Sunday August 27: Big Chute Railway

We spent a second night in Port Severn - it is getting to be just downright cold! It was time to pull out an extra sleeping bag at night with the low's in the low 40's.

Really don't know where this summer went as it seems it was never really the typical summer up here.

The passcode for the wifi here is WhatSummer17. So it's not just us wondering if summer was really here this year!



Steve was fishing below the falls here and spotted this family of merganser ducks. The crest on the male (left duck) didn't show up very well but they are very unique looking ducks.

Always fun to see.

Besides there were no fish to be seen so might as well take pictures of the ducks :-)

Cold in the morning? Definitely! Mix air temps of 40's with water temperatures of 70's and fog is the result!

Steve had to walk down to see what the fog over the dam looked like but it had started to dissipate by the time he thought to check it out.

And by the time we had breakfast and got moving, it was a nice sunny day - but still very cool air so fleece and jacket to drive.

Destination was below Big Chute - the marine railway. Steve had fished at the very end of the blue line below the railway so the idea was to pull to the blue line after the lock was closed for the day.

In the meantime we were traveling less than 6 miles for the day so we detoured  to a nice looking potential anchorage (always planning for next year :-) ).

Mmm... right depth for fishing - might as well anchor and throw in a line, right?

It turned out to be a really nice day.

The best part? It was a bass hole!




Again, without a net! I can't imagine what he'll pull in next year!

So we ended up with enough fish (this one plus two other smaller ones) for two dinners. Great fun for sure!!

The plan for staying below the marine railway worked nicely. What didn't work was the fishing - way too much seaweed. I'm not sure how long ago Steve tried fishing there but it really was ok as we had enough fish for two days anyway! The kayaking around was good. So calm. Not very much to be seen though - mostly rocks :-)

When the lock opened at 9 the next morning, we were ready to go. No hanging around on the blue line allowed (designated tie up for boats wanting to go through the lock) so we went through even though we were the only boat there.

Which of course meant we were in the front of the railway. It's interesting to see the cables working and the different tracks (for the front and back wheels of the railway car) which makes the car able to maintain a horizontal position relative to the ground.

For background and historical information on the Big Chute railway, click here.

When my family traveled here in the 50's, our boat was transported on both of the original railways at Swift Rapids and at Big Chute! People had to walk up and down over the hill while the boat was being transported and there was no 'leveling' of the railway car - it just went up or down at the same slope as the hill. The boats must have been held down somehow or they would have slid right off!

Tonight we'll head to the Lost Channel - and see if we can find it :-)