Trent-Severn Waterway

The Trent-Severn Waterway is 241 miles long and has 44 locks or lifts, starting in Trenton on Lake Ontario and ending at Port Severn on Lake Huron. The waterway is managed by Parks Canada and goes through many towns and villages that cater to boaters.

We are required to buy a "locking" permit to go through the locks and a "mooring" permit if we want to tie up for the night at the lock walls which are above and below the actual lift. Compared to the Erie Canal the fee was much more expensive (over $500), but the Canadian locks are well maintained and staffed by very friendly and helpful young people, primarily college students. All locks have clean restrooms and very nice picnic areas. They open and close the locks by hand - pushing levers around and around in a small circle that open the lock doors.

The locks offer a great place to tie up for the night. The first day we made it to Lock #6, Frankford Lock, and went for a short bike ride into town, dusty and hot. Only hazard at the locks is the incredible amount of goose poop everywhere!

Off the next morning to Campbellford; home of the Toonie! But first we go through our first "flight" lock - basically two locks in one. The door in front is over 50' high; you go into the lock, go up one 'flight', the blue door above opens and you go into the next chamber and up again. I sure hope the door holds!

The Toonie ($2 coin) was designed by a resident of Campbellford, Brent Townsend, in 1996 and the town honored that creation by erecting a 20 foot tall replica of the coin in the park where we tied up.

It has the polar bear on one side and Queen Elizabeth II on the other.

Saturday night's feature local music at the bandstand in the park; we got "Stompin' John" - not exactly the real thing.

Stayed there two nights, lots of sightseeing (Chocolate Factory, Captain George's for fish and chips. Canadian Tire for a fishing rod, groceries and beer store). Then off to the town of Hastings. Went through Locks 13-18 and managed to make 20 miles that day!

Next stop, the town of Peterborough where we will meet our friends Otto and Ruth from Nova Scotia; they will travel with us for the next week or so. On the way there we got a good picture of these "mute" swans. They are not native to Canada but were brought over from Europe to adorn the parks and estates in the late 1800's. Surprise, surprise - they got loose and are now scattered over a small area around Lake Ontario.

But first a stop at Ranney Falls and the suspension bridge over the gorge. It really bounced a lot when we walked on it!

We tied up at the lock before Peterborough for the night and got on our bikes for a tour of the town and marina, only a 15 minute ride. Biked through Little Lake Cemetery that we had heard about on CBC (beautifully maintained acreage on the waterfront).

And then saw the welcoming fountain in the middle of the bay - 250' high.

Moved to the municipal marina the next day, July 11th, and Otto and Ruth showed up that afternoon. Spent Sunday doing touristy things (Canadian Canoe Museum, Ribfest and concert in the park) and getting provisions for the next run. 

We drove to see the Peterborough Hydraulic Lift Lock - the largest in the world! It was completed in 1904 and required 26,000 cubic yards of cement. A massive undertaking at that time. Good news is they have only lost two boats over the edge (back in the 60's and 70's) - they now have better and new gates!

Boats start filing into the pan on the bottom - one after another! Each pan holds 1,040 cubic meters of water or 1,700 tons!

And when the lock is full they add an extra foot of water in the upper pan (equivalent to 144 tons) which causes the upper pan to force the lower pan up. Each pan rises on a huge ram (7.5' in diameter). The traffic exits and then a new boat enters for the ride down.

The next day it was our turn. With our extra deck hands it was surprisingly easy. And we had a nice view from top.

Piece of cake.

The waterway here is just beautiful with narrow channels, larger lakes and lots of summer cottages. Some islands even have a little church!

We spent the night near Lakefield at the lock, nice little town just a short dinghy ride away; beer store (again) and nice deli. Hot and humid so we decided to take a float trip down the river alongside the canal. Strapped on our life jackets and had a nice cooling ride in the rapids, not as scary as it looked!

Left the next morning for Bobcaygeon. Beautiful country.

But first we had lots of fun in the locks!

Here's Valerie and Bev (on Sea Venture) doing the boat hook toss!

Sometimes a bit of confusion.

 And some relaxing moments!

Our traveling companions, Al and Kay on "Knot Home" had saved us a spot on the upper wall at Bobcaygeon which was very nice of them; lots of boats and rented houseboats. Otto and Ruth treated us to dinner after a tour of the town and then off again the next day to the Kirkfield Lock, another hydraulic lift lock. But first some very narrow waterways.

Only room for one boat here - all rocks on the edges. This is a man-made cut through the Canadian Shield.

At the Kirkfield Lock, Al and Kay on Knot Home went in first and then I had a bit of a problem with the wind but managed not to hit anyone - thanks to Al for fending us off!

Nice ride down, about 45', and then finally decided to call it quits at a very secluded lock in a rural setting. Hot day so Otto and Ruth decided to go swimming in the lock! Not sure if that is legal or not but who cares?

Nice walks in the morning as we waited for the lock to open at 9:00.

We had a great crossing of Lake Simcoe (which can get nasty), so nice we didn't even take a picture! And one of our biggest lock drops so far - 47 feet.

Across Lake Simcoe, through Orillia, and had a nice anchorage at McLean Bay - local fellow had his own seaplane. Gotta love that.

Then off the next morning in rain headed for the Big Chute - a railway lift over the hill. Luckily Ron and Bev on "Sea Venture" where already there and got these great photos of us going on the rail lift - our photos were mainly just rain drops!

