The Trent-Severn

After Emily left, a lot of the aspects of the trip completely changed. There was no more regular rhythm, no more “figure it out as we go”, no more “normal” boat life. All of a sudden, I was in charge of everything, as well as working with a rotating cast of new crew members. Though I had always known, I quickly became aware of how perfect of a team we made, and I found myself trying to catch up a lot of missing pieces. It was tough. I missed Emily!

Without my other half and in need of crew, I devised a plan to rotate family members onto the boat. To keep it simple, there was a miraculous combination of timing, car swapping, and planning, as well as a whole lot of stress. I don’t like to plan anything in the first place, and making sure it was all going to work and no one got stranded was an agonizing process. But it worked! My dad came for the crossing of Lake Ontario from Oswego to Port Trenton, followed by my mom for the first part of the Trent-Severn, then my cousin Ellen, and eventually my sister Lynn. Thanks family!

The Trent-Severn is a fascinating canal system that connects a string of lakes from Lake Ontario to the southern end of the Georgian Bay in Lake Huron. It goes way up to cross over the ridge of the Canadian Shield, and way back down again to normal lake level. This meant locks. 44 locks. Too many locks. I don’t love locks: each one is a more intensified stressful version of docking exactly right, or else risk losing control and causing damage. I ended up more exhausted than usual after a day of locking. Luckily my mom thought it was fun and she enjoyed the constant change of pace. And with no commercial traffic, it really was about as fun as locking can ever be. The whole system runs through the cottage country of Canada, and it felt like one big holiday party. There were boats of all kinds: sailboats, fishing boats, house boats, trawlers, Loopers, weekenders, etc. The lock masters were all extremely helpful and fun to talk to, and everyone we met was amazingly friendly.

Lake Ontario to Lake Huron, bypassing Lake Erie (the red squiggly line)

Zoomed in, rivers and lakes the whole way! Purple dashes are all the locks.

We had a blast stopping in all the little towns, buying cheese and fresh food every evening and exploring the quirks of the corners of Canada. By the time cousin Ellen arrived, we had eaten far too many butter tarts and had picked out one too many future dream cottages.

The day Ellen arrived was an exciting one. Conveniently she was able to bring some gifts from home: more engine oil (YAY), beer, a hockey stick, and a grinder. To explain, any alcohol is heavily taxed in Canada, so all crew members were charged with bringing a case of beer. The hockey stick: the short version, great for fending off lock walls, the long version, please refer to a future blog post. The grinder was critical for turning my conch shell into a super awesome conch horn. I had already wasted a lot of time and energy with a hacksaw unsuccessfully trying to cut the tip off, and the shell is so thick that power tools were the only answer. As luck would have it, we happened to be in the busiest town at the busiest lock on a weekend, and people were everywhere. Not exactly the best scenario for a slightly bizarre project best completed with minimal bystanders. The grinder uses a lot of power, so after showing off the hockey stick we convinced the lock master to let us use their 110V power outlet (unavailable on the boat) and we got to work. We tried to hide behind a building as best as possible, and I hung on to the shell while my mom zinged away. Eventually the lock master had to check out the source of the ruckus, and he was kind enough to not kick us out and actually supported the unconventional use of his AC plug. Thanks Fenelon Falls!

Other highlights of the Trent-Severn:

The Peterburough and Kirkfield lift locks. Google it, and check out the photos. Crazy.

The Big Chute marine railway. Same thing- Google and photos!

The best cherry pie ever from Fenelon Falls

Stopping at locks every night, in beautiful parks with trees and picnic tables

Trying to chill our beer in the water but finding out the water was too warm and resorting to evaporative cooling

The weirdly electric teal blue waters of Lake Simcoe

Not getting run over by people in houseboats who don’t know how to drive houseboats

Getting to take showers for only $3 at one of the locks, SCORE

Curling up in the v-berth in terror as I listened to the scratchy scurrying of some mysterious animal on the deck above me next to the wide-open hatch, and waiting for the moment I would end up with a raccoon falling on my head

Re-wiring/ fixing the plug to the mast wires, making sure the anchor light worked again

Ellen jumping off the boat every time we were in open water for a refreshing swim

Hammocking next to the Kirkfield lift lock while trying to escape oppressive heat (I thought Canada was supposed to be cold?)

SHARPIES and decorating the mast cradle with quotes, doodles, and the number of locks to go through. We had to crawl around it constantly, so we at least had to make it entertaining

Innumerable farmer’s markets

Finding the world’s biggest Toonie in the town of Campbellford

Exploring the “Lost Channel” and finding that cottagers found a way to settle “the most remote and peaceful anchorage in the Trent-Severn”

Going to the bakery in Campbellford at least twice in the same day

Mom and I enjoying wine and cheese while listening to a live concert (Allan Doyle, someone apparently famous?) from across a lake at sunset

Learning that pretty much everything in Canada closes at 5 pm

The Trent-Severn was awesome. Loopers rave about it, and now I know why. There are tons of neat little towns to explore. The house shopping is unparalleled. The friendliest people of the entire loop were abundant. The scenery was spectacular. If you ever have the opportunity to check it out, please do. Thanks Canada!