Tootling Along the Trent Canal System

How can you tell we aren't in a hurry, well, its easy, we've been out 2 weeks, and haven't gone anywhere.

Ok, not completely true. We are sitting in Buckhorn tonight, and I am not really sure where that is other than it is north of Peterborough somewhere. Cute little spot though, we went for lunch, had ice cream, picked up a few essentials, and did some boat chores. Pretty much a typical day on the Trent.

We were actually doing pretty good, but between meeting up with my father and helping our Son buy his first house, we ended up sitting around Peterborough for a week. In fact we made the trip up to Lakefield with our guests, but had to turn around and go back to Peterborough the following day so that I could catch a bus and go do a home inspection for our Son. So we spent some time chasing our tails, but at least we got to spend some time anchored out in Little Lake, downtown Peterpatch.(local slang for Peterborough). That was really nice.

Other than that, its been a pretty peaceful trip so far. We've eaten too much, and drank too much, and eaten and drank too much of the wrong things, but that's what vacations are for, right? And this sure feels like a vacation after building two houses over the last too summers.

So we got out of Trenton and pushed ourselves in the first day all the way up to Campbellford. Unfortunately we missed the last lock into town and got stuck at the bottom of Rainy Falls. A good 5 km walk from Captain George's. It was a blistering hot day, we traveled for 10 hours, but we weren't going to give up George's fish and chips over a little 10k walk, so off we went. I said to Serena on the way there that I hoped they didn't have the air conditioning cranked, because I didn't think my body could take it, and we needn't have worried, because it was broken, and it was hotter in the restaurant than it was outside. Not really what I was going for.

The next day was a mix of sun and rain, and still more heat. The lock staff got us through in record time, and I dropped Serena off in town so that she could make the trek up the hill to her doctor for a emergency booking. She had gotten poison ivy while we were home, and some of it was around her eye, so she was a little nervous, with good reason. The appointment was quick, antibiotics in hand, she swung by picked up her sister and we were gone. Its always nice to have new person to boating on board, because their experiences are fresh, and we get to see through their eyes how cool this life on the water really is. Serena's sister Sherry left us in Healy Falls, and we carried onto Hastings to take a day off and recuperate from too much travel in too short a time. We always do it, we always pay for it, and we can't figure out why we keep doing it. I'm sure there is a psych paper in there somewhere.

In the slimy lock walls, you get to write things, like your boat name. Or your cousin's phone number, "for a good time call." Kidding.....

Swing bridge at Campbellford. Built by the Engineers in Trenton, damned if I can't remember the name of the unit, my memory is not what it used to be, and I was the goalie on their hockey team. Anyway, we used it on the way to Captain George's. Remember, fish.......

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Hastings was a bit of a crap hole. And I really should be nicer since my cousin, not the one "for a good time call", has a cute little restaurant there, most of the people are really good. And there is a little bit of everything there. But; there are enough people on the bottom of the evolutionary scale to make the place seem somewhat inhospitable. And the fisherman, wow, is there a lot of fisherman hanging around the lock, the bridge, the dam, just everywhere. I will admit that I am a tad bit biased, as my wallet was stolen out of my car here several years ago, but when a man walks up to the tree next to your boat, in the day time, in the park, and pisses on it, while you sit in the cockpit, then maybe its just a little too much. Especially when the "open" lock washrooms were only 40 yards away.

Peterborough was much nicer. We had intended to stay out in Rice Lake for a couple of days to do some fishing, kayaking, and relaxing, but the weather man, plus a planned date for visitors in the Peterpatch changed that. As schedules and weathermen always seem to do. So off we went, making the 8 hour trek up into Little Lake. 

Until Peterborough, the trip was pretty unexciting. Vita did not do so well in the first 18 locks, bucking and kicking so bad that both Serena and I now have man sized calasus and boxer sized bruises. But we'll recover. I'll do a post at some point on tips and hints for the canals, because the Rideau is different than the Trent, and all the locks in the Trent are different from one another. 

Peterborough and beyond you start running into traffic, lots of traffic, big traffic, little traffic, houseboats up the wazoo, and traffic that don't know how to drive a boat. You meet tour boats, like the one above, and the Canal monster the Kawartha Voyager. You start to watch the morning jockey for position, as everyone tries to get into the first lock of the day. It is quite the parade. And not everyone finds it that funny. Serena and I just laugh our heads off, whether were in the middle of it, or just standing by sipping our morning coffee. It really is a must see. But I am sure that the laughing gets to some of the other boaters. But like everything else in life, if you take it too serious, you'll be on a short train to cookoo land. So the gates of the lock open, and everyone wants to be first, the lock master starts playing a good ol game of boat Tetris, and the boaters start playing that fun game of bumper boats.