It was all over so fast we really couldn't appreciate the whole thing. One boat in front of us, get behind them in the center, stop, the lock guys stabilized us with the slings, then off we go. 20 minutes later it was all over, damn!

A short ride took us to the final lock, #45, at Port Severn. We tied up above the lock as Otto and Ruth tried multiple ways to get back to their car in Peterborough; planes/trains/automobiles you name it. They had a float plane lined up but that cancelled because of the weather; no rental car agencies had one-way rentals, All the folks at the locks and stores couldn't find anyone to drive them - nothing. They eventually hired a taxi to take them to Orillia, rented a car there, drove to Peterborough (2 hour drive) back to Orillia to drop off the car and then headed for Montreal the next day. It was great having them on board, and we sure appreciated the extra hands in the locks.

We got a good washdown that night with a heavy shower and went through the lock the next morning to a perfect day into the Georgian Bay area - our next cruising ground. 

Lake Ontario

We left Oswego at 8:00, the first opening of Lock 8, our final lock of the Erie Canal, on June 29th. Not particularly nice weather but the forecast was for calm seas and light winds. Past the lighthouse at the breakwater and into the lake.

The lake was uncomfortable at first where the river met the lake but it settled down and we had an uneventful, if gray sky day across the lake toward the NY side. We decided to not go directly to the Trent-Severn Canal but rather take a side trip to the 1,000 Islands area. It was about 40 miles across the lake to Henderson Bay, slight drizzle and fog that haunted us but never socked us in. We found a great anchorage in a small bay, and what do you know? The sun came out! We haven't seen that in days!

Nice peaceful night and up and at 'em early. We had agreed on 7:00 AM departure with our boat mates but when we looked at the weather forecast (rain) we decided to head out a bit earlier. Beautiful morning.

Around several islands and into the Thousand Islands area. Past a nice historic lighthouse at the entrance to Wolfe Island Channel.

And into the town to Gananoque (GAN-a-nock-Way). Really cool little town. Managed to clear Canada Customs after an odd phone call; turns out "eggs" are not allowed into Canada these days and of course we had some. After much back and forth with what I'm guessing was a new trainee, "we" decide that if "we" hard-boiled them "we" were probably safe. Otherwise "we" would not be allowed to dispose of any garbage for our entire 45-day stay in Canada. Who comes up with this shit? Thankfully we were not boarded by a SWAT team and were able to destroy the evidence in Egg McMuffin look-a-likes. Whew!

On the advice of our friend back in Brewerton, we elected to let someone else do the driving and took a tour of the Thousand Islands by boat. A five hour cruise (Gilligan anyone?) with a  two-hour lay over at the Boldt Castle. Bring your passports because it was back to the USSR.

Beautiful islands and the usual lighthouses. Do I have a problem with lighthouses and barges? This is a pretty cool lighthouse made of corrugated drain pipe.

And who can resist this tug, barge and excavator?

Or this gem? Summer job anyone? Man the lighthouse?

 But the castle was amazing.

George Boldt was a wealthy entrepreneur in NYC (a self made man, emigrated to the US with zip in his pockets) and ended up owning the Waldorf-Astoria hotel among other things. He bought extensive land and various islands in this area and in the early 1900's he decided to build a 'castle' for his wife on Heart Island. As the castle and buildings were nearing completion his wife suddenly passed away and he immediately halted all work on the project. Reputedly he never returned to the island and let the project fall into disarray. Years of vandals and weather had it pretty well ruined it until the 1,000 Islands Waterway group decided to restore it - and what a project! Amazing and still underway.

This is the 'playhouse' where the kids could have fun. It had a two-lane bowling alley in the basement.

Front yard of the castle. The first two stories have been beautifully restored matching the original plans and furnished with period furniture, much of it belonging to the Boldt's. Huge building.

This is the "power house" where the generators were located to provide power and water to the property. Designed to look like a castle on the Rhine that George had seen.

And this is the boat house which was across the water and we didn't have time to visit. The main doors in the front are tall enough that a sailing vessel can be housed without taking down the spar. Huge building.

Back onto the boat and cruise back to the marina. We were traveling on the St. Lawrence river, named by Champlain back in the 1600's. Someone decided to erect a statue of the patron saint on the banks of the river.

The Thousand Islands area is apparently the place to be; there actually over 1,800 islands here ranging from all sizes and many have houses. From cool little cottages on tiny islands

To up-and-comings wanna to be's.

To the real thing, nice summer cottage!

Back to the marina after a great day on the water playing tourist.

We started off early the next morning headed to Kingston.

We got located at a marina there and went for a walk through the main shopping and historic district. The Pan-Am games are being held in Toronto later this month and we got caught up in the "torch relay" which was going across Ontario.

We even got to hold the torch - but no running!

Hey - who's that guy in the Smiley Face Tie? Beats me!

Our boating buddies Werner and Kathy were having engine overheating problems and decided to stay in Kingston for several days to get that resolved. We didn't feel like staying and so headed off for Trenton, the start of the Trent-Severn Waterway. We spent two nights at anchor in remote bays. Saw this string of 'rubber duckies' in front of one cottage.

A peaceful anchorage in the Bay of Quinte.

We got to Trenton mid-morning and passed under the welcome bridge to the waterway.

Goodbye Lake Ontario and hello Trent-Severn Waterway. The Trent-Severn is 241 miles long and has 44 locks or lifts. This should be interesting!