Fri July 20th, Day 77: Chief Island to Port Severn – Today was to be our final day on the Trent-Severn, and one of the more interesting ones. After pulling up our anchor, we headed down the canal, and approached a railroad bridge which was, as luck would have it, was down due to the train crossing it. After 10 minutes, that train passed, and then we were told by the railroad worker on the trestle, that it would remain down to allow another train to pass. After about 30 more minutes, the 2nd train had gone by, and we were allowed to proceed. Standing in the same spot in the middle of a narrow river, with several other boats, was somewhat challenging. We had ahead of us another lift-lock, the Kirkfield lift lock, which happens to be the 2nd highest in the world, just after the Peterborough Lift Lock. Since we had now passed over the summit of the canal, all of the locks from this point forward were to move us lower in elevation. So we were going to get to experience a drop, instead of a lift, on one of these locks. Peering over the front of the lock as it dropped us down gave us a different perspective of this type of lock. Further down the canal we also needed to traverse the famous Big Chute, which is actually a combination of boat slings on a submerged railroad car, that picks up boats into the slings, out of the water, and carries them over a road, and then slides down a relatively steep hill dropping them on the other side. Before taking our turn on the Big Chute, we parked Rickshaw off to the side, and walked up to the canal to watch other boats going through. After gaining a better understanding of what to expect, we returned to Rickshaw and moved to the blue line on the dock, which would tell the operators that we were in line to be carried up and over. After several minutes, we heard our boat being called over the PA system to proceed forward into the carriage, where the lock workers expertly positioned the slings fore & aft, picked us up out of the water, then pushed the levers forward to start the train wheels and cables up and over the hill and down the back side. While out of the water, Jim asked one of the workers to check out my props for any signs of dings or dents due to the bumps along the way. He reported that the port prop did have a few dings on it, which I had suspected might be true because I had felt a slight vibration on that side of the boat. After being dropped into the lower basin, we proceeded the final few miles to the end of the Trent-Severn, Port Severn on the eastern shore of Georgian Bay. In Port Severn, we celebrated our completion of this part of our journey by pulling into an upscale resort marina, where we met up with Carl & Rickie on Quest (which we had met originally in York River) and were surprised by the early arrival of Al & Dawn, who were to stay with us throughout our exploration of Georgian Bay & the North Channel for the next 2 weeks. Since Al & Dawn had done the loop from New York to Florida last year on their 39ft sailboat, we welcomed their arrival and their help during the upcoming section of the trip.
 One of the very comfortable patios along the water's edge.  We felt like our anchor was almost in the cockpit of the boat in front of us. This was a tall lock and it was full of boats.  Jim watching this load of boats being lowered down the tracks.  The bigger boats loaded in the rear have to hang off the carridge.  |  Waiting on the train so the bridge can swing open for us with Wind Song and another boat.  Another very nice patio. This one is covered with hammacks.  Boats have been loaded on the carridge that is on submerged tracks at this point.  Its Rickshaw's turn to go down the Big Chute. Here we are going up the tracks to cross the street. |  A beautiful wooden boat.  The carrage submerged before any boats are loaded.  The carridge is crossing the road like a train. The crossing arms are down and traffic has been stopped.  The view from Rickshaw at the top of the Big Chute. It is a little scary since we can't see the bottom. We threw up our arms and yelled Ye-ha!!  We were told to watch for rocks - we thought they just meant under the water. But here the rocks stick out the side of the canel. |
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