyond Fenelon Falls.  Our decision to stay below the lock was a wise one as we were protected from the winds blowing through the upper part of town.

Mighty Fenelon Falls

 

Moored below Lock 34 Fenelon Falls

 

A windy afternoon - so windy that docktails had to be moved from the park to onboard Near Miss

 

 

Five miles from Fenelon Falls is the entrance to Balsam Lake, the high water point on the Trent-Severn Waterway – approximately 840 feet above sea level or 600 feet higher than the entry point at Trenton.  After another failed attempt at anchoring, we moored to the pier at the entrance to the Trent Canal.  And once more we managed to pull a cleat out of the wall.  Our path of destruction keeps expanding!

After dinner that evening we enjoyed a pleasant visit from Jim and Lowanna whose house sits across the water from the pier.  While we were admiring their house all afternoon, they were admiring our boat! They walked around the bend to check us out.  They just finished building their home two years ago, spending summers up on Balsam Lake and winters in Phoenix, Arizona.

Done Digging docked on Balsam Lake

 

Leaving Balsam Lake for Lock 36 Kirkfield presents the boater with new obstacles.  The Trent Canal is an incredibly narrow rock cut that runs for three miles to stump riddled Mitchell Lake then continues for another nail-biting three miles to the Kirkfield Lift Lock.  The narrow canal is barely wide enough for two cruisers to pass each other and boats entering must broadcast a VHF radio alert announcing their entrance.  Kind of like “Watch out! Here we come!” 

 

Shelves of rock along the shallow and narrow Trent Canal

 

 

Lock 36 Kirkfield is the second highest lift lock in the world at 49 feet, Peterborough being number one at 65 feet.  While the superstructure of Peterborough is brute-like concrete, Kirkfield resembles a child’s erector set construction.  Our entry into Kirkfield is a bit more exciting than our entry into Peterborough.  Since we have reached the high water point of the Trent-Severn Waterway, all the locks from here on down to Port Severn will lower Lazy W.  So we entered the top chamber of the lock  suspended 49 feet in the air.

Lazy W in the upper chamber of Kirkfield Lift Lock preparing for the ride down

 

Looking back after transiting Lock 36 Kirkfield Lift Lock

 

 

A few miles after transiting the Kirkfield Lock, we came to Hole in the Wall Bridge over Canal Lake. This lake is overrun with thick long weeds swaying just below the surface of the water just waiting to ensnare Lazy W’s props.

Hole in the Wall Bridge

 

 

We spent a pleasant quiet evening moored at Lock 40 Thorah.  While much of the U.S. was sweltering with high heat and humidity, we were enjoying the mild daytime temperatures and cool evenings of Ontario.

Lock 40 Thorah

 

After transiting 41 locks we were headed for the open waters of Lake Simcoe, the largest lake on the Trent-Severn Waterway.  It is notorious for being extremely rough in bad weather – thunderstorms can sometimes kick up waves of eight feet!  The weather forecast was benign so we stuck our bow out about 10AM July 21^st and headed for the town of Orillia at The Narrows between Lake Simcoe and Lake Couchiching.  The lake gave us a rather bumpy ride and we had some difficulty with the wind and the current and the shallow water at the Bridge Port Marina dock. 

Fourteen years ago Bridge Port Marina was known as Hot Knots Landing Marina.  We spent close to a week here then due to a malfunctioning railroad swing bridge that was stuck in the closed position keeping any boat taller than fourteen feet from leaving town.  This trip we are choosing to spend three days here just because we really like Orillia.

Frank will be disappointed if I don't include these pictures of the rest room doors at Bridge Port Marina.  He remembers them fondly from our last visit here.  Hmm, he probably couldn't remember what he had for dinner tonight, but this he can remember...

