August 22-27, History making-Highest Lift Lock in the World

I will summarize the rest of our trek through the TSW (Trent Severn Waterway).  As I have stated, the system has 44 locks of many different varieties.

From Lock # 32 to the end, we stayed the nights along the lock walls.  There is a minimal charge  & there are bathroom facilities @ the lock master's office without showers & no potable water but always picnic tables & grass. Some of the locks had fire pits and were remote & some were right in town.








We stayed one night @ Lovesick Lock #30 (named after a heart broken indian) and that was great, it was in the middle of the woods.  The scenery was spectacular, we kayaked (Jacque & Garry were able to try out their new kayak) & had a campfire.  We had to watch out for bears & raccoons, just like camping.

 The Peterborough Lock #21 is the highest lift lock in the world & we locked through it.  the Lock was not anywhere near as stressful as the Big Chute & a lot easier than most of the locks.  It is a large version of the Kirkfield Lock that I described in my last post. So that means we entered a big rectangular tub with water in it and because we were locking down, it looked like an infinity pool @ the end.  There was a similar tub below to our left.  They added more water to our tub and we smoothly lowered on down & the other tub raised.  We were able to see the tub pass us & it had one small boat in it.

Peterborough, Highest Lift Lock in the World!

We enjoyed the many twists & turns of the waterway.  Some days we were traversing wide open lakes, mostly shallow & still important to stay in the marked buoys but it gave us a break from the narrow stuff.  Other days we were in such narrow rivers or manmade channels that I literally could reach out & touch a leaf.

In Campbellford @ the gorge

Home of the designer of the toonie coin

The KV with it's bow up

There is a cruise ship that travels along a section of this waterway that crossed paths with us, luckily not along one of the narrow channels.  It takes about 40 passengers through some of the locks & they are out for 1 week. It's name is the Kawartha Voyager.  The ship was built to travel the TSW, so it fits in all the locks using a creative design.  For the smaller locks, it's bow lifts up and for the lower bridges, it's top hydraulics down & the Captain has to look out of the sunroof. It looks like a great way to sample this interesting area.

Zebra mussels on lock wall, they would open up & spit water

We have spotted Osprey & Osprey nests along the way and lots of flying fowl, like ducks, geese & loons but alas no Eagles.

When we tied up along the wall @  Frankford Lock # 6, we hit our 50th port (stop) since leaving Toledo Beach Marina on June 1.  What an accomplishment!















The weather has been gorgeous since we started the TSW.  Waiting those 6 days in Midland while it rained, was a wise decision for us, as we were able to enjoy & see everything so much better with the sun.

We were locking through #1 Lock, which was our last
of the TSW