Story of Our Summer Cruise 2013

 

August 6 - Hastings to Ashburnham Lock 20

Today's Route

We headed out early today, one advantage of being on the right side of the lock for a longish day on the water in bright sunshine. After a short river stretch with many cottages interspersed with trailer park/marinas

we hit the open water of Rice Lake (aptly named as it was the site for extensive wild rice beds for the native population before the Waterway fixed water levels) for about 12 miles and enjoyed the ability to run on autopilot for a couple of hours before making the turn just past Hiawatha

Hiawatha United Church (1870) in the Hiawatha First nation Reserve

into the Otonabee River. A pleasant cruise at 6 kts followed as we twisted and wound through many miles of the quiet scenic river with the occasional clusters of cottages/homes. The nicest was an restored early 1800s farmhouse with well landscaped grounds. We saw few boats all day until we arrived at Scotts Mill Lock and then Ashburton, our destination for the night.

 

August 7 - Ashburnham Lock 20 to Lakefield Lock 26

Today's Route

Early morning as the sound of rain and the call of nature woke me sooner than normal. The rain was not too heavy and the radar out of Buffalo, NY, which provides coverage well into Canada, was only showing about another hour of rain before we get a respite of a few hours. Rain was just at the western edge of Lake Huron so we should be able to get a few miles and locks without getting too wet.

We are using an iPad/iPhone/Mac app called Radarscope that specifically deals with weather radar imagery. It is not inexpensive, but it shows the radar feed from each of NOAA's ground stations, and can show the elevation scans for each station, as well as the composites that you see on most weather radar apps. This enables you to determine the weather at different elevations which correlates to the strength of any storms approaching. It also includes velocity images to help predict how fast the weather is moving - particularly good in open water; estimated rainfalls in various forms; and any Severe Weather Warnings. The app does require a bit of weather knowledge to use its full potential but is the best out there.

A weedy ride to the Peterborough Lift Lock and we clogged our water intake, resulting in a "Low Water Flow" alarm as we were approaching our open swing bridge. A quick dive into the engine room showed our strainer was clear but little water in it. The bridge closed as we were drifting towards it. Fortunately, on starting the engine and cancelling the alarm, our engine temperature dropped quickly and the gate re-opened in time for us to squeak through.

The Tugboat "Trent" owned by the Trent-Severn Waterway

Just past the "Trent," we entered the Peterborough Lift Lock and, as the only boat, got to stay at the back so we could get better view of the height of the lift.

 

A short distance on we passed Trent University, situated on both sides of the Waterway. Prince Andrew attended Trent on an exchange with St. Andrews in Scotland.

 

The rest of our long day was spent navigating the Otonabee River, a pleasant cruise on a sunny, windless day and locking up through a total of seven locks, five with our nemesis.

Giving Them Plenty of Room

Lakefield Lock turned out to be well worth the long day and we were nicely tucked away above the lock in a narrow channel with steep limestone sides - something we would appreciate later that evening. Once things were squared away we headed out to check out the town.

The Limestone Cut

The first thing we saw when we entered the small town were the flower beds maintained by the local Horticultural Society. They have gardens scattered through the town and provide some impressive splashes of color.

The town has a long history dating back to the early 1800s and, like many of the towns we have visited, was based on a logging economy with its attendant sawmills. Lakefield was a little more prosperous than most with several mills, planing mills, grist mills and a very early hydro plant - and a couple of street lights in 1885!

We wandered the various small stores and noted that there were several restaurants with good menus, a large supermarket, two hardware stores, a gourmet food store, coffee shops - everything a traveler could want and some nice old buildings.

 

Christ Church 1853

Christ Church, an Anglican church, was built in 1853 when the town was known as Nelson's Falls and is now the local museum. As with much of our timing it was closed! One day we will go somewhere and the major event of the summer will be happening while we are in town. We have missed concerts in the park, movie night in the park, folk festivals in the park, farmers' markets,etc., as we have been either a day too early or day too late. The church was unusual as it has its own churchyard much like most of the village churches in England. A number of the Strickland family of the early town's history are buried here as well as some of the early prominent settlers.

 

A rival church still active today is just down the road.

 

We had just finished dinner when the sky started to darken and then darken further until the black massed cloud below rolled across our vision. The weather had forecast chance of severe thunderstorms and this looked severe. We doubled our dock lines quickly, battened down the hatches and other sailorly things to get ready.

