Saturday August 11: Port Severn - Gateway to Georgian Bay!

We left Orillia but not before taking a few pictures of the area. It is such a wonderful waterfront.

Very well designed spaces - both for sitting and people watching and for walking.




One very visible change is the absence of the statue of Champlain - which has been removed primarily due to the deteriorated base. The real question is whether or not it will be returned to this spot.

The statue has been in the park since 1925. The deteriorating base was the original reason for the removal of the statue but since it has become a controversial issue concerning the relationship between Champlain and the indigenous tribes in the area. Not sure what will happen.

It wasn't an early start on Thursday which turned out just as well as when we arrived at Couchiching Lock only to discover a back-up of boats due to a broken cable.

With a packed lock each time down, it took about an hour and a half to clear up the backlog of boats!

McDonald's cut.

From there the Trent waterway follows the Severn River. A beautiful area that marks the beginning of the granite outcroppings that are so typical of Georgian Bay.

This cut is called McDonalds cut - couldn't find out very much of the history of this area other than this was the cut (literally) that in the end connected the Severn River with the final waterway to Port Severn and permitted the completion of the waterway which connects Lake Ontario to Georgian Bay and the western Great Lakes of Huron, Michigan and Superior.

Looking East toward Swift Rapids Lock.

We docked for the night at the bottom of Swift Rapids lock - one of four boats that ended up spending the night there. Peaceful and quiet :-)

As this lock replaced a marine railway and is now the deepest drop conventional lock on the system, the view from the top of the lock gives some perspective of how far down we are! Wonder what would happen if the lock doors broke .....

Saturday was a beautiful day - no wind. This is such a wonderful area and we appreciated the windless trip to the next lock. It's definitely not been like this for many of the trips through here :-)

We wanted to stop at the Waubic Inn for breakfast but there was no room at the dock so we moved on - we knew there was a marina that served a good breakfast at Big Chute - the next lock.



Just about every place buildable has a cottage on it. Not sure what happened to this little place. Snow damage or a tree fall? Probably next year it will be replaced by a newer and better version.






The entertainment of the morning was kindly proved by the marina trying to pull this boat out of the water. The hydraulic trailer was pulled by a semi - but with little weight on the rear 4 wheels, the truck just couldn't get the traction it needed.

Finally, they hooked a good sized pick-up to the semi and managed to get it out. Not sure what the issue was but it was nice for the folks on it that the marina was successful!

Big Chute Marine Railway

Big Chute was, as always, fun to cross. The carriage was coming toward us with 4 boats aboard. We were next in line and ended up in the front for a change.

One boat came behind us and two boats to our left also fit.

This picture shows the path the large carriage takes as we travel down the hill to enter back into the water. This could have also been a large conventional lock, but by hauling boats and transporting them out of the water,  it was an effective barrier that prevented the sea lamprey from entering the Trent-Severn waterway.





We continued on to Port Severn and once again, our favorite spot was available! We spent Friday and today here. The weekend is NOT the time you want to go into Georgian Bay as everybody and their brother will be at the Provincial Park on Beausoleil Island.



In the meantime, Steve fixed my bike. The shifter was VERY hard to shift and even if I managed to get it shifted into a low gear, I had to hold it to keep ir from shifting to a higher gear. Just not the way it should be! Randy and Steve took it apart a number of days ago and then Steve found a bike shop in Orillia that had a replacement shifter that fit.

Good to go :-)

Off first thing tomorrow for fuel and then through the locks to Georgian Bay :-) Also known as the land of no internet - literally!