Days 30 - 33 - Thrills and Spills

 

Orillia to Lock 42

A terrible moment occurred last night. We had just finished our dinners and were relaxing in the salon. The door was open and Mister Huxley had gone for her usual evening constitutional. The wind kept blowing the cat gate down so I had elected to leave it off for the time being as there was really only one other inhabited boat on our pier and long distances to any others. I was startled suddenly by a pitiful yowling coming from outside and, realizing that something must be up with Huxley, ran out. Brooke grabbed a flashlight and followed right behind me. I couldn't see Huxley but the yowling seemed to be coming from right under the dock. Looking over the side I spotted Mister Huxley, her claws somehow lodged into the support structure under the dock. Later we would remark how amazing it was that she managed to hang on there as the structure appeared to be made out of metal or strong plastic material of some kind. (We never did find out how she had managed to fall in but suspicions ranged from strangers on the dock to simple slippage. If she fell between the boat and the finger pier, she would have had to swim all the way around it to end up where she did.)

I got down on my stomach, reached under and hauled a soaked and shaking Mister Huxley up onto the dock. We quickly moved her inside and towelled her off. Aside from the scare she seemed to be okay but for some slight bleeding where her claws had been pulled back a bit. After a while she ate some food and began a cleaning session that went on for hours. We, however, were shaken and it was some time before we could get back to normal calmness. 

 

Mister Huxley after the spill

The next morning we pack up and head out to seek a new spot for the night. We had heard that the lock at Talbot, Lock 42, was a pretty area and at this time of the year we hoped that it would be relatively unpopulated. The trip up Couchiching Lake is fine and what wind there is blows from our stern and pushes up the water with no problem. We arrive at Lock 42 and find that it is, much as described, a nice place. We proceed through the lock as there are a couple of boats camped for the night at the top and take a place by ourselves at the bottom. 

Our resting spot as seen from the top of Lock 42

The cats have a great time scampering around in the brush and Mister Huxley seems to have completely gotten over her slip into the drink. 

Missy the cat looks on enviously from the opposite shore as Hattie & Huxley play

We eat stuffed pork chops from the BBQ and enjoy the surroundings. This might be the last fine weather we will have for a while as it seems things will be getting a bit nasty for the next few days.

Lock 42 to Sparrow Lake Chute Anchorage

The weather is iffy and it looks like we’re in for some major rain. We saunter along the canals and small lakes at a peaceful five knots until we spot an anchorage suggested in the Ports guide. It is in a little bay with good depth so we drop anchor. The wind changes and it becomes necessary to drop another anchor off the stern to keep ourselves from swinging onto the rocky shoreline. The rain begins and it is a deluge that keeps up all night.

In an effort to further impress you with our fine cuisine, I’ll say that we had a dish composed of pork sausage-stuffed peppers with spring salad and New Orleans-style rice and beans. How’s that?

The next morning we find that the securing anchor we fed off the stern has gone under the boat and we have to be careful not to foul it in on the gear underneath as a dive into this rapidly cooling water would be a harsh challenge. We manage to get the rope out by raising the anchor with the help of the boat hook, removing it from the anchor clip and pulling the rope free from the other end. Onwards…

Anchorage to Severn Falls Marina

The scenery in this part of the Muskokas is quite brilliant and we pass many remarkable pictures-in-waiting including the unpainted Group of Seven shown below. It takes us much longer than necessary to get anywhere as we gawk our way along. 

Unpainted Group of Seven

We stop at the lock at Swift Rapids. This is the highest conventional lock on the system at 44 feet, but is a pretty quick descent. We consider staying at the wall here as it is very quiet and secluded since there is no road access. The lock staff has to bicycle in to get to it. However, there are strong winds a’coming and we’re running low on provisions so we decide to stop in at the Severn Falls Emporium where there is, amongst other things, a town dock and an LCBO agency. Hurray.

The town dock at Severn Falls is a rickety affair and we’re quite high off of it so stepping down is a little difficult. Mister Huxley has no trouble jumping down though. We go to the store and buy some things and rent two DVD’s; a so-so comedy with Rowan Atkinson (Johnny English, Reborn) and a not very scary horror film produced by Guillermo Del Toro (Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark). In hindsight, the producers probably found that telling people not to be afraid while watching their so-so horror film was a mistake. We find that the old dock, with no facilities except 30 amp power, is going to cost us $1.25 / foot. Bit of a rip, actually.

We’re getting close to the end of this season’s travels now and we wish the weather could be more co-operative. Tomorrow there are meant to be gale-force winds (over 35 knots) and we’ll have to have a plan in case we can’t proceed. I have to be back in Toronto for work on Wednesday and the truck is in Port Severn.

The rain holds off though and we do enjoy some sun time. To prepare for the winds tomorrow we decide to take the bimini cover down off the bridge. The newly-made cover comes down quickly and easily and the supporting struts are simple to secure. We are very happy with our new bimini. (Constructed by Bennett Custom Canvas of Etobicoke)

Severn Falls Marina to The Big Chute

Misty morning at Severn Falls

This morning is beautiful and mist-coated and the winds seem to be holding off for us. We decide to make the short run to the The Big Chute. Big Chute is a marine railway that actually takes your boat out of the water on a big car that descends into the water. You ride into it, slings raise you up and the whole car rides 400 metres down to the lower side of the Chute. Then it slides back into the water, the slings come off and your drive out of it.