 

The Impending Storm - 6:30 pm

Intense lightning and thunder preceded the storm. Just as the rain started, the lock master's assistant, a young girl, came along all the boats to tell us there was a tornado warning for the area which made us feel good. The rain swept in down the channel much like it had done in Fenelon Falls except this time the torrential .rain continued for over an hour. We were later informed that around 4" of rain had fallen.

In the midst of the storm the lock master's assistant appeared again looking like a drowned rat to let us know that there was a tornado watch now with tornados sighted near Peterborough. She advised sheltering in the bathrooms if necessary. Thankfully now tornados touched down in our channel but a funnel cloud went over the Lakefield marina but didn't touch down. Some boat damage was reported at the marina from the high winds as they were fully exposed. The OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) building in Orillia was flooded and had to be evacuated. Quite a storm!!

August 8 - Lakefield to Lovesick Lock 30

Today's Route

With no more storms to bother us during the nigh,t we had a sound sleep and an early start to get the first locking at Young's Point. However when we arrived, the lock was full with a barge and pusher unloading zebra mussels into a dump truck. Apparently they had started dredging the day before on the down side of the lock along the wall and it had turned into a major excavation, taking out over 300 cubic yards of shells - no wonder it was shallow here when we came through on our way to Kingston. We were delayed here for almost two hours but had a good conversation with the maintenance crew about there varied jobs to keep the Waterway functional.

As we left Lakefield, we gradually left the limestone scenery behind and entered the start of the exposed Canadian Shield (pink granite) through Clear Lake where we got the opportunity to exercise the autopilot for a few miles. The Lake is dotted with small islands, some only large enough for a single gnarled pine tree or a single cottage. At the head of the Lake, we again navigated through Hell's Gate and Hurricane Point, but missed Devil's Elbow and Confusion Shoals. The early explorer's who named all these locations had vivid imaginations and never seemed to lack for names.

People who Live in Glass Houses Shouldn't ...

Burleigh Falls

Lovesick Lock is one of the more remote on the Trent-Severn Waterway with no road access as it is situated between two islands. with Lower Buckhorn Lake on one side and Lovesick Lake on the other. The legend, depending on the version you believe, is that either a beautiful girl or young man was rejected in love and fled to a deserted island on the Lake and they nearly died of lovesickness.

The grounds of the lock are very well maintained with picnic tables and fire pits - just remember to bring your own wood. We spent a very peaceful afternoon and evening here. The only possible drawback are the raccoons and black bear which are said to inhabit the area. The raccoons will invade an unsecured in search of food and I had a boater tell me firsthand of his screen damage. Bears have been sighted crossing the lock gates and posters warn you of what to do if you encounter a bear so there must be something to it.

Lovesick was also notable for one of the top sunsets of our trip.

 

 

Lock 29? - Originally Burleigh Falls was a double lock, 28 and 29, but was modified to a single lock in 1968. Rather than re-numbering every lock in the system, the number 29 was retired.

August 9 - Lovesick Lock to Bobcaygeon Lock 32

Today's Route

No bears or 'coons during the night so we survived and were ready and waiting for the lock master and his assistant to show up in their Stanley boat from Burleigh Falls. As Lovesick Lock is cut off from the surrounding area with no roads, the staff have to boat to work each day.

Our trip today was a very pleasant cruise through a series of lakes, Lower Buckhorn, Buckhorn, and Pigeon with little traffic. These lakes are very popular in the afternoons and at the weekends with many cottagers on the water. Early starts seem to avoid most of the boats. Buckhorn Lock, which we passed through, would have been a good destination instead of Bobcaygeon as the lock is very scenic but it would have meant a long day to Fenelon - maybe next time.

The entry to Bobcaygeon is definitely high-end with some very large homes:

As we found on our way through in the other direction a few weeks ago, Bobcaygeon was crowded but we shoe-horned STB into a very tight spot on the grey wall by the "Blue Line" ready for the morning. No sooner than we had tied up, we received a radio call asking if another large boat could raft off us. Well-fendered, a 39' cruiser tied alongside. It turned out that they had a hydraulic system leak at the lock and had not been able to lock boats for a couple of hours. We soon had a small powerboat rafted perpendicular to our two sterns - a first of both for us. The lock was soon operational and we lost our close neighbors.

Bobcaygeon is the first lock going north on the Trent-Severn for the rental houseboats and we arrived just before the start of the rental period. By late afternoon they started to arrive in force and were hovering everywhere possible waiting to lock through. Houseboats do not hover in place very well, especially with inexperienced drivers, so there were some close calls while we were sitting on our upper deck viewing the manoeuvres.

