Orillia to the end of the Trent Waterway

Monday morning 7/10, we headed off to our next big adventure, traversing the Big Chute Marine Railway!  It was going to be a long ride and ended up being a day for exercising our patience.  The first obstacle.....the CNR railroad swing bridge.  It was closed and would not open until a train passed sometime "around 10:20".  

You can see all the boats waiting ahead and behind us!

The train finally passed and the swing bridge opened at 10:50. 

We made it to the Big Chute and tied up to the wall.  We wanted to stay there on the wall for the night so that we had time to explore this amazing lock and watch other boats going through it.  This lock is very unique in that it is the only one like it in North America.  The Big Chute Marine Railway actually carries boats in a cradle on train rails over land, crossing over a road and down about 60 feet to the water below. 

This is a fellow looper boat, Lightning headed into the cradle.

Lightning crossed the road and headed down the 60 foot drop to the water below!

I didn't get a picture of Lightning landing in the water because I took a video of this and I can't seem to figure out how to attach a video to this software, but I did get a picture of another boat being released in the water. 

Almost floating again!

Floating and moving out of the cradle. 

The next day was our turn on the Big Chute!  We moved over to the blue line, which indicates to the lock masters that we are ready to go over.  Once they moved the cradle down into the water ready for us to move into it, we turned the key and pushed the start button.....nothing!  The engine wouldn't start!  What the heck?!?

We called to the lock master and let them know that we were having trouble and that we needed to do some troubleshooting, and down into the engine room to figure out what the issue was.  Bill was down there for about 5 minutes and he figured out the fuel solenoid was the issue.  A couple of adjustments later, we were ready to go!

Here is the cradle headed down to pick us up....again. Lol!

Almost ready for us!

Cheers moving into the cradle.

Getting Cheers snug in the cradle.  She's actually on her bottom and the straps are there to keep her from tipping over. 

Heading up and over the road!

I took video of Cheers going down the other side, so I don't have any pictures of that it, but I did get a picture of her moving away from the cradle.  

  

From the Big Chute we headed to Port Severn Lock 45.  Here we stayed on the wall for the night and waited until I finished work the next morning to go through the last lock on the Trent-Severn Waterway!!

Looking back at our last lock for awhile!

Trent Canal to Orillia

We were up at 6 am Friday morning because we had a long way to go, not to mention that the Trent Canal is only 40 feet wide and 6 feet deep!  Cheers is 17 feet wide and takes 5 feet of depth!  You don't want to have to pass another boat coming from the other direction.  Before entering the canal, boaters are instructed to call out on the radio advising you are entering so that others are warned.  

The Kirkfield Lift Lock was our 1st of 6 locks today.  This lock is similar to the Peterborough Lift Lock, but only one of the tubs was in operation.  Here we are headed in!  

In the tub and headed down!

Leaving the lock.

After the lock, we continued to work our way through the Trent Canal.....could it get any tighter?

Headed through the "Hole in the Wall".

No too much later we made it to Lake Simcoe.  Back to open water!  Lake Simcoe is much like Lake Erie, big and shallow.  Luckily, there was only 2 to 3 foot chop....but we did pick up more weeds and had to stop and blow them out.  Nothing major.

About 6 pm we made to to Orillia.  

We stayed 3 nights in Orillia.  The marina was beautiful, right inside town, which also had a wonderful park.  We used these 3 days to explore the area, get provisions, do laundry and get the boat ready for the 2nd half of the Trent Canal.  

Roxie waiting for me to come back to the boat.  Who knows how long she had been standing there!  Lol!  She doesn't look happy!

Canada is currently under a open file ban.  Which makes sense!  Although we had planned on using charcoal for grilling, we needed an alternate plan.  We needed to get a gas grill for using in Georgian Bay and the North Channel.  So....the closest place to get a grill was at Canadian Tire, which is much like Menards.  They have everything!  The store was 2 miles away...mostly uphill.  We rode our bikes and found the smallest grill we could find.  It was butane, heavy duty and came in a carry case!  Now how do we get it back?  Well, leave it to Bill to strap anything to his bike!  We got the grill back to the boat without incident.  Thank god most of the ride back was downhill!