We see it in action this morning and look forward to the ride tomorrow. The predicted winds are somewhat less than announced and we are quite comfortable on the public docks.

Day 27 - 29 - Coasting Lake Simcoe

Lock 38 – Talbot

When we arrive at Lock 38, otherwise known as Talbot Lock, we are happy to find that there is nobody else there at all and we have our choice of wall positions. We back into a spot at the start of the lock and decide to stay the night as it is  such a nice area. 

Misty morning at Lock 38

Brooke gets in touch with friends Ron and Sarah Baird and it is arranged that they will come and get us and take us to their home in Beaverton for wine and cheese. How’s that for service? Ron is an accomplished sculptor and his home is filled with wonderful pieces, mostly his but also some from his partner, Sarah. Ron designed and built the sculpture that sits at the entrance to the Barrie Harbour in Heritage Park. We will soon see it.

Dream Catcher by Ron Baird

We eat, drink and have cultured conversation, of the sort that Misters Huxley & Hattie just can’t provide... unless we’re discussing cat food. (Which we often do.)

Mister Hattie catches a dream of Cat Food

 Beaverton Harbour

There seems to be a weather window happening the day after tomorrow for the crossing of Lake Simcoe, something we are being cautious about as it can blow up pretty fast and usually from the south which would mean crossing on a ‘beam’ sea, meaning we would be hit from the side by wind and waves and rock on, nauseatingly. We decide to finish up with the locks on this side and stay in Beaverton Harbour for the night. As we exit the lock 41, we realize that there are now only four locks left between us and Georgian Bay and Port Severn where the boat will live for the winter. The Trent is almost done.

Men working the lock mechanism

Beaverton Harbour is small and the town dock is just a wall with cleats on it, but as it is now off-season it is free and that is a good thing. We arrive to find the wall full but for one small space only a couple of feet wider than our length. But with some careful maneuvering and with the help of a passing biker, we pull in snug to the back of a tiny motor boat; a tiny motor boat that would have been crushed like a pancake if we had gone in badly.

We provision in town where the fall fair is happening and later the sound of tractor pulls and midway rides can be heard in the distance from the harbour. The parking lot of the Harbour seems to be a meeting place for many people; youngsters, fishermen, young guys on the prowl, etc. At one point, several young guys (thirty year-old knuckleheads, actually) hover in the doorway of a nearby boat house and fire an air-rifle across the parking lot trying to hit a tin can lodged in the stone wall of a municipal building. Don’t they know beer and guns just don’t mix?

Local yahoos target shooting across the parking lot

But that mayhem eventually dies down and we cook steaks and watch movies until we get tired and fall asleep. No more gunfire.

Town of Barrie Municipal Marina

We are up at 0730 to catch the calm waters of the morning for the Lake Simcoe crossing. It will be a three-hour haul and I am hoping that the predicted winds stay that way… predictable. At first it seems like we might be in for a bit of ride, but further out we find that the waves are tolerable and we make our way to Kempenfelt Bay. If you look at a map, you’ll see that Kempenfelt Bay is almost as long as the lake is wide and half of the trip is motoring up to the end of it where the town of Barrie awaits.

We arrive in the large marina of Barrie harbour and get a berth near some shiny police boats. The area is fenced in so Huxley is allowed to wander around a bit. She disappears for a while and when I go to get her she is happily cleaning herself on the back of somebody’s million dollar boat. She likes to do this from time to time. It doesn’t seem to bother other boaters when she comes to visit, but I can’t help but feel that eventually she’s going to leap on-board some boat to find a sleeping dog waiting for her there.

We are in Barrie, which is off of our route really, mainly to visit my brother Chris and my niece Melissa and her daughter, Alexis, but only Chris can make it along as the baby is sick, so that is a bit of a disappointment. But good to touch base with him. I did manage, however to get in touch with an old high-school friend, Jersene Joy, whom I haven’t really seen for 40 years (except for once, briefly, a couple of years ago at a high-school re-union). She and her husband Tony, a fireman, come to the boat for a glass of wine and we talk about some of the old days, the people and catch up on life’s doings. A pleasant time is had by all.

This was on the morning of the following day and realizing that bad weather is imminent for Tuesday, we decide to make the run up to Orillia despite the predicted 30 km/hr winds. Since the wind will be coming from the south and we are heading north for the most part it shouldn’t be too bad with our ‘following’ sea. We might even pick up a knot or so of speed.

Heron on the run

The ride turns out as expected and we arrive in the Port of Orillia marina in due course. This marina has a very strange policy once the season is over (Sept.1). If you stay as a paid guest for Thursday, Friday or Saturday nights, you can stay for free from Sunday to Wednesday. This is great unless you’re arriving on one of those free days because there is nobody working there and the power boxes are locked. Fortunately, we run into Larry, a fellow boater whom we met in a lock before he passed on ahead of us to Orillia. He guides us to a slip that another boat just vacated and the power is still on. He also gives us the code to the washroom/showers and the log-in code for the internet. What a guy.

