Monday June 27: Almost to Simcoe

It was pretty windy when we arrived at Coboconk yesterday but that didn't deter Steve and Craig from doing a bit of kayaking.

The report back was "a few turtles and small fish" but nothing terribly great - I think my decision to sit this one out was a good one :-)

It was kind of a lazy day. Coboconk is a very small town with just a few stores of interest. Mostly the $1 store as we were interested in a new shower head. I 'fixed' the one we have so it was easier to shut on/off but somehow it developed a serious leak that sent water squirting all over the bathroom! But it was a success for a new one so that was a good score.

Wifi at the library was too weak to even check email on the phone. Sad that it didn't reach much past the front door. I had thought I might try again today but somehow that never happened!

Dockage for the night was at the public dock near the downtown bridge. Free - provided by the town.

The local kids still jump off of the bridge. Guess some things never change :-)

Out for breakfast at the Gull and then it was time to continue our travels. We were planning on going about 25 miles or so to spend the night at one of the 5 locks which will take us down to the level of Lake Simcoe.



Once off of Balsam Lake, we traveled on the very narrow Trent Canal - a hand dug channel that was the first part of moving through small lakes to the locks that would lower us down in elevation. Up until now, we were moving up. Balsam Lake is the summit of the canal system and this marks the highest point in the world that a boat can reach from the sea under its own power!


It's a waterway with easily visible rock ledges to the sides and it was quite interesting when this pontoon boat was coming the other direction! I wan't sure there was enough space for it to pass by Rahn de Vous! But no issues. Craig found a spot that was a bit wider the the passing.

It wasn't long before we arrived at the lift lock at Kirkfield - our first down lock.

This is the second of two lift locks - this one isn't quite as tall as the one in Peterborough and definitely not as well traveled.


As many of this kind of lock as we have traveled through, it's still fun to look out over the edge and see nothing below :-)








And of course there is always the 'hole in the wall' bridge - built in 1905.

Fun to watch Rahn de Vous pass under it.

We ended up settling in for the day at the next-to-last lock before Simcoe.

Forecast for the getting across the sometimes nasty lake looks great. It wasn't going to be sunny but the winds were less than 12 mph - good enough for us!

Should be in Orillia tomorrow ......