Freedom's Turn Travelogue: Canada Part 2: Trent-Severn Waterway

Greetings from Orillia, Ontario! Today is Thursday, July 2 and Freedom's Turn is in her third day of four at Port of Orillia Marina. Her Looper boat buddy Adagio with Dave and Pam is right next door.

Yesterday was Canada Day and we all joined in to watch and participate in the many activities offered in the park and in the town right next to our marina. Included in the festivities were historic enactments, dog shows, live music of all kinds, a lovely community parade, lots of food and crafts, new citizenship ceremonies, and a wonderful display of fireworks that we watched on the bow of Adagio while enjoying Pam's chocolate layer cookies and ice cream. Charlie smoked a cigar on our upper cockpit with two Canadians which also included lively discussions about lots of things in general. Everywhere we looked we saw people and boats decorated fully in Canada's colors; red and white. The rain held off until today.

At the moment it is pouring rain as I sit in the marina's office plugged into their internet connection. They advertised that they have internet but the signal is too weak at our boat. Charlie and I have found this to be the norm at many places in Canada and although it is frustrating, it is part of the journey, we guess. Not having the Canada Day pictures ready yet, we'll just send this blog along today while I have this opportunity.

Here is our updated map as it is today. Only a small part to go, as indicated in black, about 400 miles left. We still need to finish the Trent-Severn, then to the Georgina Bay and the North Channel and then to our home port of Duncan Bay in Cheboygan.

Our last blog ended at Kingston. The Trent-Severn Waterway canal is made up of rivers, canals, and lakes. It begins in Trenton and ends in Port Severn on the Georgian Bay; providing a way to connect us from Lake Ontario to Lake Huron. We continue on here to the Trent-Severn Waterway where the red line ends and the yellow line begins. The green line indicates the remaining part of the Trent-Severn we will travel tomorrow and Saturday when we get out into the Georgian Bay of Lake Huron.

We stayed one night at Frazier park Marina in Trenton then woke up all ready to go on our waterway adventure that would last an anticipated 10-14 days. Our friends Pam and Dave from the boat Adagio are traveling with us and took this picture.

The Trent-Severn Waterway is operated by the Canada Parks System. Most of the locks offer a nice wall both above and below each lock to tie up at a reasonable price of .90 a foot for an overnight stay if we choose to do so. There are passes that make it cheaper one can buy if planning on spending several nights on the lock walls. For us, it is better to purchase each night as we go along.

There is no water or electricity at most of these locations but there are clean washrooms and we can leave our garbage there. The grounds are always neatly manicured and offer lots of shady trees and trails to explore. We can read about the local history on display boards and eat on their picnic tables. Besides marinas along the way, staying at the lock walls are pleasant and unique. We have stayed five nights on lock walls and five nights at marinas so far.

Here we go!

Here is a look at a typical lock from the lockmaster's point of view! Charlie took this shot while taking a walk on day after we were tied up.

There are 44 locks numbered 1 through 45 with lock 29 no longer being used. Lock 33 is off the beaten path and one lock, the Big Chute, which we still have to go through, is not a lock but a railroad car! So there are is really a total 42 locks plus the railroad car. At our present location here in Orillia, Freedom's Turn has three locks and the railroad car left to go to complete the Trent-Severn.

Here we are approaching a lock. We cannot talk to the lockmasters ahead like we could on the Erie Canal to tell them we were coming. We rely on the lockmaster from the previous lock to call ahead. To prepare, we have our inflatable lifejackets on as well as our special gloves to handle the cables we loop our lock lines around, our lines ready to loop, our boat hooks out in case we have to grab a line with them or push the boat away from the wall. Things happen quickly once we are inside.

At Trenton, the elevation was 243 feet above sea level and the first 35 locks are lift locks. Near lock 36 at Lake Balsom, we were at an elevation of 840 feet which is the highest elevation in the world for navigating a boat on water that has access to an ocean!

By the time we reach Port Severn, the locks go down and elevation will have dropped to 576 feet above sea level.