Old Schoolhouse

All That's Left of a Once Great Empire!

We made the smart move to slide STB along the wall to the front of the Blue Line when the last locking was done at 5:30. Smart because a few minutes later a herd of houseboats arrived - two with eight young guys on each and they were learner drivers to boot. One just scraped by us with little control and managed to tie up opposite. The others had some close calls but survived with no sunk boats.

One of the Benign Houseboats

Immediately, they broke out the beer to celebrate their "safe" arrival and we knew we were in for a noisy night when the tunes were cranked up. It seemed to quieten down early and we were quite surprised that by 10:00 it was quite peaceful. Little did we realize that they were off at the bar until about 2:00 am when they returned and started using the water slide on the back of the houseboat. To their credit, no one drowned or was severely injured although there were probably going to be some headaches the next morning!

August 10 - Bobcaygeon Lock to Fenelon Falls

Today's Route

After a disturbed night, we went up Bobcaygeon Lock in the first lift at the front together with the two "booze cruise" houseboats and a couple of smaller boats. The boys had already been imbibing and the lock master had to remind them that open alcohol was prohibited while underway! They donated a half a garbage sack of empties for recycling.

We only had a short day of 16 miles and ran a little faster than normal to try to get some distance before the next lock at Fenelon where we met up with "Two Orrs," a brand new 50 footer which is doing the Loop from Florida. Their other boat was too big to do the Loop! We have see them most days since Trenton usually around noon or early afternoon when their AIS triangle shows up on our chartplotter running at 16 kts. They are very considerate with their wake and give us plenty of room unlike many.

Two Orrs

After our brief view of the Canadian Shield (granite) the past two days we headed back into limestone country again with the entry to Fenelon Falls along the Fenelon River that has carved a gorge through the limestone over many centuries.

Cooler today as the wind has shifted to the NNW and picked up with the barometer staying in the sub 30 range since the storm went through.

The locking was no problem, bringing the boat straight in alongside Two Orrs, and we managed to have a choice of two spots on the wall with hydro and hydro for two nights as we have a number of things we want to get done - laundry; catching up with the Internet; updating the blog; washing the boat; vacuuming the interior; changing the oil (a bit overdue at 220 has since we left home but very little color in it); and some more we probably haven't thought about yet.

Scruffy emerged today to get some fresh air and sunshine - he has not been much trouble compared to many boat dogs.

An early start today was a wise move as Fenelon is jumping and dock space is very tight with houseboats even moored to the old crumbling wall near the entrance to the channel.

The "Kawartha Spirit" on a Wedding Cruise

Busy Fenelon Falls

Just received a new pic of the son, grandson, and new grandson.

We did well today with a number of jobs complete but more for tomorrow, including the blog update.

August 11 - Stayed in Fenelon Falls

Not much to report on today with blog updating, clearing up e-mails, paying bills, baking, and engine maintenance taking up much of the day.

Some of the Baking

The Happydays Houseboat Parade

All was not work today though as, later in the evening, the sky to the northwest looked promising for some sunset viewing so I headed down to the park at the entrance of the channel. It was a quite spectacular sunset as the sun began to dip below the cloud bank near the horizon for around 20 minutes before it settled on the horizon and vanished. I must have taken over 60 photographs and it was tough to edit them down to three.

 

 

OK I lied, but it was so hard to choose!

 

August 12 - Fenelon Falls to Thorah (Lock 40)

Today's Route

Headed out to catch the first lock at Rosedale and a pump-out at the Rosedale Marina before heading for a short run across Balsam Lake. An expensive pump-out to be sure at $28 but what can you do?

From the west side of Balsam Lake we were in the very narrow Trent Canal for a couple of miles before the Kirkfield Lift Lock which dropped us 48 feet in less than a minute before running a heavily buoyed route across Mitchell Lake through the weed beds in 7' of water with continual depth alarms to be silenced as the depth sounder gets fooled by the dense weeds. Another few miles of canal and we entered our least favorite part of the trip east - Canal Lake, where our prop and rudder were continually getting clogged with weed. Maybe boat traffic had trimmed the weed since we were last here, as we only stopped once to kick it into reverse to throw the weed off.

