Trent-Severn Canal to Fenelon Falls 7-21-10

We had a peaceful night at anchor and awoke to the call of loons. The rode and anchor were surprisingly easy to hose down and we left for the second locking through at Bobcaygeon. It was sprinkling so I did not have my camera on deck to photograph the exquisite canal front properties competing with each other for your attention with multilevel decks with coordinated flower and furniture motifs.

You will be in many photos if you lock through Bobcaygeon from 9:30 am on as boat gawking is a medal sport here. When we were here last in 2005, the crowd was 5 deep with lawn chairs and cameras and we wondered who they were waiting for, realized it was any boater locking through so I immediately developed performance anxiety, and dropped my line in the water.

We just met a boater who did $1,200. in propeller damage hitting a rock between green buoys #363 and 365 at Bobcaygeon so we asked the lockmaster if the greens were off-station. It is clearly marked on Chart 2025, Sheet 1 and buoys have not been moved. The boater may have been affected by wind and some current through here so stay in the middle of the channel.

We had a fairly easy day today doing only 20 miles and 1 lock as we stopped on the mooring wall before Fenelon Falls by 12 noon as there was space here. If you start hunting for mooring wall space any time after 1- 2pm, you might not find it in this busy area of the canal. We only had 10mph wind, but it kicked up later in the afternoon to 25mph + creating a real challenge for locking and docking.

Bob and I are voting for Fenelon Falls for best lock garden. Here’s a picture of the dam at Fenelon Falls complete with fishermen of all ages trying to catch huge bass and walleye. We’ve seen this all along the canal, and at Hastings, I thought that I had overslept when I heard a crowd outside our boat, but it was 20 fishermen heading to their favorite places on the canal at 5am. I love seafood and one of these days I am going to learn to catch my own dinner.

Trent-Severn Canal to Bobcaygeon 7-20-10

As of our 35 mile trip today through Buckhorn and Pigeon Lakes, we are half way through the length of Trent-Severn and have completed three-quarters of the locks. I’m sure many of you are wondering why I have not included more scenery pictures. The grassy marshlands and flooded rivers lack definition and appear flat and lumpy with my camera. That changed briefly today as we began to see more rocky pine islands of the Canadian Shield and they give a hint of what lies ahead in Lake Huron. If you want rocks, Hell’s Gate is your place as we zigzagged through here at first light.

We did 3 locks today, each with a very different ambience. Our mooring wall at Young’s Point last night got really crowded with huge rental houseboats being wedged in everywhere. This morning we passed through the Burleigh Falls Lock and that mooring wall is smaller and more isolated and would probably have been a better fit for us. Here’s a picture of Lock 30, Lovesick, named for a jilted lover who took refuge here. This is not a problem for the Canadian geese that come here to mate and party but the park staff do great clean-up duty. It is an island lock with a bridge to another island with a walking trail to explore and would be a good stop.

Lock 31 is Buckhorn and is right in the busy tourist area with ragtime music playing, a Farmers’ Market and boats going every which way. We were hoping that the houseboats bearing down on us in this picture would slow down but then there were speedboats trying to overtake them coming up to this narrow channel. We were longing for some solitude and found an anchorage just before the hectic Bobcaygeon lock area in Pigeon Lake off Big Island in the Back Channel. The holding ground is grass and mud so you know the washdown pump will get a workout tomorrow morning but tonight we will float freely.

Trent-Severn Canal to Young’s Point 7-19-10

Some days we do 5-6 locks and relatively little mileage like 14 miles to Hastings on 7-17; other days we do 40 miles and only a few locks to get to the outskirts of Peterborough on 7-18. You can’t really do both easily. The big story this week is weather—thunderstorms and heavy rains that are swelling the dams and rivers, overflowing the banks and creating 2-3 mph current against us as we head towards Georgian Bay. Imagine my surprise when there was a tornado spotted in Hastings as I was reading Wicked, the real story of the Wicked Witch of the West from Oz.

The waterway locks raise boats 600 feet from Trenton on Lake Ontario and then lowers them 263 feet to meet Georgian Bay on Lake Huron. Most of the locks so far have been hand-cranked simple locks with a 7-26 feet lift, a few double hydraulic lifts of 48-54 feet but on 7-19, we floated in a huge pan of water lifted 65 feet in the air like a ferris wheel in the Peterborough Lift Lock. This is all accomplished with the addition of a 1 foot of water on one side—amazing 19th century technology.