And attitudes run the gamit. We saw people that were afraid to have anyone in the lock with them, because they might scare the gelcoat on their boat, to people who smashed and banged, and didn't care. Most of the rental houseboaters were afraid that they were going to smack into someone else's boat. No worries that they were going to look bad, that was a given. They were all just trying to mitigate the damages. Lets face it, no matter how good you are, driving a houseboat is like driving a bus with no steering and too much power. But, if you take it all in, and try not to stress the little things, then life is good.

The lift lock at Peterborough was really neat. It is one of the items on our bucket list. A smaller item for sure. But right up there with finishing the Rideau, or the Trent, or growing our own raspberries to make wine with. Did someone say wine?

It's a very quick ride though, in, up, out, or down, or in our case travelling through 3 times before we got out of Peterborough. 

With a 66 foot lift though, and being rather open, I am surprised that I didn't have an issue with the height. I can't seem to figure out what triggers my fear of heights. I know a 8/12 roof will do it every

time.

The fountain in Little Lake Peterborough. They turn the lights on at night for a little show.

Jockeying for position, You go ahead beside the houseboat, no, you go, you were here first. Actually, I think we'll wait for the next lift, yeah, good idea. Let the houseboat go up with the sailboat.

Hey honey. We going up Samwise.

We left Peterborough, finally for good, no schedule, no plans. It was a slow day up to Young's point, as Serena was a little under the weather. She had the 750 ml flu. So I pulled over mid day and let her have a badly needed 2 hour nap.

After that our intentions were to drop the hook in Clear Lake for a couple of days to let off some steam, and get back on track. Well, we have never been up here before, and what we realized quickly is that there is a lot of rock, everywhere. Trying to find an anchorage that was not a big rock pile was pretty much impossible. The chard would say 17 feet deep, but the bay would be 60 feet. I guess that there was probably a rock in the bay that came up to 17 feet, but how to find it, and how to get an anchor into the top of it is beyond me. So we enjoyed a meandering cruise up through Clear Lake, and Lovesick Lake, till we got to Lovesick Lock. A gorgeous little spot with no fisherman, and no riff raff, unless you count the raccoons. Even the lock workers have to boat to work, because there are no roads. Lovesick was a treat, and I am going to stop here, because we did some fun things, had some interesting encounters, and I don't want to ruin it before I get the You Tube video posted!

Vita back to one six.

Bye Bye Rideau Canal

I am afraid I am behind my time yet again. We have been home for a week, and its been at least two since the last blog entry. Busy busy.....

So we left Smith's Falls, looking for a place to get away from the hustle and bustle, in an anchorage where we would be protected from the heavy southwest winds that were expected for a couple of days. We tied up on a Parks Canada mooring ball in front of Colonel By Island in the middle of Big Rideau Lake. We would have liked to tie up to the last mooring ball around the south corner, as it had the best protection, but there was a pile of people at the island, and almost every space was taken. Sure as the sun comes up though, all the boaters cleared out around supper time, and we got our opportunity to move to the choice spot. In fact we would have the island virtually to ourselves for the next 4 days.

Colonel By Island has to be the jewel of the Rideau system. For as much fun as it was to take our boat thru the Nations Capital, it was twice the fun to have an Island to ourselves for a few days.

On Monday the winds blew in strong. And although we had the best mooring ball of the bunch, Vita was bucking like a wild steer, so we spent the day on shore, reading, sun tanning, and playing tennis in the tennis court left over from a previous tenant. Someone had left racquets and a tennis ball for everyone to use, so we played away the afternoon joking about being Serena Williams and John McRnroe, if only because they are the only two famous tennis names we could think of.

It is a great spot. Over the 4 days we went swimming in the beautiful clear waters more times than I can count, we kayaked through the archipelago of islands, and lost lake; we went for dinghy rides, read books, relaxed, enjoyed sundowners, and just really enjoyed each others company in a lovely place, void of the intrusion of world. The only other people we spoke to were a couple of guys on their first kayak trip, who stayed the night at the island. It was eden, and it made up for any of the bad crap we had to put up with the rest of the trip.

However, all good things must come to an end. And between our planned scheduling, weather, and some other interesting places we want to check out, we figured we had better get a move on. Besides, lets face it, the weekend crowd would have ruined our opinion of the place, and in that ruined the memory of a truly great time.

So we headed out on Thursday morning looking to check out Jones Falls. The lock station has four locks, a turning basin, and one of the most impressive damns I have ever seen. They also have a rather short, but rugged walking trail that was a lot of fun. And, as always seems to happen with cruisers, the world gets smaller and smaller with every person you meet. Well, we met a lovely french couple on a Monk 36 who just happen to be the parents of a young man who with his wife and two children had made the trip down the eastern seaboard to Florida 3 years. ago. The same year we did. And wouldn't you know it, they were on a Bayfield 40 that we locked through the dismal swamp with. I had pictures of their boat on my computer, and their son had remembered our little Bayfield 29. No matter how many times its proven to me, I am still amazed at the little things that make this world shrink to human size.

