A Waterfall in Trent Severn, Lock 15 ... Turns out this lock is just prior (like 500 feet) to Flight Locks 16 & 17. When the water gets dumped out of the locks with 48 feet lift, it overflows the front wall in a waterfall. I felt like I was on the "Maid of the Mist" when tying up at the front of this lock -- it was WET up there!
The Trent Severn Waterway, a waterway connecting Lake Ontario to Georgian Bay in upper Lake Huron, took over 87 years to build, is 240 miles long with 43 locks meandering along beautiful rivers and lakes.
Looking down!
Some of these locks are among the most unique in the world! Among the 37 conventional locks are 2 flight locks & 2 hydraulic lift locks – only 9 total in the world! Lift locks are like giant bathtubs counterbalancing each other with giant hydraulic pistons. And the final lock on the Trent Severn is the giant boat roller coaster, known as “The Big Chute”. A 3 story tall open carriage sling carries boats over land on railroad tracks and then refloats them at the end. I suspect these two locks will be the subject of a separate post soon!
Welcome to the Trent Severn Waterway! Ontario, Canada
Once again, the waterway is missing a lock — Lock 29. Very strange that every waterway we’ve transited so far is missing a lock… I think there’s a scheme to deliberately confuse us pleasure boaters! The story goes that originally Lock 28 at Burleigh Falls was a double lock using numbers 28 & 29. When it was converted to a single lock, the number 29 was eliminated.
Going in!
Part of the charm of the waterway is in all the little picturesque towns along the way…
Campbellford … butter tarts, a great bakery and chocolate factory!
We’re using the Trent Severn Waterway Kit charts, the Ports Trent-Severn Waterway Cruising Guide and our Aqua Maps & Navionics + electronic charts. So far, after 2 days on the waterway, our Navionics + charts and AquaMaps IPad app still have charts… AquaMaps has better detail … Navionics + has the “dotted line”. Using both together has worked in addition to the paper charts.
Relaxing after going through the Flight Locks at 11 & 12. We walked back from Campbellford to enjoy the suspension bridge and see the locks from land.
More? No time to write, but here are a few photos highlighting our first three days on the Waterway. We’ve finished Lock 18 … out of 44…. Much much more to come!
Trent Port Marina … the threshold for the Trent Severn Waterway, Ontario. What an amazing marina … every marina should take lessons.Lock 1 on the Trent Severn… many of these locks are “conventional” and manual.Manual locks – the college summer interns turning the turnstile to open the wooden lock doors.Going up! Check out the wooden doors!The Blue Line proceeds every lock – tie up to this line while waiting for the lock. Only problem is there can be alot of turbulance at this line when the lock is dumping water… we choose to stay outside and idle in place.After several locks with just two boats, all of a sudden it got crowded with 3 boats over 40 feet – we rafted with another boat for the last few locks.Rafting through ??? new experience for us! But it was actually easier than tieing to the wall… the guy we rafted to taught us how to do it.Looking over the back of the First Flight Lock… you can’t see the perspective … that river is 48 feet down there!What Presbyterian Church is CLOSED for a MONTH in July? Campbellford Ontario, that’s where!Poutine … it’s a Canadian thing… french fries covered in “gravy” and cheese curds topped with whatever the restaurant is serving … in my case the choices were smoked duck or brisket … clearly I did not opt for smoked duck. It was actually delicious – more like brisket and gravy over mashed potatoes once the french fries got soggy from the gravy. Gotta try the local dishes! And the wine is from Sandbanks Winery here in Ontario. The Pinot was superb! David had ShockTop & fish n chips, how boring was he???Did I mention the turnstiles and manual locks?Ranney Falls by the suspension bridge by Flight Locks 11 & 12.Ontario has COOL old vintage boats… this one is a 1959 with a 40 hp Johnson outboard … looks to be in mint condition!And then they rafted to us through Lock 15! Great chatting with them, they live by the waterway, have never been through a lock before and are headed toward “the lake” to take kids tubing before returning. Check out the fins on this boat!Lucky Lock 13…. lots of lockmasters have gardens, some flowers, some veggies & herbs. All cool!Pretty Scenery along the way.Back to making these poor college kids work for a living! Check out the turnstile she’s pushing – look under the lock door on her side, there’s a bar connecting that connects to the turnstile and opens that lock door — the other side requires another college student.Looking down over the flight lock – a flight lock is two locks connected – gates open and you immediately drive into the next lock. The purpose is to gain more altitude. Flight Locks 11 & 12 lifted us 48 feet… how many stories is that in a building?Interesting scenery through the cottage areas – here’s a good example. We also saw Santa & Mrs Clause on a pontoon boat in full costume, but they were too far away for a photo…
More next week. Tomorrow we go to Peterborough (in the rain) to learn more about the Peterborough Lift Lock — two giant bathtubs balancing each other with pistons for 1300 tons of bathtub going up or down … not counting the weight of the boats. It’ll be strange not to have anything beneath the water that’s beneath Optimystique!!!
Cheers until next week! Comments about this week? Please share below! Cheers! Jan
P.S. And YES, the Trent Severn Waterway is an experience not to be forgotten! 🙂
This looks like so much fun! After our experience being “semi-stuck” in south Florida last winter, and now being C.L.O.D.’s for who knows how long, I’m itching for just this sort of adventure. Hmm… Sionna without her masts is still a decent looking boat…
Have you abandoned your “Track my Tour” site? I enjoyed following you there, but I stopped updating ours because I just wasn’t keeping up.
It is an adventure. Not sure I’d do it in a sailboat except maybe by storing the mast. Haven’t seen any in Ontario but sailboaters with masts stored on deck in the Erie Canal reported it was a PITA. There are many options! But this afternoon we’re sitting in the pouring rain after spending all morning in the pouring rain and NE 25-30 winds that we’re forecast to be 6-8. And rainfall total was forecast to be one HUNDREDTH of an inch… I’ve got that much dripping off my soaked rain gear on the back porch!!!
Hi Keith! I haven’t been updating Track My Tour because I didn’t think anyone was watching. Should I start using it again? I did like it though, a day by day photo “diary” of sorts for me! 🙂 Cheers! Jan
The scenery will only get better…. Too bad you guys won’t be able to see the Kawartha Voyager go through the locks
This looks like so much fun! After our experience being “semi-stuck” in south Florida last winter, and now being C.L.O.D.’s for who knows how long, I’m itching for just this sort of adventure. Hmm… Sionna without her masts is still a decent looking boat…
Have you abandoned your “Track my Tour” site? I enjoyed following you there, but I stopped updating ours because I just wasn’t keeping up.
It is an adventure. Not sure I’d do it in a sailboat except maybe by storing the mast. Haven’t seen any in Ontario but sailboaters with masts stored on deck in the Erie Canal reported it was a PITA. There are many options! But this afternoon we’re sitting in the pouring rain after spending all morning in the pouring rain and NE 25-30 winds that we’re forecast to be 6-8. And rainfall total was forecast to be one HUNDREDTH of an inch… I’ve got that much dripping off my soaked rain gear on the back porch!!!
Definitely wouldn’t try it with masts on deck – we’d have to be a motor boat for the duration. And your “Track my tour”? Is that abandoned?
Hi Keith! I haven’t been updating Track My Tour because I didn’t think anyone was watching. Should I start using it again? I did like it though, a day by day photo “diary” of sorts for me! 🙂 Cheers! Jan