Trent-Severn Day 1-3

The Trent-Severn Waterway, 240 miles long, is a series of lakes and rivers joined together by canals and locks (44 of 'em) to connect Lake Ontario with Lake Huron. The first lock was built in 1833, but real momentum for lock building occured in 1907 when the government partnered with hydroelectric power companies to build locks and dams. Many of the locks still have a power plant next to them. In 1920, after almost 90 years of construction the waterway was finally completed. Today, the Trent-Severn Waterway is a national Canadian treasure and is heavily promoted for tourism, both by boat and by land. The locks are even smaller than those of the Erie Canal. Here is our entrance to Lock 1, just above Trenton on Lake Ontario ...

... and here are Shingebiss, Eschaton, and Felix at the top. All under 40' and we were close together and filled the entire wall. We got off the boats and went in to purchase our "lockage and dockage" stickers. We bought a one-way lockage pass ($158) and a season dockage pass ($333). The prices are determined with a 'per foot' charge, just like a marina slip fee.

Many of the gates are hand operated. Here's the lockmaster at Lock 1, turning the crank to open the top gate.

The Waterway is well marked, but the buoys are small. At the bottom of some of the dams, the current gets strong.

The dockage pass allows you to tie up to the lock walls below or above the locks. No electric, but there are restrooms and picnic tables. Many of them are very rural, nicely landscaped, and peaceful.

Some of the locks have a narrow car bridge above them which must be opened by the same person who's cranking the gate open. The lock tenders are all very friendly and helpful. At each lock you tell them how far you plan to travel each day and they call the next lock so that they have the doors open and waiting when you arrive. The speed limit is 10 km/hour, which is about 6 mph.

The first 36 miles has 17 locks, so it took us two six hour days to make this 36 miles. Our first nights stop was here at Lock 9 where we met Trudy and Gord, local boaters, aboard Second Thought. We shared a taco dinner and enjoyed the cool, crisp northern air.

We have passed through two sets of "flight locks". Here we are approaching the very tall gate. This gate does double duty as the top gate for the first lock, where we raise as far as the lower wall ...

... and when they open, you are already in the second chamber, where this gate is now the lower gate. Pretty cool.

In Campbellford, we pulled over to walk over this suspensiom bridge that leads to a walking trail/park on the other side.

Here's the view from the middle of it.

Here's a great view from the top of one of the flight locks, where we stayed our second night. We are again amazed that visitors can walk around the lock chambers and over the gates, even when the lock is closed for the night.

The shores of the canal are heavily wooded, lots of pines and a definite "up north" feel. Cottages and docks appear in groups as the water widens and then narrows again. The small towns seem to love the boaters and they are all promoting us to stop. We heard from Gord and Trudy that Hastings had the best fireworks for Canada Day (July 1), so we are parked on the lock wall directly across from the marina where they set them off. The lock is right in the center of this most friendly small town. The recent rains have raised the river levels, so the dam here is really ripping.

Just had to show this sign for you Mississippi River boaters. Yes, we are at the Hastings Lock !!

Notice the lock gates are made of wood.

We've tapped into the WiFi from the marina across the way and the convenience store just across the walkway from the boats has allowed us to plug our electric into their outdoor outlets.

There's a nice grocery store and laundromat about 3-4 blocks away. We had Social Hour tonight with Loopers John and Mary Jo (Recovery Room), the Camano 31 parked in front of us.

We are getting used to celcius, liters and Canadian currency, although the exchange rate is within 3 cents. The cloudy skies that have been following us are supposed to clear up tomorrow with the temps rising each day. Happy Canada Day and Happy Fourth of July too.