A short stretch of canal took us into the Talbot River and through Bolsover, Talbot, Portage, and Thorah Locks. At each, we were debating whether to continue on across the northern part of Lake Simcoe. The wind was starting to pick up and would be on our beam and we could not seem to get any consistent information about conditions on the Lake. We decided to stay one Lock from the Lake and, weather permitting,get the first locking in the morning. The last boat in from the Lake reported that the chop was less than 1', "Better then we've seen it for a long time." Oh well.....

One benefit of staying over at Thorah was meeting John and Wendy from Lake Chemong who were traveling back home after a visit to Georgian Bay. John has pictures of Nordic Tugs on his refrigerator at home and was eager to talk about his dream boat for when they do the Loop. We spent some time with them sharing beer and snacks discussing boats and the Waterway before giving them a quick tour of STB.

August 13 - Thorah Lock to Swift Rapids Lock 43

Today's Route

Cold and dreary skies greeted us this morning but things are not meant to improve over the next few days as a slow moving cold front is moving through. Winds are around 15 kts out of the NW and meant to increase in the afternoon which will really kick things up on Lake Simcoe.

Based on that and not wanting to spent a couple of extra days at Thorah Lock we headed out with one other boat, through Gamebridge lock and into the Lake. It was blowing out there with our little Canadian flag at the bow just cracking away. A couple of things were in our favor, first the wind and the direction to Orillia were perfectly aligned and second, the waves were only 1 to 1.5 meters. We had a very wet ride, but found that around 9.5 kts was the best speed as the bow climbed up and the ride was smoother. Our fuel consumption was around 8 gph (gulp! for us) but we figured $40 was worth it to be gone. Plus the boat got a great wash down.

 

A Rough Day on Lake Simcoe

After clearing Simcoe and heading into Lake Couchiching, we found that to have kicked up as well with waves of 2'. It was pleasant to head into the Canal and some tranquility.

We were making good but slow progress as the speed limit was only 5 Kts until we reached the railway bridge below. The PORTS Guide does warn of the possibility of long waits as the bridge is on a major line and the railroad has strict rules about bridges being closed for so long before and after a train.

The Train Finally Came!

Fortunately, we had little wind and current so we hovered before the bridge for about 30 minutes before the train finally appeared and only 5 minutes later, the bridge opened and we were on our way to Couchiching Lock and a heavily cottages stretch of river followed by a short run across Sparrow Lake. Occasionally on our trip, we have run into signs like this that someone decided were necessary even though the channel was clearly marked. This island is not quite submerged any more!

 

After Sparrow Lake, we entered more rugged terrain, some reminiscent of the North Channel, like McDonald's Cut below. He must have been the blaster and definitely earned his pay here.

 

McDonald's Cut (blasted out for half a mile)

A long day but we made it to Swift Rapids Lock where we were exactly two months ago.

 

Learning from experience, we stayed away from the tree side of the lock, although I think the bugs were grounded due to high winds and the wind chill. The weather was still very mixed with slight rain, sun, then grey skies again. The light created some interesting scenes such as the one below.

Hint of A Rainbow to East of Lock

Swift Rapids was the site of a mechanical railway early in its career and also a major hydroelectric facility. A small community grew up in the area to support these two and at one time there was even a school. Most building are gone now except for a couple of basements and the old lock master's house, now abandoned.

Abandoned Lock Master's House

 

While wandering around the Lock area taking some photographs I came across this small marker. I could not find any information about this grave/memorial at the Lock or on the Internet but it obviously marks the death of Henry Garry (1922-201). Maybe he was a lock master here.

Hugh Garry's Grave (1922 - 2001) "Home at Last"

Directly across from us, Bug's Tug was tied to the wall. Bug's Tug is a handmade 18' tug with a 35 hp outboard for propulsion. On this week long trip from Port Severn to Orillia and back, Bug was carrying the owner, three young boys (one of them "Bug") and their grandfather. (The kids slept in the tent). We also ran into the kayaker who was on his way to Georgian Bay the last time we were here on our way east. Another boat was owned by Frank and Deborah who are friends of Stephen and Randy - too many coincidences here. One good thing about meeting up with Bug was they told us about a Tug Festival to be held in Midland this coming weekend - only 9 miles from the end of the Canal. We registered and will arriving there Thursday.

Bug's Tug

Many of the lock masters have flower gardens and some also have vegetable gardens and share the produce from them. Swift Rapids has a good crop of tomatoes, chili peppers, and squash that may ripen before the first frost.

Will They Ripen Before the Frost??

Click on Aug 14 - 20 for next week's blog