The Beautiful Trent-Severn - Trenton to Peterborough

We have found the best cruising thus far.  The Trent-Severn is magnificent, well marked with the easiest and best organized locks.

The scenery is spectacular and the transit was peaceful as we cruised along at very fuel efficient 9 MPH.  Lakes, rivers, canals, hills, trees, homes along the waterfront with docks, and people enjoying life on the water; snowmobiling (PWCs), water skiing, tubing, fishing and wind surfing or just sitting along the banks.  Photos, at least with my camera, cannot capture the entirety of the scenery.

Upscale homes on the waterway

A sense of the waterway

Canal leading to Campbellford

Here's a little background.  The Trent-Severn Waterway winds 240 miles connecting Lake Ontario to Lake Huron's Georgian Bay.  It is considered one of Canada's national historic sights.  Construction was started in 1833 and by 1920 (87 years later) it was open to navigation between the lakes, which was primarily commercial.  Its development has been an ongoing project resulting in a modern waterway dedicated to recreation.  120,000 boats lock through each season.  The Waterway consists of 45 locks, 20 miles of man-made channels, 39 swing bridges and 125 dams.  The highest point is 840 ft above sea level at Balsam Lake.  Parks Canada is responsible for the maintenance and operation, which controls waterflows over a 18,600 sq km area.  Click on the link below for more details.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trent%E2%80%93Severn_Waterway

We've been on the Waterway for three days.  Here's the highlights of each day.

Our jouney started at 7:30 AM on Friday (7/20) when we departed Frazier Marina at Trenton.  20 minutes later we reached Lock 1 (lift 18') and tied up on the "blue line" awaiting the 8:30 AM opening.  Our goal was to be first in line.  Hence the early departure.  Here we experienced the first difference between these and other locks.  You tie up to the wall while waiting instead of burning fuel and fighting winds and current.

Guided Discovery first on the "blue line"

Lock 1 viewed from the "blue line'

The next big differences between this and the other locks we've experienced (i.e., western rivers and Erie Canal) is that the lock walls are clean, thanks to Zebra Mussels, an invasive species (brought in deliberately) and easy thanks to plastic coated cables.  You hook a bow and stern line around the cables, which hold the boat in place as you rise or descend. 

Another unique difference is the lock culture.  First, the lockmasters and their assistants are friendly, helpful and efficient, including operating the process quickly, alerting the next lock of our intentions and calling marinas to arrange dockage.  Next, they help promote the local businesses by handing out city pamphlets.  Then there's the lottery.  At Lock 1 we recieved a ticket with tear off coupons that are handed in at the appropriate lock.  Finally, the lockmasters distribute wildlife cards that indicate the species found in their area.  Bottom line: Locks on the Trent-Severn are fun.  Kodi got lots of attention and treats.

Notice the bow line looped around the cable

At Lock 1 they collect the $4.65 per foot user fee ($223.20 CN for us) for a one way passage.  We paid the fee to Bart, the gentleman from Parks Canada who we met at the Trenton festival.  The whole process of lifting 18 feet and paying our fee took a total of 19 minutes.

Guided Discovery in the lock after the lift

Our friend Bart (collecting our user fee)

Lock worker manually openning the upstream door

The rest of Friday's journey involved 11 more locks for a total lift of 234 feet over 31 miles (and a low 13.4 gallons of fuel).  The final lock on this segment is designated Lock 11/12 at Ranney Falls.  This is a "double lock" with a lift of 48 feet achieved in two 24 foot lifts.  After the first 24 feet the door open into the next chamber.

Lock 11.  Note the clean blue doors to the next lock

We docked on the Campbellford Town Wall at 4:18 PM.  As you can see in the photo below, the town wall runs along a lovely park.  There was water, power connections and clean bathrooms. Dockage was $89.50.

Guided Discovery on Campbellford Town Wall

Saturday morning began with a 5 mile walk with Kodi where we walked south along the waterway to Lock 11/12, east across the swing bridge, north along the channel and finally west across the bridge; a full circle.

