August 13, 2008: Orillia, Ontario

After watching the huge Kiwartha Spirit tour boat totally fill the lock before us, we locked through at Fenelon Falls and headed out to the Trent Canal. This is a narrow canal flanked by heavy forests with Christmas trees thickly lining the shore. At times the banks give way to fields of cattails and lilypads and then again, there will be a log cabin with a lush green lawn and flower pots on the bank.

I had a thought about the pictures that I had taken of trees that had started turning fall colors. I did realize that they were sugar maple trees, both yellow and red, and had taken several pictures of them. I was thinking about how they stood out against all the evergreens, cedars, spruce and Christmas trees, when it suddenly dawned on me that there must be a lot of maples and people must always notice them. Canada is the country of the red maple leafs... just look at their flag!

Nest we came to the Kirkfield lock which is another lift lock; it is just smaller than Peterborough. It descends 49 feet, and was fun because this time we locked down in the big swimming pool. It gave you the sensation of a ferris wheel when you come over the top and the ground rushes up to you. At Kirkfield we reached the summit of the Trent Severn Waterway and all the locks ahead will be passageway descending. It is always easier to go down because the water leaves the lock and you don’t have to deal with the turbulence of the filling. Leaving the Kirkfield Lock, we entered the Talbot river and enjoyed the scenery, again some farms and cattle lounging in the cattails.

Then there was the “hole in the wall”. This is a stone bridge where the passage way is a circular tunnel underneath. The interesting thing, if you remember your solid geometry, is that the slice for the passage way was not perpendicular to the roadway above. The bridge, built in 1905 was designed so that the tunnel was parallel to the channel of the waterway. Very cool!

This afternoon we cruised across Lake Simcoe which was glassy, but not smooth if you are a water connoisseur. Tonight we are at the Hot Knots Marina in Orillia, along with several yacht basins across from a natural marsh area. We can hear the calls of Canadian geese, but not see them for the grass. Eight more locks clicked through today.