Trent Severn Part II

** Fenelon Falls to Port Severn and Frying Pan Island, Ontario **

The Trent Severn Waterway continues wow us and to be an incredible part of our voyage. Combining the end of the Trent and a trip home to celebrate our youngest’s wedding has made for a few more great weeks.

Our voyage from Fenlon Falls to Frying Pan Island, orange circle is the end of the Trent at Port Severn

Day 19 – transited 7 locks from Fenelon Falls to the Jetty Wall – Railroad Bridge #50 at Lake Simcoe in 7 hours and cruised 28 miles

Leaving the Hallmark Village of Fenelon Falls behind, we made our way to the jetty wall before entering Lake Simcoe. We had more company in the locks than prior, squeezing boats in tightly, and making our travels a bit longer and more tedious that when it was just the two of our boats.

Getting cozy in the locks

We experienced our second lift lock, Kirkfield, of our trip. This lock is located at the highest point on the waterway where the Trent Severn Waterway (TSW) going west from here begins to lower you, rather than lift you, in the locks. We pulled into the tub with our bow sticking over the edge, perched high up, and the water some 49 feet below.

Another breath taking experience feeling like we were on the edge of the world, looking out high above and then being lowered to the water down below. While it was 16 feet less that the Peterborough Lift Lock, it was a bit more exhilarating starting high and the bow suspended in midair.

Kirkfield Life Lock – Perched High

Crusing some very narrow passages thorugh cut granite walls, Captain Dave announces several Sécurité’s that are used in maritime radio to signal an important safety message is coming. Our captain announced our position, direction, and that we were transiting, so that others could tell us if they were in the channel at that time or approaching. In many of these areas there was not room for two vessels to meet along the way, without grinding your prop on the granite below. The larger boats are pretty good at keeping their VHF radio on and responding, not necessarily the case for the smaller boats. We met up with a couple of smaller boats who were considerate and moved slowly to the side, a few personal watercraft wanted to play a game of chicken. Our captain held course. Gross tonnage won.

Narrows of the Trent

The simplicity of the beauty is mesmerizing. Green evergreens abound the banks, the granite rock ledges and islands add a shimmer to the view, the water is so clear, and we’ve had some great blue skies and the white clouds. That with being very remote make for a story book horizon.

We traversed through the Hole in Wall Bridge. The sun gave us great mirroring this day and the view was stunning. Our day ended cruising through what seemed to be our home state of Indiana, flat fields as far as the eye could see, a stark contrast from the rest of the Trent we have experienced.

Hole in the Wall Bridge

After a long day our two boats tied up to jetty wall with the assistance of the chatty bridge tender who was a wealth of knowledge of local history. This was her retirement job, opening the bridge to cruisers, maintaining the lawn, and sharing her love of the area with all who visited. Our view was Lake Simcoe, the biggest water on the Trent. On this wall we were protected from the big lake, though it was calm this night. Another great meal prepared by our resident Chef, Jordan, with a view of the lake.

Jetty Wall – Bridge #50 looking out over Lake Simcoe

Day 20 – transited 0 locks in 2.5 hours from the Jetty Wall to Port of Orillia and cruised 19 miles

We would depart early morning to cross the calm lake and get to the Port of Orillia on the northwest shore of the lake. We’ve heard about some uncomfortable crossings of this lake and our morning was spectacular. Later in the day the winds would crank up and make it uncomfortable for those who were further behind. Port of Orillia is the birthplace of Gordon Lightfoot, an art piece in Tudhope Park pays tribute to his music.

Crossing Lake Simcoe and Gordon Lightfoot tribute in Orillia

Port of Orillia would be where we would prepare to leave our boat and head back to Indiana for our youngest’s Ryan’s wedding. Our cruising mates decided at the last minute to leave too, and travel to Alaska for a cruise of the Alaska and British Columbia coastlines. We would meet back in Orillia to continue our journey on the Trent Severn Waterway and into Georgian Bay.  

In a rental car, we made the 10 hour trek home crossing the border back into the U.S.A. and through three states arriving in time for dinner for our Chicken Night gathering. We have been dining with a group of friends for over 20 years, every Thursday. This is certainly one of the things we miss being on our journey. Chicken night comes from the bar’s special in the early days where we would gather. Long gone is the chicken special and we rarely gather at the original bar, but it will forever be chicken night (or chicken group) to all of us. This night there were eight of us. And a another evening, a first for us music bingo at one of our favorite haunts with some of our cluckers!