Lock 11/12 as vied from the top - Notice the two chambers

On the way I encountered two men picking up trash.  I asked if they were "official" and learned that they were doing it voluntarily - every day.  Turns out the man on the right was the former president of the Rotary Club.  I chatted with them and learned alot about Campbellford and the surrounding cities which form a region with a 20,000 population.

Then we journyed 20 miles and six more locks to Hastings (just after Lock 18).  We had now lifted a total of 368 feet.  Most of this segment was river and canals.

Sunday, we departed Hastings at 9:20 AM and for the first two hours we traversed Rice Lake essentially on a southwest heading.  With 10 to 15 MPH winds on nose we experience waves just under a foot in the mostly open water and a lovely cool breeze (thank you 74 degree water).  At 11:25 AM, we made a hard right turn on to the Otonabee River, which twists and turns for 90 minutes to Lock 18.   Half a mile later we docked at Peterborough Marina having covered 38 spectacular miles (on 18 gallons of fuel).

Guided Discovery at Peterborough

Statistics as of today at Petersborough, ON on the Trent Severn:

• 5,151 Total Miles since beginning of the Great Loop on 10/3/10  5,178 Total Gallons of Diesel Used
•     75 Total Locks
• $3.67   Average Cost of Fuel
• $85      Average Daily Cost of Dockage
• 398      Days on the Great Loop
• $217    Average Cost Per Day

Statistics since leaving Branford Connecticut for Phase II:

• 579    Miles Traveled Since 7/2/12
• 167    Total Gallons Used (includes sea trial)
•   48    Locks
• 376    Total Lift on the Trent Severn

Written by Les.

Crossing Lake Ontario - Oswego to Trenton Ontario

As explained in the previous article, we arrived in Oswego Monday afternoon (7/16/12).  We stayed in Oswego for two days waiting for a weather window to cross Lake Ontario.

Lake Ontario is the smallest of the Great Lakes (7,300 square miles as compared to Lake Michigan's 22,300 square miles).  The lake is 193 miles long with a northeast southwest orientation and 53 miles wide north to south.  Oswego lies essentially at the southeast end.  With prevailing westerly winds, the potential for rough water is very high as waves build as wind blows over distance.

When we arrived at Oswego the wind was out of the northwest at 15 to 20 MPH resulting in 3 to 4 foots waves.  We could see the water breaking over the sea wall.  The winds continued from the northwest on Tuesday as a cold front lingered on an east west line at the north end of the lake.  Tuesday evening the front moved south bringing with it heavy thunderstorms some with hail. We watched the storms on Ron's satellite weather system.

Early Wednesday morning we checked the forecast, which indicated clear skies and winds from the north at 10 to 15 MPH.  Waves at the mid lake bouy were 1.5 feet.  Winds from the north would mean higher waves at the south end of the lake which should diminish as we moved north into the lee shore.  We had our weather window.

We departed Oswego Marina at 8:07 AM and reached the breakwater 8 minutes later where we encountered three foot waves of the starboard quarter.  This is really no problem for the 48.  We put the boat on plane at 22 MPH (2100 RPM @ 34 GP and headed northwest on a course of 306 degrees.  An hour later, we increased to 24 MPH (2200 @ 38 GPH) as waves declined to 2 feet and then 30 minutes later to 29 MPH (2420 @ 45 GPH) when the waves were 1 foot.  We continued at 29 MPH for another hour reaching Presqu'ile Point where we slowed to trawler speed in calm water.

Our route to Trenton took us through the Murray Canal where the Brighton Bridge Tender collected $4.95 (Canadian and US Dollar are on par) by holding out a tin cup on an extendable pole.

Hard to see but the bridge tender is holding a cup on an extendable pole

From the Murray Canal we crossed the Bay of Quinte, which brought us to the City of Trenton and the gateway to the Trent Severn Waterway.  This phase took anothewr 2 hours.

Approaching the City of Trenton

We docked at the Frazier Marina and immediately checked in with Canadian Customs and Immigration by phone.  It was very simple.  Canada's biggest issue is guns.  They do not allow you to bring them into the country.  That said, they do not physically check.

