Day 460
6,151 miles
We left the Peterborough Marina on Wednesday morning in time to be at Lock 20, less than a mile away, when it opened at 9. (All the locks on the Trent open at 9am and close at 6pm. ) We weren't the only ones with that idea and had to wait about an hour to lock through.
A short distance brought us to the Peterborough Lift Lock. This lock is totally different from the other ones we have been in. When the lock opened in 1904, it was considered an engineering marvel. It still is today. It is the world's highest hydraulic lift lock. We "floated" up 65 ft.
I took these two pictures on Tuesday when I walked to look at the Peterborough Lock
This was taken while True North was entering the left pan
Mike on the bow. This is one lock he could sit down because the pan moves, not the boat. We still had to hold on to lines for when they let in the foot of water.
We went 25 miles and through 9 locks on Wednesday and had our first experience staying on a lock wall when we came out of Lock 28 - Burleigh Falls. It was the 4th of July and we wanted to celebrate with a barbecue. We did have several people wish us a "Happy July 4" while watching us in the locks. Those people were obviously Canadian, to have said it that way. One boy in a canoe (yes, we get that close to be able to hear each other) saw our American flag and said, "Happy 4th of July! I'm American, too!"
Any boater can stay on the lock wall. It might be cheaper than a campground. This boat was across from us. They even had a campfire at night!
It was another very hot day so I took off on a hike to swim at the Burleigh Falls. On my way there, I bought a scoop of Kawartha ice cream (the premier ice cream of Canada) and a butter tart. This is becoming a familiar pattern with me! The guys aren't keeping up their end of the butter tart bargin, so I just bought one to share.
Burleigh Falls
Burleigh Falls butter tart. Our least favorite so far.
Gotta have strawberry shortcake on the 4th, no matter where we are!
Getting to Burleigh Falls, we went through Clear Lake and Stony Lake
As we get closer to the Georgian Bay, the water is becoming less brown and more blue.
We told Greg that other than not having a Boldt Castle, Stony Lake was very similar to the
1000 Island region on the St. Lawrence River. It was really beautiful.
St. Peter's Church on the Rock in Stony Lake
You can only reach it by boat. There are docks to tie up to.
We went through the cute towns of Buckhorn, Bobcaygeon (bob-cajun) and Fenelon Falls. At Buckhorn, one restaurant was so close to the waterway I think the people dining on the patio could have passed us a french fry! While in the lock, fellow Looper Herb Seaton came walking down the lock wall when he saw our Looper burgee. I first met Herb when he was on his first Loop and stopped in Ludington last summer.
There are many lakes in the waterway, so there are lots of other boaters, and houseboat rentals seem to be a big business. While entering a lock, one was tied up off to the side. The people said, "You have a beautiful boat." I said, "Thank you, but I wish I had a slide off the top like your boat!"
Canadians have the market cornered on Adirondack chairs. Every house or cottage with a dock had them.
Eagle in its nest
We've also seen several loons but haven't been able to get a good picture of one.
Wednesday and Thursday were both good days as we are enjoying this section of the Trent. Thursday was 45 miles and only 5 locks. We liked the last lock - number 35, Rosedale - so much that we did it twice. With a storm approaching, we decided to go through Lock 35 and tie up on the other side for the night. Balsam Lake was next and we didn't want to get caught in the middle of it when the storm hit. We got into the Rosedale lock only to have the lock worker say the wall on the other side was full. It was 4 and too early for him to allow us to tie up to the blue line (the only space left). You can only tie up overnight on the blue line after the locks have closed for the day. We wanted to be on the top side so we could take off before 9 the next morning. He said to go out, turn around, come back into the lock, drop the 4 ft and tie up on that wall. So we did that, and the plan was to go back into the lock about 5:30, lock up and then tie up for the night on the blue line. (that probably all sounds quite confusing!) The rain started shortly after we got tied up below the lock and the thunder and lightning followed. We never got back through the lock, so had to wait until 9 the next morning to continue.
An interesting thing about Lock 35 - it was the last time we will go up in a lock for the rest of the Trent-Severn. Balsam Lake is the highest point on the Trent - 840 feet above sea level. It is also the highest point in the world that a boat can reach from the ocean under its own power. Something we just did! When we entered Balsam Lake on Friday morning, it meant that we had gone up 598 feet since entering Canada at Trenton. We will drop 260 ft in the next 10 locks. In a perfect Looping world, all the locks would go down - they are much easier!
The storms cleared away the heat and Friday was very comfortable in the low 70's.
We left Balsam Lake and entered one of the trickiest parts of the Trent-Severn. This canal was cut through the Canadian Shield, a geological feature that covers half the country. It is shallow and narrow. We had to broadcast a call on the radio before entering because there is no room for two boats to pass each other.
"Security . . .Security . . .Security. This is True North, a 53ft. boat entering the canal from Balsam Lake. Please advise if any vessel in the canal."
We also called the Kirkfield Lock to see if they had locked through any boats headed our way.
This was the only size boat we wanted to see!
We could see the rocks just feet from the boat.
Another narrow canal and we had to repeat the radio call before entering.
It can only be compared to driving in a snowstorm in the winter when your hands are gripping the steering wheel and your whole body is tight from the intense focus.
In the pan at the top of the Kirkfield Lock
The picture doesn't really convey the spooky feeling of looking down from the top.
Leaving the lock
This is how important it is to stay in the marked channels. Weeds in Canal Lake. The wind was quite strong and it can easily blow a boat off course if not diligent.
Before running on the open lake, I sewed up some loose canvas on the isinglass before the wind whipped it completely off.
Some of the boats tied to the lock wall for the night because they didn't want to attempt to cross Lake Simcoe.
We arrived at Port of Orillia Marina about 4:00. We are here for 2 nights. There is a farmers market on Saturday, a grocery store in walking distance, and in my quest to find the best butter tart in Ontario, I've already scoped out a bakery to visit on Saturday!
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