We continued in lock mode through 7 more locks on 7-19 and traveled with Loopers, Blue Max, Tadpole and Takitez. We had a rhythm going with the four boats entering the locks in an orderly procession, tying off lines, fending off as needed and then relaxing and visiting. We all dispersed to different lock walls for the night as there is simply no room for 4 boats traveling together on mooring walls filled with vacation boaters.

What do we do at the end of the day? Here’s a picture of Joe and Joyce on Takitez giving their dog, Rosie, a bath. We opted for special dinner out at the Old Bridge Inn at Lock 27 and the meal was fantastic. Lockside Trading Company is also located here and is a great place to browse.

Trent-Severn Canal to Campbellford 7-15-10

We did another 6 locks today and the only “biting” point was killing flies on the aptly named “flybridge” as we cruised through the lower marshlands. Our destination was the town of Campbellford where we tied up on the Old Mill Park west mooring wall that has power and showers for a reasonable price. The Chamber of Commerce manages this and their tourist information staff even helped us get haircut appointments on a busy Friday.

You can do a self-guided walking tour of historic homes and churches. We made a beeline for Canadian Tire—funny name but it’s like Home Depot. There is good Wi-Fi at the wall and also at the library. If you’re here on a Thursday evening, there is a yoga class at the Community Centre; Wednesday and Saturday evenings, there are free concerts in the park and there is even a one screen movie theatre. I enjoyed a workout in the community pool ($3.00) and I cashed in this caloric burn with a tasting visit to the World’s Finest Chocolate Factory store. Locals and other boaters recommend the restaurant, Capers, and if you have to reprovision, there are 2 grocery stores, a Farmer’s Market on Saturday morning and a clean laundromat. This is not a low cal stop as you have to buy a little something at Dooher’s Bakery.

The highlight of this stop was meeting other Loopers. We have not seen any in quite awhile so it was great to spend the evening with new Loopers, Luc and Jocelyne aboard Blue Max iv; mid-Loopers Richard and Tiki aboard Tadpole and almost gold Loopers, Joe and Joyce on Takitez.

Later in the evening, Marilsnick II, a Grand Banks 36 with Washington state registrations numbers, docked. Johann and his crew are also doing the Loop and he had his boat trucked to Mobile AL by a Marysville WA company with a lowboy truck so the flybridge did not need to be removed.

I asked him why he wasn’t flying an AGLCA burgee and he told me the story of how “a lion ate it.” He was maneuvering around the construction by the Lion’s Gate Bridge in St. Augustine FL when the current slammed his boat ferociously into a bridge piling which severed the burgee mast, took a chunk out of his swim platform and demolished his davits. Next morning, I found our now retired white AGLCA burgee and presented it to Johann. We may have to visit it in the Pacific Northwest. Shall we ship Baby Grand out there to do the Inside Passage or do it by RV and ferry? Always looking to the next adventure……

Starting the Trent-Severn Canal 7-14-10

The Trent-Severn Canal glides across central Canada’s rivers, bays, marshlands and lakes and then fills in the connecting pieces with the canal to link Lake Ontario and Lake Huron. It was built over an 87 year period as a commercial waterway, follows the route of many of the voyageurs and has locks ranging from simple limestone to the sublime lift locks at Peterborough and Kirkfield as well as ending in a flourish at the Big Chute. Come along on the ride.

We started the Trent-Severn Canal on Wednesday, July 14th after picking up a load of diesel ($1.10 Canadian per liter) and having a great night at Fraser Park Marina. Craig, the dock master, is outstanding and even gave us two great food tips: Tomasso’s for dinner and “You have to try Tim Horton’s (like Dunkin’ Donuts but better)—it’s the Canadian way.” I can’t believe that we’ve been in Canada for 6 weeks, toured lots of museums but overlooked this national treasure. We’ve only wimped out on one food tip so far—potine in Quebec Province. It’s made from fried potatoes with cheese curds and gravy poured over the top and guaranteed to stop your heart.

In our 2005 trip, we did the first 17 locks in 1 day; now, we’re taking 4 days. Locks are hand-cranked by a senior lockkeeper and fresh-faced summer hires who are all Canadian good will ambassadors. Each lock has a cottage with a well-tended garden. This year they are distributing lock cards with depictions of flora and fauna along the canal. This lock we got a rattlesnake card but Bob now has snake experience on his Captain’s resume from the 1,000 Islands so not to worry.

We stopped for the day along the mooring wall below Lock 7. Most boaters stay at Lock 6 for power, but this lock has peace and quiet, and with a willow tree for shade, a beautiful garden, and a picnic table, it was a perfect place to while away a hot summer afternoon. It brought back memories of long carefree summer days. Visits by locals, a short walk to Richard and Donna’s General Store for ice cream and the neon dots of lightning bugs at night made this a very memorable stay.