Here we are with Adagio at Lock 8 for our first night on the waterway. We have enjoyed being with them; sharing meals, Playing Euchre (the women are winning big time) and offering each other tips to help us with navigation.

The lockmaster locks the gates to the roads when he leaves for the day so we are in a private and quiet setting.

Staying at the locks have been peaceful; we have woken up to mornings of mirror-like waters and lush greenery to look at as we take an early walk. The nights have been quiet and offer panoramic skies to absorb. No TV or internet for us so we play cards, nap, and look forward to grilling something for dinner and going to bed early with a book to read. We can turn on our generator if we want for electricity or heat or cooling but we try to limit ourselves because we like the quietness and it is a courtesy to others.

While on these lock walls, we relax our minds and bodies and open our senses to hearing the birds in the morning and the crickets at night. While traveling, we smell the sweet smells of farm lands and all things growing. The water is clean and clear and we see many places where the locals swim and boat and fish. So many places we can see that people traveling in cars simply cannot see.

Our sunset view at lock 8.

The marinas we choose are close to town. There are no big commercial districts in the towns. Many of these communities along the waterway are designated "Communities in Bloom" which means they participate with an non-profit Canadian organization that enables cities to part take in projects to foster environmental responsibility, develop civic pride and beautification projects and community participation. We find places like the World's Greatest Chocolate Factory, farmer's markets, the birthplace of the two dollar coin, the Tooney and wonderful ice cream stores. There is laundry to do, groceries to purchase, restaurants to check out, and ATMs to find to get more Canadian money. We ride our bikes sometimes into town. We find our way, feeling like the explorers I guess we are!

The towns were originally formed because of the waterway so they along with their residents form an intricate part of the waterway. For entertainment, the locals come out to the locks to watch the boats come and go so I guess we could call ourselves an intricate part as well; temporarily, that is!

We stayed in Campbellford, Ontario at a marina for one night. This town is where the "Tooney" was invented. It is Canada's $2 coin. Charlie is in the background.

Here we are in Peterborough where Linda poses in front of a furniture store.

We work hard maneuvering the boat through the locks and if it is a warm day, we get pretty hot and sweaty but are proud of our system on the boat that we think works well. At one lock, they ask Linda if she would like to try opening the lock! Locks are manually opened for the first 35 locks as boats reach higher elevations on the waterway and hydraulically from locks 36 on down to Port Severn, for the most part. the exception is at lock 22, the Peterborough Lock. We'll include some photos of this lock as well as two other unusual locks in the next blog.

The lock masters and their staff have been most helpful. Here is one who was kind enough to pose. He has the offical lock master hat on; one that another boater friend of ours though was cool and wanted one so much.

Two beautiful views of lock 12 that Charlie took photos of while we were at Campbellford.

Here we are waiting to go through lock 21. There is a small cruise ship going through ahead of us.

When we approach, we look for the light to see if it is red or green. Here it is red and we are told it won't be long so we drift for a bit. Approaching the lock from either direction, there is a blue line painted on the lock wall designating the place to tie up if there is a wait. That way the lock master knows we are wanting to go through. You can see the blue line that Adagio is tied up to. Dave let them know we are waiting too.

The following photos are of scenes along the way....

Peterborough Art Museum. The art here is done by an Ojibwa woman artist and is named "Grandma is visiting

Here is an areas known as Hell's Gate. It is tricky going through and we stay well within the red and green buoys.

Pretty little cottages dot the shorelines of the lakes. We have also seen many little fishing boats so we think these waters are a fisherman's paradise and maybe they stay in these little cottages.

St. Peter's -Anglican Church-on-the-Rocks built on an island in 1914. The church is only opened in July and August and is only accessible by boat!

A pretty 'American Tug' boat complete with an unusual red colored dinghy. Owned by a Canadian!

Coming into Bobcaygeon. The couple here are Ron and Barb, people we met while in Kingston. Linda called them ahead to arrange for them to watch us as we go by their home while passing through here. What fun to be waved at! Barb is talking to me on the phone here! We met later met them in town for a lovely dinner and a trip to the Kawartha Dairy where their ice cream is out of this world!