Locks Glorious Locks!

We entered the Trent Severn Waterway on July 2.  Our trip thus far has been amazing!  The towns are quaint and welcoming, the people are friendly and very interested in our lifestyle, and the locks range from “this one looks easy” to “are you kidding me!” 

Upon arrival at our first lock I attempted to hail the lock tender on the VHF, no answer.  I then called the phone number listed for this lock and reached a very friendly voice.  I wanted to confirm procedures and clarify a few basic questions.  #1) Should we radio each lock as we arrive to let them know we would like to lock through (this is a must on most other waterways, for both bridges and locks).  Here, the answer was different, and refreshingly easy…”if you are waiting for the lock, just come up to the blue line.  The blue line is only for boats ready to lock through.  If you want to talk with someone it is best to call, as we have a VHF radio in the building, but we are never in the building.  However, we do carry the phone.”

Lock #1…this one looks easy!

Many of the lock gates are opened manually.

Word of warning…when approaching the lock , STAY IN THE CHANNEL!  Many lock entrance areas have underwater walls (to cut down on current coming from the spillway), but they can be hard to see unless the sun is at the right angle.

And in other places the walls aren’t hidden at all.

This spillway is dumping a lot of water.

The scenery is beautiful!  I love old barns.

One of the things I love most about this Waterway is the ability to tie to a lock wall if you want to visit a town or socialize, and the numerous opportunities to anchor in beautiful locations to enjoy a bit of peace and tranquility…and nature!  I spent an entertaining evening at anchor watching this red winged blackbird hop across lily pads foraging for dinner. He (only males have the red coloring) frequently pecks at things invisible to me - I’m guessing insects. However, every time he came to a flower bud (which didn’t actually look ready to open) he pried it open with his foot and beak.

I believe he was stealing the seeds.

Welcome to lock 11/12.  This is a first!  This waterway will introduce us to 3 ‘firsts’ (for us) in the area of lock type. The 1st (first) is a Flight Lock, it is actually two locks consecutively stepped together.  This picture shows why it is important to get tied to the blue wall, before they start dumping the water out of the lock.  In tight quarters like this, it is impossible to hold station with the currents created from this surge of water.  At some lock entrances it is easy to stand off in more open water to avoid these currents.

Once the gates are opened, all is calm, and it is easy to enter.  All of the locks on this waterway have cables running down the lock wall, which makes it very easy to secure your line to the cables to keep your boat stationary as the water rises or falls.  Once secure, the water will rise to the level indicated by the black on the walls, then the next set of doors will open, and we will immediately move into the next lock.

This picture was taken from the top of the second lock.  You can see the river about 65 feet below.

There were a lot of people watching the boats enter the lock, and we noticed a young man flying a drone as we entered the lock.  As it turns out, we met a wonderful family, and they were very interested in our lifestyle.  

Click this link https://vimeo.com/726812750/52297e6755 to see their video.

Our new friends (from left to right) Shital, Vedant, and Prashant. Once we got through the locks we tied to the wall and gave this great family a tour of our boat.

We took a mid day break from traveling to explore the area, and take a nice walk around the park.

A suspension bridge led to the hiking trails on the other side of the river.

That boat is getting ready to turn to port (left) to enter the flight lock.

We crossed the dam to head back to the boat.  This river was beautiful from every angle.

Once underway again, we made it through two more locks before stopping for the night.  This picture is lock #14.

We are currently visiting the town of Oralia, between locks 41 and 42.  We expected to be cruising Georgian Bay by now, but there was a problem at Big Chute (lock 44) last week, and no big boats (over 30 ft) could get through…so, once again, we had to slow down and enjoy the towns, people, and scenery.

Our next post will include lift locks…and the Big Chute…

are you kidding me??