The Blog That Never Was 7-13-10

In 2005, we bought our Looper boat, Baby Grand, in the Chesapeake and took her 1,500 miles to Lake Superior in 23 days using only a hand-held GPS and paper charts. For the past 2 days, we have been traveling to the Trent-Severn Canal and using the same charts with our old penciled course lines visible. We return here with more knowledge and technology, and if we were really nostalgic, we could have done a one day 110 mile slog at 8mph like we did in 2005 from Oswego to Trenton.

You won’t see any blog entries from that trip. We only had time to send cryptic emails to family and friends periodically to let them know that we were ok. What a trip it was…much harder than the rest of the Great Loop… fraught with challenges and excitement….

We picked up a bad load of diesel in Rosedale on the Trent-Severn Canal, our engine started shutting down in Lake Huron and we had to change fuel filters every day often in 2-3 foot seas. We weren’t sure if the engine would totally shut down so always looked for a place to do an emergency anchorage hopefully not on rocks. Our toilet broke back on the Hudson River but we were able to do a unique porta potty set-up. Our autopilot broke probably protesting the grueling 12 hour days.

Our steering mechanism hub between the flybridge and cabin steering slipped so we lost the ability to turn left just before entering a narrow rocky channel followed by building gale force winds on Lake Superior. It was even scarier as I thought Bob had also fallen overboard as their was no motion from the flybridge wheel while I tried to steer below. Luckily the waves pushed us more to the left side as we entered Ontonogon, but there in the middle of the channel, was a dredge boat which we cleared by not breathing for a few minutes. We kissed the ground when we landed and stayed put for 3 days until the gale exhausted and called our employers with a very unique excuse.

They say what doesn’t kill you, makes you strong and this is true in our case. We couldn’t believe what we had been through and what we had handled together. We developed a can-do attitude and got hooked on adventure but please not so much.

Last time we did the Trent-Severn Canal of 240 miles and 44 locks in 4 days in t-storms; this time we will take 10-12 days. Life is pretty easy right now.

1,000 Islands in the St. Lawrence River 7-11-10

We were last here in 1968. Bob and I had been dating a year, lived in downstate New York and wanted a summer vacation adventure. Problem was that I was very Catholic back then, thought that a lightning bolt would surely strike me dead if I ran away with Bob, and the knowledge of it would definitely kill my Irish Catholic mother. I am happy to report that love triumphed over guilt and we headed north to the 1,000 Islands for a weekend rendezvous. I had never been camping before and brought a huge suitcase of coordinated outfits and a 20 lb. bouffant hairdryer! I can still see the wide-eyed look of amazement on Bob’s face as he was tried to figure out how to tell me to jettison the baggage without spoiling the romantic mood.

Most of the islands are now private but Parks Canada has established a 20 island park with camping, docks and some mooring buoys. The hard rocky bottom makes it difficult to anchor here so boaters are all competing for dock space and mooring balls. We entered the fray on Friday morning and finding a dock was like a quest for the Holy Grail. We found some docks being saved by jet skis and other docks completely full by 10am. We rounded the corner of Camelot Island, saw a sailboat leaving a mooring ball and quickly snagged it.

Camelot Island is a delightful spot with a hiking trail, coves for dinking around, a picnic shelter, compost toilet, regular docks and a dinghy dock. Morning is announced by songbirds and an owl heralds bedtime. Just jump in the fresh cool water and get refreshed on a hot day. We did not have to slay a dragon here but did have a snake onboard. My Lancelot deftly used a boat hook and threw it back in the water. Do we go back in the water now? I can report that when it’s hot and you do not have air conditioning, you will overcome your fear of snakes.

Bonus Kingston 7-9-10

I had not expected to do a blog entry about Kingston as initially we could only get 1 night in the Confederation Basin marina due to Buskers’ Festival. This forced us to do a whirlwind round of chores in 4 hours—wash the deck and fenders, pumpout at Kingston Yacht Club, fill water tank, do laundry and grocery shopping. We lucked out after all of these exhausting chores with the welcome news that there was a cancellation and we could stay 7/8.

