Day 328 - Kirkfield — Captain Father John

Miles cruised 15, locks transited 1, lift 4′, fuel purchased $0, slip fee $0, daily high temperature 78°f

Our evening on the wall in Fenelon Falls was a wet one. We walked across the street to Murphy’s restaurant for dinner. We waited for a table indoors which was the smart decision. It started pouring rain and the diners on the deck scrambled inside. Murphy’s had four TV’s with the Olympics. We had a nice dinner and went back to the boat just before the next downpour. The cloud cover was so thick our Direct TV satellite struggled to get a connection. First world problems. However the good news is we are still getting satellite TV in northern Canada.

I noticed the little houseboat in front of us is named Rust Never Sleeps. I asked captain Andy how he chose the name. He said his boat is made of steel and the name was from from the Neil Young album.

CL on the wall in Fenelon Falls.

Sunday morning the weather was cool and blustery. It felt like a fall day. We cast off at 9:00 am and cruised 3 miles to the first and only lock of the day and were lifted 4′. The last time we will be lifted on the Trent. The remaining locks will lower us.

The swing bridge at Fenelon Falls

Sections of the Trent were dug by hand. The piles of shale line both sides of the banks.

Since the Waterway is so narrow and shallow, boats over 36′ must call out a securite announcement on VHF to warn other boaters that we are transiting the narrow channel. Two large boats could not pass each other in this section. There is also a lot of debris in the Waterway. It is recommended that boats not follow closely behind each other because the boat in front could stir up a log off the bottom and the second boat could hit it.

The narrow section of the Trent. Photo by Andy.

We are on our way to the Kirkfield lock #36 and will spend the night on the lock wall with no power or water. It will be almost like anchoring out except no anchor. There is a small restaurant nearby. We thawed some fish that we caught in Key West. If the restaurant is not a good one we will eat on the boat. On Monday there is no restaurant at our marina on Lake Simcoe so we will be eating onboard soon either way.

The Kirkfield lock is a hydraulic lift lock similar to one the we transited in Peterborough. However, the Kirkfield lock is not enclosed so there is a greater sense of being suspended in air. We are at the highest point on the Trent Waterway. When we enter the upper pan on Monday we will be lowered down 49′. The remaining 9 locks on the Waterway will continue to lower us down to the level of the Great Lakes. The other change is the color designation of the channel markers. From now on the red markers will be on the left. I flipped the tongue depressor on our dashboard to indicate the correct colors.

Kirkfield Lock #36 drops 49′.

If we had known the upper lock wall at Kirkfield could hold 50 boats we might not have arrived by 11:30 am. There was one other boat on the wall. It is a Waterway tug boat. We are in an idyllic setting that allows us to watch the hydraulic lift lock in operation. There are two Adirondack chairs on the west side that we sat On and watched the boats transiting.

Photo by Priscilla.

Miles cruised 15, locks transited 1, lift 4′, fuel purchased $0, slip fee $0, daily high temperature 78°f

Our evening on the wall in Fenelon Falls was a wet one. We walked across the street to Murphy’s restaurant for dinner. We waited for a table indoors which was the smart decision. It started pouring rain and the diners on the deck scrambled inside. Murphy’s had four TV’s with the Olympics. We had a nice dinner and went back to the boat just before the next downpour. The cloud cover was so thick our Direct TV satellite struggled to get a connection. First world problems. However the good news is we are still getting satellite TV in northern Canada.

I noticed the little houseboat in front of us is named Rust Never Sleeps. I asked captain Andy how he chose the name. He said his boat is made of steel and the name was from from the Neil Young album.

CL on the wall in Fenelon Falls.

Sunday morning the weather was cool and blustery. It felt like a fall day. We cast off at 9:00 am and cruised 3 miles to the first and only lock of the day and were lifted 4′. The last time we will be lifted on the Trent. The remaining locks will lower us.

The swing bridge at Fenelon Falls

Sections of the Trent were dug by hand. The piles of shale line both sides of the banks.

Since the Waterway is so narrow and shallow, boats over 36′ must call out a securite announcement on VHF to warn other boaters that we are transiting the narrow channel. Two large boats could not pass each other in this section. There is also a lot of debris in the Waterway. It is recommended that boats not follow closely behind each other because the boat in front could stir up a log off the bottom and the second boat could hit it.

The narrow section of the Trent. Photo by Andy.

We are on our way to the Kirkfield lock #36 and will spend the night on the lock wall with no power or water. It will be almost like anchoring out except no anchor. There is a small restaurant nearby. We thawed some fish that we caught in Key West. If the restaurant is not a good one we will eat on the boat. On Monday there is no restaurant at our marina on Lake Simcoe so we will be eating onboard soon either way.

The Kirkfield lock is a hydraulic lift lock similar to one the we transited in Peterborough. However, the Kirkfield lock is not enclosed so there is a greater sense of being suspended in air. We are at the highest point on the Trent Waterway. When we enter the upper pan on Monday we will be lowered down 49′. The remaining 9 locks on the Waterway will continue to lower us down to the level of the Great Lakes. The other change is the color designation of the channel markers. From now on the red markers will be on the left. I flipped the tongue depressor on our dashboard to indicate the correct colors.

Kirkfield Lock #36 drops 49′.

If we had known the upper lock wall at Kirkfield could hold 50 boats we might not have arrived by 11:30 am. There was one other boat on the wall. It is a Waterway tug boat. We are in an idyllic setting that allows us to watch the hydraulic lift lock in operation. There are two Adirondack chairs on the west side that we sat On and watched the boats transiting.

Photo by Priscilla.

We are working on our schedule for the next few weeks. We developed our schedule to have reasonable distances and number of locks transited. The collective wisdom of Loopers is the most dangerous thing to have on a boat is a schedule.

August 13 – Fenelon Falls – 16 miles and 2 locks – we will stay on the lock wall.

August 14 – Kirkfield Lock #36 – 16 miles and 1 lock – we will stay on the lock wall. No power or water.

August 15 – Lagoon City Marina – Lake Simcoe – 20 miles and 5 locks. We will pump out there before we go to Orillia. Orillia has slips for 250 transient boats but does not have a pump out facility.

August 16 – 21 – Port of Orillia – John and Priscilla will rent a car and meet their family in Niagara Falls for three days. This will be the first time the cousins ages 8 months and 9 months will meet.

August 22 – Big Chute Marine Railway – we will stay on the lock wall.

August 23 – Severn Boat Haven – we are now on Georgian Bay.

August 24 – Take s all craft route to Henry’s on San Souci Island

August 25 – Parry Sound – stay on the government dock or Big Sound Marina.

August 26 – Snug Harbour – we will anchor out.

Bonus photo – courtesy of Bill Simons.

Carl (Chef) Wooden – quote of the day.

“Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made, for somewhere deep in their oaken hearts the soul of a song is laid.”
– Robert N. Rose