July 31 Big Chute to Midland

July 31

Today is the last day of July and our last lock on the Trent Severn Waterway.   After passing through Lock 45 at Port Severn we have now officially   completed the 245 miles that encompass the Trent Severn  Waterway.   We have become a well oiled locking team now that we’ve gone through a total of 74 locks on the Erie, Oswego and Trent-Severn canals.  It will be good to get a bit of a break from locking for a while as we don’t hit another until reaching Chicago.  We are settled into Bay Port Marina in Midland  Ontario for a few nights to plot out our travels through the next section of our trip – the  Georgian Bay and the North Channel on Lake Huron.  It’s a bit more remote and requires multiple nights of anchoring but previous loopers say it is unquestionably the most scenic and peaceful part of the entire loop.   Midland is where I got off the boat 2 years ago  so we're back to completely unknown territory  going forward. 

Back to today’s trip.  We left the lower mooring at Big Chute around 8:30 to get a jump on all the boats waiting above for the first traverse at 9AM. 

Leaving the lower mooring at Big Chute we caught this image  in the reflective glass of the hydro plant to had to stop , back up and get our "artsy" picture of the day

  After cruising through a couple of very narrow cuts, around several twisty sections and across a few small lakes we reached Lock 45. 

Little Chute cut - dug out by hand in 1905

Cute,  but not real bears!

Along with being the last lock it is also renowned for getting backed up because it has the smallest chamber at just 23’ wide and 87’ long.  It typically can only take one larger boat like ours at a time.  We arrived with 2 smaller runabouts in front of us and the Parks Canada staff did a good job of placing them in first so that we were also able to fit in.   A relatively short drop and then a reminder from the staff as the gates opened that the channel marker colors swap sides when exiting – until you get out onto the main lake when they change yet again. 

Secured in Lock 45 and waiting to go down

Lock 45 behind us!!

  It makes for a bit of confusion at times if you’re just trying to look at all the markers on the water.  Luckily, we had the chart plotter set with a good route that kept us on track and in deep water. 

The route looks straightforward  but the markers were very confusing in person

   Pretty easy day as we got to the marina by noon.    While I figured we still had plenty of fuel to get us through the balance of Canada and back into the US the thought of being in a remote section and needing to find fuel made me decide to go ahead and get some here.  Their price for diesel of $1.36 PER LITRE is the best around but even with the favorable exchange rate it was still around $4/gal!!  Needless to say, I did not completely top off the tanks!! 

We had a good afternoon exploring the town – known as “mural city” for the many murals depicting the history of the area painted on many of the buildings. 

HUGE mural on grain silos as you enter Midland by water

  Then a nice Sidewinder Brewery Midnight lager at a local pub before dinner at the Explorer Café with 3 other looper couples.    Interesting story on the couple who own the café.  They met while on a Russian Arctic Expedition vessel.   Cruised all over the Arctic and Antarctic on the ship and ultimately were married on the vessel by the Captain in Russian.   Ultimately found their way home and opened the Explorer Café.

Journey for July 31