With only 1 day to tour and hotter than hell temperatures, we opted for the air-conditioned Confederation Trolley tour. Kingston is located at the intersection of the St. Lawrence River, Rideau Canal and Lake Ontario which gave it strategic historic naval significance. Today it has a population of 115,000 2 colleges, parks and museums, K-Rock arena, stately brick and limestone homes, a Farmers’ Market behind City Hall and lots of restaurants (recommend Wooden Head) and coffee shops (Chocolate Café). It has the lowest crime rate in the area but has a strange industry—8 penitentiaries, used to have 10 and even has a Penitentiary Museum.

We took the hop-off/hop-on bus option so that we could tour Fort Henry and Bellevue House, home of Canada’s first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald. Our costumed guide in heavy wool tartan plaid gave us a tour of this venerable fort that never had to fire a shot. Bob is a big fan of C. S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower series and was dismayed to learn on this tour that officer commissions from ensign to colonel were purchased. Sir John A. is the George Washington of Canada as he united Canada from coast to coast in the 1860’s and he was a bit more colorful. You can take afternoon tea on the lawn but Sir John would consume something more spirited and once told one of his cabinet officers that he would have to sober up as the Macdonald government could not afford 2 drunks!

Here’s Bob on the free ferry over to Wolfe Island. It would be a great place to bring bikes but today it was just too hot. There is even a free tour of Kingston City Hall which is worth taking. Dinner on the patio at Wooden Head gave us a great chance to check out the buskers all one-upping each other in dare devil tricks. Our vote was for Fire Guy who did an outstanding comedy routine while skateboarding and playing with fire.

Riding the Rideau 7-7-10

On 7/2, we left Ottawa on the north end of the Rideau Canal to take the full ride south and do 49 locks to Kingston by 7/7. That’s more locks than the Trent-Severn Canal in 240 miles vs. 125 miles so we hustled. This waterway is where Canadians come to play on their boats and you will be doing locks with kayaks, pontoon boats, rental houseboats, Sea Scouts in canoes and cruisers of all shapes and sizes. "St. Paul, MN" on our dinghy bottom always gets some attention and we say that we've traveled 7,000 miles just to be here. Often we meet people who are planning an adventure but are still reticent so we like to encourage them to "go for it."

Everybody is happy here on the canal, eager to give tips on the best places to stay and this friendliness is in full display with the lockkeepers who always give a welcoming smile, help with lock lines, fend-off, and even find a spot for you on a crowded mooring wall.

There are easier ways to get back to the Great Lakes but we love the canal route. Each is a piece of history forged by men against incredible odds (1,000 lost their lives building this canal) and the Rideau museum at Merrickville commemorates their efforts. It’s a chance to see small town Canada, go at a leisurely pace and enjoy the scenery. This canal is a microcosm of other parts of the Loop—the marshlands of Georgia, the narrow tree-hung sections like the Dismal Swamp of Virginia, fresh water lakes that open up and then narrow to cuts of small islands and rock like Georgian Bay and some skinny water of 5 feet 2 inches in the well-marked channels and sometimes in the down locks.

We did not have an itinerary for these 6 days and chose destinations based on boater recommendations, weather of 90 degrees with equal humidity, and space availability by 2pm. Without planning, we did a pretty representative sample by anchoring in beautiful Morton’s Bay (grass and mud with good holding but you will pull up a clump), staying on the mooring walls with power at the towns of Merrickville (plenty of shops and restaurants) and Smiths Falls (nice park), and the quieter mooring walls at Burritts and Newboro (check out Kilborn’s).

There are so many places to see and explore and we've met boaters that have been cruising here for 20 years and have not seen it all yet. Maybe we will re-do the Rideau again in the future. We are now in Kingston and will tour this town, reprovision and head out to explore the 1,000 Island area for a few days.

Happy Birthday Canada 7-1-10

We have toured plenty of beautiful cities all over the Great Circle Loop but our favorite, by far, is visiting Quebec, Montreal and now Ottawa during the June 15th to July 1st time period. Ottawa for Canada Day is the icing on the cake.

This town really knows how to throw a birthday bash starting with carillon bells at 9am and going none stop to 10pm fireworks and beyond. All the museums and arts centers are free and jam packed with activities; 6 city parks also host multiple events with hundreds of dance and musical groups to celebrate the history and diversity of Canada captured in the Guess Who song refrain, “shake your hand…..share the land….”

Parliament Hill is the scene for the Changing of the Guard, the Royal Mountie Ride, 2 free extravaganza shows broadcast on national TV as well as the royal reception for the Queen. Here she is looking resplendent in a Canadian red ensemble accented with a diamond studded maple leaf broach. My outfit was an orange red REI shirt, 2 Canadian stick flags weaved through my hair, a free pin and a Molson beer. I’m guessing that I had way more fun.