Day 294 Trent Severn Big Chute

Gorgeous granite bluffs, Today on the Trent-Severn Waterway about MM 200











View from the top, on the bridge of Noah Genda, during our portage of the "Big Chute"
Quite interesting. About 4-minutes from one side of the waterway to other side and launched. Pretty amazing.










Noah Genda tucked in for the night below lock 40, Thorah, Ontario, Trent Severn Waterway. Nice quite night, absolutely no one around. We were the only boat there.













This is what the Big Chute looks like getting ready to unload boats.


















Me on the bow watching us head downhill.





One thing we didn’t previously mention was the ATM service charge of $8.08 for $140.00 in Fenelon Falls. A little pricey don’t you think?

We had a very quiet night all by ourselves above Thorah, Ontario (lock 40) on the Trent-Severn Waterway. Had we known there were docks to tie to right before entering Lake Simcoe, we would have gone another 2 miles, gained a couple of hours on the next day’s destination as well, since we would not have to wait for locks to open at 8:30 A.M. Oh the things you learn on the first time around. The second time around would be so much easier just from your first hand experience.

At the beginning of the Trent Severn at Trenton it was 243 feet above sea level. We traveled up 35 locks to reach 840 feet above sea level. In lock 36 we started locking down and tomorrow we will be at our last lock 45 on the Trent Severn at 576 feet. It took more than 90 years and over $19 million dollars to complete this enormous undertaking. Only 2 locks use marine radios and very few have lights to let you know what is going on. After 240 miles we have experienced 4 types of locks; vertical lifts, step locks, pan locks, and today "The Big Chute". The Big Chute is a railway car that you drive your boat onto; they lift your boat with hydraulic powered slings. Cables pull the railway out of the water and over a highway where it travels down a steep bank to set you back in the water. It is truly an amazing piece of engineering.

The weather has turned spectacular, warm, sunny, low humidity days and cool nights in the 50’s. When we left Albany NY, through the Champlain, Richelieu, Chambly Canal, Montreal, St Lawrence River, Thousand Islands, Kingston and the first half of the Trent-Severn Waterway it rained constantly. There were never two dry days in a row for three weeks. The month of June goes down as Canada’s most precipitation accumulation in recorded history. So this is a welcome weather window. Tomorrow we transit our last lock (lock 45, Port Severn) and complete our journey on the Trent-Severn Waterway. Leaving Port Severn we enter Georgian Bay.