We also squeezed in a trip back to our old stomping grounds on the Ohio River to meet with our dock mates. So good to see them and get the boat gang back together, we hadn’t seen many of them since New Years on our Port Charlotte voyage.

Crossing back into the USA and meeting back up with our gang!

It was good to be home and assist with some pre-festivity doings. We helped out at Ryan and Joe’s house, after years of gutting and renovating their home, they were going to make a big reveal with an open house party as part of their weekend celebration. We were home last in March and WOW!, they were able to complete the final details. Dave, a handy man himself is so proud that they tackled the majority of the house on their own, their house looked amazing!

Irwin Gardens

The ceremony was held in the beautiful garden at The Inn at Irwin Gardens in our hometown of Columbus, IN. The Inn is the former residence of Clementine Tangeman, sister to Cummins Engine founder Irwin Miller. Columbus is the world headquarters of Cummins Engine Company and we’re proud that in a node to our hometown, the Now or Never is powered with twin Cummins 6 BTA’s.

What an incredible weekend for Ryan and Joe. We are so happy for these two and hoping they now can enjoy their beautiful home after years of renovation.

Congratulations Ryan and Joe!

Following a great time at home, we made our way across the border to Orillia, Ontario where the Live the Dash crew was waiting just having returned from their grand adventure. We finalized our plans to cruise the remaining two locks and 42 miles to complete our Trent Severn Waterway voyage. It seemed like yesterday we arrived in Trenton to start when in reality it was 6 weeks ago!

Port of Orillia

Day 35 – transited 2 locks over 10 hours from the Port of Orillia to Big Chute Railway and 34

Our first day back cruising was a long one, anticipating our hold up to be at a railroad bridge with a cantankerous bridge master, where others have waited for hours, we breezed right through the railroad bridge and got held up at the first lock of the day, Swift Rapids. The staff was performing a dam change and there were a lot of boats stacking up to lock through.

Enjoying Swift Rapids Lock while waiting for dam change

After a couple of hours wait, we were back on our way to Big Chute Railway Marine.

Big Chute Marine Railway is lock 44 on the TSW. It works on an inclined plane to carry boats in individual cradles over a change of height of about 60 feet. It is the only marine railway (or canal inclined plane) of its kind in North America still in use.  

We made it to the Big Chute Marine Railway!

Completed in 1919, the vessels are floated into the cradle, which is approximately 80 feet long by 26 feet wide. Four 200 horsepower electric motors provide traction by cable. The weight is borne on a dual track which keeps the carriage level (the front and back wheels are on different tracks), with the front of the carriage on the upper tracks. The carriage is kept horizontal due to the relative profile of the tracks. Toward the end of travel, the carriage assumes a slight “nose down” attitude as it submerges into the water. Boats rest on the bottom of the carriage, and webbing slings are provided to support boats safely and prevent them from tipping.

Big Chute up over the road

This was one Lock we have marveled over for years; we were finally here. Arriving early afternoon, we headed to the Big Chute piers where we could tie up for the night before transiting this incredible ingenuity. It had been a long day and we wanted to watch the Big Chute in action before we transited over land and back into the water.

Same rapids, flowing alongside through Big Chute and little water moving

We planned to spend the night and get in line in the following morning for this monumental ride on the Big Chute Marine Railway. We arrived to utter chaos that didn’t dissipate all afternoon. Boats everywhere, big boats, little boats, personal watercraft, just lots of boats that kept coming to ride the chute. The blue line dock was full, and boats were floating everywhere jockeying for their position in line. We didn’t anticipate this many boats all. day. long. We were tied to the overnight pier which were empty and walked the Chute grounds and watched the marine railway come up over the hill with boats sitting high aboard it, out of the water, just riding along. What incredible ingenuity to maneuver boats between the two bodies of water.

Blue line boats (waiting area to lock through the Big Chute)

That’s all folks! The lock closed promptly at 5:30 with nine boats still waiting. Two were cruisers that the crew would stay on the boats overnight and the rest were small runabouts. There was a tiny bit of room at the end of the wall, so we along with Live the Dash untied and motored to the other side of the bay to get in line for the next morning. We spent the next hour squeezing boats together along the dock, moving others up and retying, only to have another little boat exit the que and us to move all the boats again. We finally secured 4 cruisers and three runabouts with room in the back for others to join us. Another great dinner on a lock wall (dock) featuring Indiana corn bootlegged into Canada.