Jones Falls, however, is where the trip went to hell. We got stuck waiting over 3 hours to get through the lock. We had intended to go a little anchorage just below the falls in a quiet little spot to do some kayaking and swimming for the day, but we were so disenchanted that we decided to move further down the system and anchor in Cranberry Lake. That way we would be able to get out of the system the following day, and we might still get a swim in.

Another plan shot to hell, as we got to Cranberry Lake and discovered it was choked tight with weeds. What was a beautiful lake on the way up two weeks previously, was now a big swamp. Oh to hell with it, lets get out of here! We managed to make the last flight of locks at Kingston Mills right at the end of the day, and tied up to their dock at the bottom of the locks at 7:00 pm. The bottom end of the Rideau was like one big weed bed. The warm sunny weather, combined with the unusually clean water had choked the system right up. Vita was having a hard time getting through because of the weeds wrapped around her prop. At one point we were down to 2 knots, and I kept stopping to put her in reverse to try and dislodge the hitchhikers. I would not have wanted to try to do this trip in late July. In fact, I don't think we could have made it.

We woke early on Saturday. We were headed out through Kingston and back to one of our favorite anchorages behind Ram Island in Hay Bay. It was a picturesque morning. The temperature was perfect, the sun was bright, the wind was calm, and we were all by ourselves. We saw very little in the way of traffic. In fact I spent most of the morning in a clothing optional state, it was perfect.

Down behind Ram Island, we were planning to wait out a storm that never emerged. We swam, kayaked, relaxed, and even got Lifeline, our Walker Bay dinghy out for a sail around the Island. A nice end to the trip.

After a couple of days we decided to head home, originally expecting to take two days, we changed those plans and made the 6 1/2 hour run for the Yacht Club. Well, 8 hours later, and a very uncomfortable ride, we made it home. The wind had clocked around from the southwest to the west during the trip, almost seeming to fight us every time we made a direction change. And it was a very strong wind. I had heard people talk about Big Bay being rough in a good blow, and I can remember chuckling to myself, cause lets face it, its a tiny body of water, at least in comparison to some of the places we've been. Well, I take it back, and to the person that I quietly laughed at, I am very sorry. Don't get me wrong, it was dangerous, but it was cantankerous, short steep waves, right on the nose. It was slow going, and then every few minutes a set of waves would come along, slamming into Vita's hull and stopping her cold. Not a place I would have preferred to be.

Overall we are glad we did the trip. Going through Ottawa was cool. Seeing the old manually operated locks and bridges, double cool. Just living aboard Vita again was incredible, and felt like where we were supposed to be. However, I don't think we will do the system again in a sailboat. A houseboat would be neat, or even a small trawler. But I think the real glory of the Rideau would be to do it in a canoe or kayak. So right now we are tentatively planning to make the trip from Kingston to Ottawa in the kayaks in two years. Vita will be in Florida on the hard for hurricane season, and we will be back in Ontario for a few months, so it is the perfect time.

Please enjoy the following pics with narrative.

Vita back to one six.

I love these pics. Which one of these is upright. The top one or the bottom one. It was a very calm, very clear morning.

Colonel By Island was hit by a tornado in 1985, and some of the trees that got knocked down still survived. Although they don't really look like normal trees. It was odd, but neat at the same time. Nature really will find a way.

Lost lake, no fishing allowed, and surrounded by islands. I was shocked at how deep the water was. I though it would be a swamp, but when we kayaked through, it dropped off pretty good.

Colonel By had a nice hiking trail. And all the green you see on the ground are thousands of tiny maple trees. 

Serena Williams

John McEnroe

The water got really thin in some spots, but Vita never went aground. Not so for Lifeline. It looked like there was enough water to get between the islands, there however was not, and Serena wanted to make sure she documented the Captains decision to try it.

The trail at Jones Falls, although short, was the best walk of the trip. Rugged and steep at times. Wish it was 10 miles longer.

The damn at Jones Falls. crazy big. All made with hand hewn stone blocks.

This lock was tight. When we tied up ready to go down, Serena could touch the bridge from her position on the bow.

Tell me this isn't heaven. Ray (the autopilot) was driving, the weather was perfect, and I sat on a lawn chair on the bow watching the world go by at 5 knots.

Lifeline is a blast to sail. It took us a bit to get past the island, tacking back and forth with the wind on the nose, but then on a broad reach, she just flew. Now if only I could learn to sail..........