On the Water with As You Wish: July 30 Orillia to Big Chute

July 30

After a few days of taking in the parks, sights, concerts, restaurants, bakery and groceries in Orillia we finally headed back onto the Trent Severn waterway. A bit overcast but the forecast was for clearing so we headed out about 10 not sure exactly where we would wind up but plenty of contingency plans in place. This section meanders through more small lakes joined by a few short cuts and thankfully most of the water was a bit deeper so no issues with toughing bottom. The scenery changes to an even more rustic look with fewer houses, more evergreen trees and lots of granite cliffs and islands.

Still in "Cottage Country"

"Cottages" of all sizes

Between sections of houses lots of beautiful natural areas

Todays first issue was getting past the CN railroad swing bridge. This is not operated by Parks Canada but by the railroad. They have stationed a guy there for years who has a well know reputation for caring little about boaters and has been known to make them wait for hours. As we were crossing Lake Couchiching three express cruisers passed us and we figured we would meet again at the bridge. Not so. We arrived just as he was finishing closing after letting them through. I figured it might be a long wait – tried hailing him once on the radio with no reply. We called the next lock to ask for guidance and their response was “ He knows you’re there. Just stay put and be quite.” We did as instructed and after about 15 minutes a freight train came through very slowly crossing this ancient bridge. Then he let us through after a total delay of maybe 25 minutes. Not too bad everything considered. At dinner with some loopers who left before us we heard about their encounter earlier in the day. Normal protocol for a bridge opening is to give 3 short blast of your horn. They did and got no response from the bridge tender. After about 5 minutes they gave another 3 blasts. To this he came out yelling at them “If I hear that horn one more time you’ll be waiting here all day”. And he obviously has the power to do it. They were delayed over an hour waiting and waiting and waiting before a train finally come chugging on by and then he reluctantly opened the bridge.

The dreaded RR swing bridge

Open and ready for our passage

We went through 2 locks today with lock 43 at Swift Rapids having the greatest height of any lock on this waterway - dropping us 47’. We arrived as it was being loaded with a batch of smaller boats and we wouldn’t fit so tied up and had the next lockage to ourselves.

Looking down into the lowered Lock 43

Opening the gates to let us out

We had considered stopping here for the night but the mooring wall was already full so we pressed on thinking we might anchor out. But as we got to each anchorage there was still time left in the day, so we pressed on to the next “lock” Big Chute thinking we’ld tie to the upper wall and be ready to traverse it in the morning. While they call this Lock 45 it is really a marine railway and not a lock at all. It is a highlight of the trip through Canada along with the Peterborough lift lock due to their uniqueness. The upper walls were full but we were instructed that if we got on the railway and went across there was room below. So last minute decision we took their final traverse of the day. Downside to doing this is Martha didn’t get a good chance to watch any other boats using this very unique system. Upside - no time to panic about it. Rather than a lock which was originally planned for this location there is a marine railway which lifts your boat up out of the water and then transports it overland, across a road, and down a hill before depositing the boat back into the water below. It’s pretty impressive. Your boat basically sits on its keel supported by slings on this railway which drives into the water on the upper end for loading and into the water on the lower end for unloading. It moves back and forth with cables and the platform sits on a double rail system that keeps the platform level while going up or down. Another ingenious engineering marvel to watch when in motion.