Dinner on the Big Chute Blue Line with Indiana corn

Day 36 – transited 2 locks over 3 hours from Big Chute Railway to Port Severn, cruised 8 miles, then 39 miles to Frying Pan Island

One small boat exited overnight and more joined us and rafted off before the lock opened at 9:00. It continued to be a shit show of chaos. Boats kept coming around the corner to join the blue line. Now or Never made the third rail car trip of the day being lowered and headed west. Finally, it was our turn, one small boat entered in front of Now or Never and then we were loaded on the back, like way back. Our running gear and over a third of our vessel was hanging off the rail car – whoa! We loaded, straps cradled our boat, the small keel rested on the floor of the carriage, our stern hanging over the back. The ride started with water draining away from the rail. A Lock Master got down on the floor of the carriage and took photos of our running gear hanging off the back, it seemed so unreal. We had a small rise up over the road, stopping traffic as we crossed over the road, and then we were running down the incline to the water at the bottom of the hill.

Now or Never on the rail hanging over for the ride

Overall is was fairly smooth, a lot of rail car clanking from time to time that kept our attention, but we never felt unsteady or like our fat bottom girl was going to tumble off the rail car.

As soon as the rail car hit the water the boat in front of us was departing and then our turn, a very quick process, maybe too quick to soak it all in. Most likely our only time through this incredible lock and it was over in a hot minute. Thankful for the Live the Dash crew as we were able to video and photograph each other’s trip on the Big Chute.

We pulled up to the blue line at the bottom, tied up the boat, and hurried up the top to watch and photograph Live the Dash on their ride down the Chute.

Dave filming Live the Dash – a quick wave!

At the end of their ride, we jumped back on board, and we were off to the last lock on the TSW, Lock 45 Port Severn.

The bottom side of the Chute plus the interworking cables that make the railcar move

As we traveled the winding waters leading us to Port Severn, we noticed the banks of the waterway had changed, still a few of the many cottages we have seen over the last six weeks, though the closer we got to Georgian Bay, the bigger the houses became. Beautiful, but not that quaint cottage way we had come to love. We arrived and had a small wait, tying up to the blue line. This was the smallest lock of our journey, and we would have to go through one by one or with a much smaller vessel. Live the Dash locked through first and then we were up. Captain Dave went to negotiate us off the wall and through a small narrow passage and discovered our bow thruster had stopped working. He quickly compensated and got us in and secure. The exit was narrow, boats waiting to come in, and the dam waters running, we exited safely and would be on our way. Dave typically tries not to use the bow thruster, but likes having it is an ace in the hole. When you think it’s available, but it’s not, a scramble to maneuver ensues. Just one of the many joys of boating, troubleshooting and fixing.

Now or Never exiting the last lock on the Trent Severn Waterway – Port Servern

Our day continued to Frying Pan Island motoring another 39 miles – hello Georgian Bay! The remnants of Hurricane Debby were coming our way in a few days and we were plotting our course to be in a marina off the bay.

The Trent Severn Waterway from Trenton to Port Severn (east to west)

At dinner that night a look back with a bit of meloncholy, we were done, finished, it was over. Our long anticipated trip of the Trent Severn Waterway was complete. 240 miles, 43 locks (you may have recalled Port Severn was lock 45 – Lock 29 was combined with another many years ago and Lock 33 was not on our route, thus 43 locks). It was a remarkable leg of our great loop, six weeks, a treasure chest of memories with the Bohonek family on Live the Dash, a great part of our incredible Great Loop journey.

Historic Canal

We loved the TSW, but if you’ve been following along, you know our crew says that about everywhere we go, but we really loved the TSW. We would have loved to have dawdled a little more and visited additional lock walls but there is never enough time. There are more waters to cruise before we put the boat up on Lake St. Clair in Michigan around the first of October. We wish we would have had a whole summer to spend on the Trent Severn Waterway – it’s that incredible.

Cheers!  David, Tasha,  

                  & Remy forever in our hearts!   –   Loop Dog for 1 year and 3357 miles

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Our Sweet Remy