Doin' the Trent

Sunday Aug 17, 2014

Finally!  A break in the weather, although it was still overcast when we left Midland Harbor to begin our journey through the Trent-Severn Waterway.  It is a system of lakes, rivers, man made canals and 45 locks connecting Georgian Bay at Port Severn to Lake Ontario at Trenton.  The majority of "Loopers" (not to be confused with Yoopers!) travel  east to west, entering the waterway in Trenton. We, however, are doing kind of a "backwards half loop", entering the waterway at Port Severn and traveling east.  So we wound our way thru the tricky channel to our first lock -- 

                                                                                                                                                                             

Lock 45     Port Severn

Just a 12 foot rise here.  A good place to start!  Two to go before we tie up for the night.

Another 8 miles and we're ready for the Big Chute Lock 44.  We'll rise 58 feet here, but this is not like any lock you've ever seen.  We were actually loaded into a sling on a rail car.




Our load consisted of 2 bass boats, 9 wave runners and Waterford!







Now for the trip up and over a roadway..................

            The view from the top ---- behind

                                                   



                                         
 
                                       Below                      








And down on the other side of the road

                                                           
                                                                                       




WE MADE IT!!  What an incredible ride!

Just one more lock and we'll call it a day.
Lock 43 Swift Rapids.












                                                                           






 Just a bit of a rise here, wouldn't you say?!









We tied up along the wall on the other side for the night.  We were joined by Astral Sky, a 45 DeFever from New Zealand --- yes I said New Zealand.  Richard and Enid bought the boat in Florida and have spent the last 2 years cruising.

      The end of a perfect first day!