During our stay in Orillia the area was celebrating their annual Kawartha Music Festival.  This was not a free event unfortunately and the tickets were sold out.   We rode our bikes over to check it out anyway.  It was like a mini Woodstock!  There were fields and woods with tents set up in the mud all over the place!  There was even a section of nothing but VW Vans!  We didn't think there were that many of them left! 

  

 

Bobcaygeon to the Trent Canal

Tuesday morning 7/4 we continued to make our way to out next destination Fenelon Falls Lock 34. 

The route took us past some very nice places and some very eclectic places.  So fun to see Canada's vacation land!

 

The Fenelon Falls lock has a 24 foot lift!

Wave Runners coming through the lock. 

Fenelon Falls is a very popular tourist destination and the lock is centered right in the middle of town.  It is also a popular lock to stay for boaters being that it is in town, has close access to provisions and electric!  When we got through the lock we found that all the electric spaces had been taken!  Shoot!  We were hoping for a spot with electric because it was 87 degrees!   We tied up to the opposite wall, which luckily was covered in shade and there was a nice breeze. 

 

The next morning, we were happy to see a spot open with electric and we wasted no time moving over.  We provisioned and spent the rest of they day watching boats going through the lock.  We closed out the day with dinner at the Locker which had great views of the falls!  

We departed Fenelon Falls in the late morning headed across Cameron and Balsam Lakes to the head of the Trent Canal.  

Leaving Fenelon Falls we passed an old railroad bridge that kids had been jumping from the prior day. 

Beyond the train bridge, someone had built "Stone men" called Inuksuks.  North Canadians build these rock monuments for hunting and navigational purposes. Pretty cool!  

As we made our way to the Trent Canal the weather forecast was showing that a pretty good storm was headed our way.  We decided to tie up to the wall just at the head of the Trent Canal and prepared the boat for the "hurricane of the Trent".  

Yep folks, we had all 10 fenders out! Lol!

Here it comes!

Turned out the storm wasn't as bad as expected.  Thank goodness!  We had a quiet night in the middle of nowhere and would be getting up early to start our trek through the Trent Canal!

 

    

Peterborough to Bobcaygeon

Sunday morning we left Peterborough headed to the Peterborough Lift Lock.  

Moving into the left basin after the boat in front of us was tied.  

Still moving into place.

Roxie supervising. 

The left tub slowly moved up like we were in an elevator, while the right tub slowly moved down.  

Here we are at the top looking back to where we started below!

More views from the top.

Here we at the top, moving out of the basin. 

 

Looking back into the tub as we were leaving. 

Now headed to the Lakefield (Lock 26).  The plan was to stay above lock 26 however it was full so we made our way to Lakefield Marina....which was good because it was about time for a pumpout!   We had dinner in town and to bed early.  

Monday morning we left Lakefield Marina headed the Bobcaygeon Lock 32.  Had a little cloudy start, but the sun came out and it is 83 degrees!   This area is so pretty!  Lots of small islands and cottages.  Very much a vacation destination. 

This is St. Peter's on-the-Rock church, located on an island.  The first service here was in 1914 and the only way to get to it is by boat.  Services are held here during the summer months.  

As we were making our way across Pigeon Lake with a pretty good storm headed our way, an alarm started going off letting us know the engine was getting overheated.  Bill investigated and found that we had picked up some weeds in our strainer and he was able to clear most of them out with a good back flushing.   We made it to Bobcaygeon with normal engine temperature and the storm passed us by without a drop of rain.   

Once in Bobcaygeon, we found that the lock walls were full both below and above the lock.  We found a slip available in Gordon Yacht Harbor.

Tuesday morning, July 4th we went through Lock 32 and tied up so that I could take advantage of the shopping Bobcaygeon had to offer, including the very popular Bigley Shoes and Clothing store.  There are actually several Bigley stores in town.  I managed to find my very first pair of Birkenstocks!