 

 

Orillia is the birthplace of legendary singer/song-writer Gordon Lightfoot.  Many things in town proudly bear his name including the Lightfoot Theatre in the Orillia Opera House and the Lightfoot Trail, a paved bicycle/rollerblading/walking trail that connects Orillia with Atherley Narrows.  One short section of the trail goes through Tudhope Memorial Park to Barnfield Point where the large sculpture, Golden Leaves – A Tribute to Gordon Lightfoot, has been erected. 

 

 

Each song on the 1975 album Gord's Gold has a leaf depicting a scene representative of that song. All of the leaves combine to form one gigantic maple leaf shape with a young Gordon Lightfoot strumming his acoustic guitar in the centre.  The thirteen-foot tall bronze sculpture by figurative artist Timothy Schmalz was unveiled in October 2015.

 

 

Golden Leaves - A Tribute to Gordon Lightfoot

 

 

 

Nearby is The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald bronze leaf.  A duplicate leaf was unveiled at the Dossin Great Lakes Museum, where it will remain on display until it is moved to its permanent location at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point, Michigan. That location is just miles from where the Edmund Fitzgerald was lost on November 10, 1975.  The shipwreck was the inspiration for the 1976 Lightfoot song of the same name.  The artist intends to scatter other bronze leaves across selected locations in Canada and the United States that are in some way associated with the music of Gordon Lightfoot.

Orillia hosts plenty of festivals throughout the year and we were in town for the Summer Block Party.  All along Mississaga Street the merchants were peddling their wares while musicians played on the street corners.  The party was in full swing all Friday afternoon but fizzled out around 6PM when the Night Market festivities were set to begin.  So we headed to a local pub before biking back to Lazy W.

From our tie-up at Bridge Port Marina we had front row seats for watching the constant weekend boat traffic through the Narrows as the locals made their way to favorite anchorages on Lake Couchiching. Large cruisers, excursion boats, de-masted looper sailboats, runabouts with music blaring, Seadoos, loud cigarette boats, jet skis – they were all out there on the I-95 of the Orillia boating scene. Alas, some transited the narrow, weed-filled waterway less successfully than othersL  As entertaining as all this was, it was time to move on so on Sunday, July 24^th we headed for Swift Rapids.

We met our "sister ship" in Lock 42 Couching

 

 

McDonald's Cut

After 24 miles of cruising we arrived at Lock 43 Swift Rapids, “the giant lock” of the Trent-Severn Waterway.  This hydraulically operated lock opened in 1965 and has a lift of 47 feet, almost double the lift of any of the other conventional locks on the system.  Its gates are huge!



 

Fellow looper Gracie and Moni Jean float 47 feet below in the massive chamber of Lock 43 Swift Rapids

 

Scene below Lock 43 Swift Rapids

Passing by Chad's Island after a successful anchoring in Lost Channel
 

 

 

We arrived at Lock 44 Big Chute about thirty minutes before operations started on July 26th and waited patiently along the Blue Line wall with Gracie and Moni Jean.  While the other locks of the Trent-Severn Waterway operate by raising and lowering the water levels within the lock chamber, the Big Chute is quite different.  It uses a carriage outfitted with slings that cradle and lift the boats from the water then transports these boats over a granite hill and deposits them in the body of water on the other side.  The total lift is 58 feet and the ride takes less than ten minutes!



Waiting our turn at Lock 44 Big Chute.  The rail carriage is over Frank's' left shoulder.



 

Gracie and Moni Jean are ready to go.

Our turn in the sling...

...over the roadway...

...downhill slide.
 

Looking back at the submerged carriage after we were set free.

 

 

After transiting Big Chute there was just one more lock to go before entering the Georgian Bay.  And what a traffic jam there was when we arrived at Lock 45 Port Severn.  This is the smallest lock in the Trent-Severn Waterway with a lift of just 16 feet.   It can only handle two large boats at a time and there were at least a dozen hovering in the pool of water leading to the lock.  After over an hour of waiting, the lock tender called Lazy W and Gracie into the lock. 

Our transit of the Trent-Severn Waterway was officially over after eighteen great days!  Now on to the Georgian Bay!