Passing through Campbellford, ON
We continued into the Trent-Severn today and are now tied on the wall above locks 16/17. There are 44 locks in the entire system. Although they are not evenly spaced, that still gives an idea of how far we’ve come. These last two locks are part of the same “flight lock” system where the gate in between the two locks is shared. These two are just a hundred yards from lock 15, so we went upward quite a lot (76’) in a hurry.
Outside our first flight lock, 11/12 at Ranney Falls. Note turbulence in front from water dumping from near lock.
In lock 11. The middle gate of a flight lock is very tall. You can see my deckhand below. She works hard.
We stopped here at about 3 PM. No shore power and it’s hot, so we’re running the genset so the AC can run. We like the wilderness, but not too much wilderness.
There has been much less rain for us in Canada than on the Erie. Every lawn we saw along the Erie was completely green, and they have way too much grass for me to believe anyone has sprinkler systems. It’s pretty green here in Canada also, but I do see just a bit of brown at times, although nothing like in California or North Idaho. The weather has been good overall. A bit of wind comes up after noon, but it’s warm enough so that is not a problem.
A number of locks have low swing road bridges operated by the lock master. Lock gates open, then the bridge.
That bit of wind was off the wall when we tied up today, so I maneuvered up to the wall while Sue threw a loop of line over the post on the wall and secured it back on the boat so I could leave the controls and help her. I made several trips up and down while we learned a lot. We finally got things good enough that I could jump onto the wall without worrying that Sue and the boat would take off without me. Once there I secured some other lines she threw to me and we were fine.
Wind can really push our boat hard. Human strength alone is not nearly enough to pull it in with even a light wind against you. Once we had a couple if lines out I could pull it in with techniques other boaters had taught us.
It’s nice being out alone about 500 feet up from the upper gate. There is one house by that gate with no one home. Nothing else so it’s very quiet here. According to our map Healy falls is nearby, but is very small with maybe maybe three streets. Can’t see it from here. We had a nice dinner on the sundeck in back and will turn in early.
Jack & Sue 