Guided Discovery at Frazier Marina as viewed from the bridge

We also topped of our fuel tanks taking 129 gallons of diesel at $5.15 per gallon ($1.38 per litre).  $5.15 is the highest price we've paid on this trip.   Essentially, the need to run on plane for 65 miles burned approximately 100 gallons of fuel.  While not efficient, it did allow us to cross the lake comfortably.  Note: The weather window was not available on Thursday.  The remaining 25 miles burned 25 gallons.

Frazier Marina was conveniently situated downton and next to two parks, the larger being a lovely War Memorial Park.  Canadians participated in WWI, Spanish Civil War, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War, Afganistan and Iraq.

Trenton, settled in 1784, is a community of 20,000 people.  It is home to an airbase that flies transports (CC 130 & 150s).  We arrived in time to enjoy their "Festival on the Bay."  It was well attended. 

As we walked through town, Diana noticed a gentlemen in a Parks Canada uniform and asked where we could get a Canadian coutesy flag.  In the process, she learned that he was the Lockmaster at Lock 1 on the Trent Severn.  As a result, we got a person orientation of the Trent Severn and the lockinbg process.

Diana and Kodi getting local knowledge from the Lock 1 Lockmaster

Trenton proved to be a nice place and we stayed for two days.  In the process we discovered a nice do park, a walking trail and a lovely restaurant.

We also discovered the Kawatha Voyageur, a 35 cabin ship that offers cruises on the Ontario waterway.  The 5 day Trent Severn cruise goes from Peterborough to the Big Chute (Lock 19 to Lock 44).  The cost is $1,748 per person.  Note: Our cost will be around $2,200 assuming 10 days enroute and that includes all 45 locks.

Kawatha Voyageur heading home after the cruise to the Big Chute

Next the Trent Severn Waterway.

Written by Les.

The Oswego Canal - Brewerton to Oswego NY

At 8:55 AM on Monday morning, we departed Brewerton NY and 90 minutes later we arrived at Three Rivers Junction and the entrance to the Oswego Canal.

We took a hard right (north) and traversed 8 locks to Owsego, NY.  This segment of the trip was very different from the Erie.  The Oswego runs through 4 towns over a 24 mile stretch.  Although the lock structure is the same as on the Erie, the scenery is very different.

The bridge lifts when the lock doors are opened

Approaching the Oswego Lock

As we approached Oswego we saw a unique sight.  The canal runs parallel with the Oswego River and above.  You can see the rapids in the second photo below.

Looking south at the Oswego River adjacent to the canal

Same view from a bridge.  Notice the rapids.

After docking at the Owsego Marina, we explored downtown Oswego and visited the Big M supermarket to provision for the next segment of the trip.  Noteworthy is that Monday was another day with temperatures in the 90s.

A charming Oswego street

At 10:00 AM on Tuesday morning, we caught up with our mail, which contained the electronic charts for the Trent Severn Waterway, the Georgian Bay, and the North Channel.  This required loading two disks to the Sea Ray Navigator II, our Windows based touch screen navigation system.

The loading process took about 30 minutes and involved calling the vendor to get an authorization number.  Talk about copyright protection, I had to give the vendor the product code on the box and another code produced by the system before they would give me the final code.  The process went smoothly except for the fact that it was 90+ degrees.

Portable hard drive hooked up to the Sea Ray Navigator

While we were at the Oswego Marina we met two couples who were also doing the loop, Ron and Sharon from the Blue Heron, a Marlow 57E, and John and Mary on the 38 foot Sea Ray Mary Francis and Ron's friend Rick.  We enjoyed dinner with them at a local restaurant on Tuesday evening and then adjourned to the Marlow to swap great loop, flying and National Guard stories.

Written by Les.

Navigating on the Erie Canal - Schenectady to Brewerton, NY

I've got a mule,
Her name is Sal,
Fifteen years on the Erie Canal.
She's a good old worker
And a good old pal,
Fifteen years on the Erie Canal.
We've hauled some barges in our day
Filled with lumber, coal and hay
And ev'ry inch of the way I know
From Albany to Buffalo.

