Day 385 – Bobcaygeon, Ontario to wall at the bottom of Lock #39, Portage, Ontario - July 25, 2012

We spent almost eight hours on the water today, covering just over thirty-five miles and traveling through seven locks.  It has been a long time since we have spent that many hours traveling on one day.  We caught up with David and Jacque on Outport at the marina last night and then got to the blue line together for the first lock today.  It is nice to go in and out of locks with a competent captain and crew operating the boat in front of you.  The other great thing about following Outport is that their boat drafts more than Boreas and today’s travels takes us through some very shallow (and very narrow) waters.

One of today’s locks, the Kirkfield Lock, is the second of two lift locks on the Trent-Severn Waterway (the other being the Peterborough Lift Lock).  The big difference for us between the two lift locks is that we were going up on the Peterborough Lock and going down on the Kirkfield Lock.  It is very strange to drive your boat into a chamber suspended forty-nine feet in the air.  We were behind Outport in the chamber, but it was still a pretty amazing view.

We knew we would be staying at a lock wall tonight; we just weren’t sure exactly which lock it would be.  Our guidebooks suggested that Lock #39 and Lock #40 were both very good for spending the night.  Both of these locks have no road access, just a dirt two-track that the lock staff uses to get to work, so it is very peaceful and quiet at night.  The lockmaster at Lock #38 gave a call to both locks to find out the availability of wall space and along with Outport we elected to stop at Lock #39.  Once we were both secure on the wall, we enjoyed cocktails and snacks with David and Jacque on their boat.  We headed back to Boreas just before the rain started – the weather forecasters predict that it will rain all night.

            Miles: 35.5      Bridges: 11      Locks: 7

hanging out behind Outport while waiting for a lock to empty so we can enter

Grand Island on Balsam Lake - Balsam Lake is the highest point of elevation
we reach on the Loop at 840.4 feet above sea level.  It is also the highest point
in the world that a boat can reach from the sea under its own power.

this pictures shows some of the narrow water we traveled through today

in this narrow section, the rocks are just off the side of the boat

more of the narrow waterway - this is Outport in front of us - for reference
they are 42 feet long and 15 feet wide (just one foot wider than Boreas)

and more of the rock cliffs right next to Boreas

approaching the Kirkfield Lift Lock

in the chamber of the Kirkfield Lift Lock, looking down on the lower chamber

the lower chamber on the Kirkfield Lift Lock has now passed us as our
chamber is lowered

Outport going through the "hole in the wall" bridge which was built in 1905

Lock #37 - in the chamber and ready to be lowered

this is a totally manual lock - the gates open using the gear lever on the
left side of the picture and the water is let out of valves in the gate itself
using a hand crank (to the left of the green sign)

the water is out, the gates are opening and we are getting ready
to move out

Portage Lock #39 - we spend the night on the wall at the bottom
of this lock