The nice day gives way to the forecast rain and we batten down the hatches as it were. Well, exactly as it was actually. Tomorrow we are renting a car to drive back to Fenelon Falls, pick up the truck and ferry it to Port Severn.

Day 26 - Up the Lazy River

BBQ pork dinner at Rosedale. Note the freshly made Lock-master's Hut Bread

 After a pretty lazy two days at Rosedale, we head off across Balsam Lake to enter the Talbot River on route to Lake Simcoe. First stop would be Kirkfield lift-lock; second only to the Peterborough lock in height and one of only nine such locks in the world. Truly a wonder…

 The journey to the lock from Balsam Lake is one of the nicest we have yet encountered with dark, leafy channels that hem the boat in from the sides and steep, rocky banks that descend into the water at 90 degrees; hewn from the living rock. 

Flora on the bank of the Talbot River

It is quiet and we are the only boat for the most part, although the massive Spirit of The Kawarthas tour boat makes the journey some distance behind us with the radioed warning that any boats heading downstream would have to give way as she demands the centre of the channel because of her draft and the channel is not very wide to begin with. We pass an older gentleman in a cruiser who has agreed to the challenge and awaits the passing of The Spirit under a bridge. The larger boat thanks him by radio and proceeds at dead-slow as the curve of the channel bed would suck the smaller boat below its hull.The Spirit can be seen in the upper chamber of the lift-lock in the photo below.

Mister Huxley enjoying the view as we glide by, inches away from the rocky bank of the Talbot River. The other bank was only slightly further away on the port side.

We motor on, just ahead of The Spirit, at a slow 6 knots, the better to enjoy the passing shoreline and avoid the many stumps, dead-heads and shoals. A Great Blue Heron takes off from beneath our mid-ships and leads us up the channel as a small creature, possibly a mink, swims from one shore to the other. We pass a cave cut into the rocky side of the channel and I notice that there is a ladder that has been placed inside that suggests an opening further up the wall.

"Spirit of the Kawarthas" maneuvering and trying not to crush us

We make the lift-lock and enjoy the swift ride down and tie up at the Kirkfield lock wall with the intention of spending the night. We had hoped to bicycle the two miles into Kirkfield to get some supplies, but the day is hot and the road straight and uninteresting so we decide to forgo it. 

Kirkfield Lift Lock

We also decide to forgo staying at the lock as it becomes apparent that we would have to pay the .90 cents a foot for the privilege of staying there and using their washroom. We decided instead to head for Sunset Cove Marina that will put us in good position to make a run for the often treacherous Lake Simcoe and our new destination, Barrie, where we hope to meet up with some family members. Lake Simcoe is shallow and large and winds and storms can happen up quickly so we want to have as calm a day as possible to head out into her.

We arrive at the marina, make a berth there, have some much-needed showers and await a pizza delivery from nearby Beaverton. We haven’t got a lot of on-board supplies left, so hopefully we can get underway to Barrie soon. Our next stop will be the lock at Portage where we will await favourable winds for our crossing of Simcoe. There are storm clouds a-brewing.

Day 25 - Bread-making in the Kawarthas

Being back on the boat after an extended stay in Toronto (other than a brief visit with my brother, Lee) is certainly a great relief. Things were backing up all over the place at home, details of which aren’t really relevant here for the most part, and the distance from all that is… helpful.

Brooke is recovering nicely from having her nose operated on to get rid of the basal cell carcinoma, and yesterday I cut the stitches out. Shipboard, Cappie has to tend to many solemn duties…

We have escaped from the Fenelon Falls marina and after a short voyage across Cameron Lake; we are holed up on the wall at Lock #35, Rosedale. This lock is a very nice one; quiet, grassy and far from roads. The lock crew here is a bit glum, however, probably as a result of our whacky government’s threat to cut back on everything the system offers next year, including a shortened season and less hours for the lock-masters on both the Trent and Rideau systems. It will be a shame if The Regime gets away with this as the locks are an important part of the local communities as well as a great boon for the boaters. You can read about the situation at  http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2012/08/10/ottawa-rideau-canal-fees-operating-hours.html .

Yesterday, after the lock men had left, we went over and plugged our bread-maker into the receptacles on the lock hut wall. Aren’t we sneaky? Well, we don’t have power here on the wall and the bread-maker takes a lot. This morning we had French toast made from the resulting loaf. Jealous? You can see Cappie, scurrilously tapping into the Feds electrical system in the photo below. View it larger if you can.

It looks like we will spend another night here as it is so comfortable and they aren’t charging us anything for some reason. Maybe as a result of the situation noted above. Mister Huxley sure likes the freedom to roam. The fall hours, 9-4pm are great for us as it means less boat traffic and privacy in the late afternoon and evening. Fall is definitely a great time to be on the Trent.