Low Bridge, ev'rybody down,
For it's Low Bridge,
We're coming to a town!
You can always tell your neighbor,
You can always tell your pal,
If you've ever navigated
On the Erie Canal.

The Erie Canal that we experienced was very different from the song.  There were no mules, no low bridges, no colorful towns, no commercial traffic, no navigation (to speak of) and no pals (i.e., other Loopers).  None.  Here's a short history.

The first interation of the 363 mile Erie Canal was started in 1817.  It was 40 foot wide at the top, 28 feet wide at the bottom with a depth of 4 feet.  There were 83 locks (90' long by 15' wide) and 18 aqueducts.  The canal raised boats 565 feet from the Hudson River to Lake Erie.  The cost was $7,000,000 in 1817 dollars.  It was the undisputed engineering marvel of its day.

The canal was enlarged 27 years later (1862) at a cost of $32,000,000.  Now the depth was 7 feet and the canal was wider (70' at the top, 42' at the bottom).

The version that we traversed was completed in 1918 at a cost of $150,000,000.  This route linked the canal to the Mohawk River creating a wider and deeper route, which was a result of steam engines replacing the mules.  The locks were made larger (328' long by 45' wide) and the number was reduced to 35.  Much of the route was changed.  There are only a few places where the new canal covers the same ground as the original.


Guided Discovery parked next to a remnant of one of the original 18 aqueducts

The canal was originally created as a commercial waterway to link New York City to the mid-western cities on the Great Lakes.  It served that purpose until competetition from the railways and later trucking made the canal less desireable as a way to move goods - not to mention that it froze up during the winter.  Today, there is no commercial traffic on the canal.

Today the canal is totally for recreational boats.  That said, we traversed a total of 21 locks on the Erie and 8 locks on the Oswego Canal and encountered no other recreational boats moving west.  We went through all 29 locks all by ourselves.  Further, we experienced no delays at the locks.  This was a totally different experience that the western rivers where commercial traffic had first priority and there was lots of barge traffic that caused us to wait at many locks.

The Erie locks themselves were also easy, with lines position every 20 feet and cables that we could run a line through.  The lockmasters were incredibly efficient.  For example, they would have the doors closed before we were position for the lift (or drop) and would operate the lock as soon as we were ready.  They also called ahead to alert the next lock, which resulted in the doors being opened when we arrived.

The scenery was pastoral.  The canal and the Mohawk River were lined with hills and trees.  Occassionally we could see the mountains.  The cities are far apart and for the most part not easily accessible.

Houses along the canal were an unusual sight

We entered the canal on Friday, July 13 at Troy and traversed 7 locks stoppingt at Schenectady.  The highlight of that day was a 2.5 mile dingy ride to dinner an the Lighthouse Restuarant.

Lighthouse Restaurant in Schenectady

From Schenectady, we traveled 6 hours, 51 miles and 8 locks to St Johnsville, NY, a town with a population of 1,700.

St. Johnsville was an interesting study in relation to the unemployment problem facing the US.  (Interesting relevant fact: Since 2000, 42,240 factories have closed in the US representing a loss of 5.5 million jobs and a loss of 32% of the US manufacturing capability.)  Several plants closed in St. Johnsville including a shoe and dying, the latter employing 600 people. 

Remnants of a dying plant in St. Johnsville

The result, a very depressed small town with high unemployment. 

I got the story of the dying factory from Milton Smith, a gentleman who had started working at the plant in 1958 for $1.25 per hour.  Milton explained that the plant moved to the south and then later to China.  Today, Milton lives across the street from the remnant of the plant.

Milton Smith of St. Johnsville, NY

The next day we covered 80 miles and 7 more locks traveling from St. Johnsville to Brewerton, NY (on the western shore of Lake Onieda).  We experienced moderate showers for three hours on this leg of the trip.  Because it was a long day (10 hours) we stopped at Bellany Harbor Park to let Kodi have a break.  Most of the 80 miles were on the canal itself which after Johnsville runs straight and true.

At Lock 20 we hit 420 feet above sea level, whereupon we started our descent to Lake Ontario.

The following are photos from our 25 foot descent at Lock 22.

Lock 22 upstream doors are closed

Viewing the upstream doors when we reached bottom

Departing Lock 22 heading down stream

We arrived in Brewerton, NY at 6:50 PM, launched the dingy and dingied over to a lovely restaurant on the southern bank of the river where we dined alfresco. 

Dining alfresco looking over the Mohawk River at Brewerton

All in all three very hot (90's moth of the time) and relaxed but long days on the water.

Kodi enjoying the peaceful voyage

Written by Les.

Now the Erie Canal

Statistics as of today at Schenectady, NY on the Erie Canal:

•   4,810 Total Miles since beginning of the Great Loop on 10/3/10  4,908 Total Gallons of Diesel Used
•        34 Total Locks
• $3.62   Average Cost of Fuel
• $85      Average Daily Cost of Dockage
• 389      Days on the Great Loop
• $216    Average Cost Per Day

Statistics since leaving Branford Connecticut for Phase II:

• 238    Miles Traveled Since 7/2/12
• 167    Total Gallons Used (includes sea trial)
•     7    Locks
• 221    Total Lift above Sea Level

On Thursday (7/12) we departed Catskill, NY at 11:13 PM after refueling (187 gallons @ 4.17/gal), pumping out and filling the water tank.  We also reinflated the special 18" ball fenders that we use in the locks using the air compressor at the marina.  With full fuel and provisions we were ready for the next phasre of our journey.

Guided Discovery at the Riverview gas dock

We also dealth with a stow-away (a Black Swallowtail) who left after I opened the vent window.  Note: I collected butterflies as a kid and caught and mounded another of Black Swallowtails.

Four hours later we arrived in Albany, NY and docked at the Albany Yacht Club (name more impressive than the facility) on the east side of the Hudson (actually Rensellear).  This was a slower run as the current was running against us.  That said, we only lost 1 mile per hour. 

Lighthouse on the way to Albany

Given the 90+ degree temperature and the fact that we were some distance from the city, we passed on exploring the downtown.

Last remaining WWII Destroyer tied up in Albany

View of Albany from the Hudson

On Friday morning (today) at 8:15 AM we were on the river again headed for Schenectady on the Erie Canal, which we reached at 9:52 after passing through Watervaliet and Lock 1, at Troy NY (14 foot lift).

Lock 1 on the Hudson

Enterance to the Erie Canal

The next challenge was Locks 2 through 6, which altogether raise us 169 feet.  These are big lifts, averaging 33 feet each, and this all takes place in a mile and a half.  We traversed these five locks in 91 minutes, largley due to the fact that we were the only boat using the locks and the incredible efficience of the lock operators.

Entering Lock 3 on the Erie Canal

Once we cleared lock 6 we were on the Mohawk River, where we traveled for 2 more hours to Schenectady (including Lock 7 with its 27 foot lift).  All in all, we had lifted 221 feet in a total of 7 locks.  We docked at the Schenectady Yacht Club at 1:40 PM.

Guided Discovery at Schenectady rigged for lock running

We spent part of the afternoon entertaining Kodi.  It started when Diana took Kodi of leash.  Kodi immediately headed into the water and got muddy.  Oops.  Time for a bath.  Before the bath, we let Kodi swim off the boat, which involved taking the dingy of the swim platform.  Kodi had a great time.  However, all good things must come to an end.  We then gave Kodi a well deserved bath.

Around 5:00 PM, Kodi and I dingied 2 miles west to explore the city when we discovered the The Waters Edge Lighthouse Restaurant right on the river. Ileft Kodi on a porch by the bar enterance while I went in to check the menu.  When I returned to Kodi she was engaging four of the wait staff who had voluntarily brough her a bowl of water.  We then entertained the them with our classic repetoir of Kodi tricks, which including her counting to all number between one and five and reteiving objects (her collar and leash in the correct order).

The Waters Edge Lighthouse Restaurant

At 6:30 PM, Diana and I dingied back to the Lighthouse for a spectacular dinner.  It was great fun speeding up and down the flat water at 20 MPH.

Written by Les.