Fenelon Falls ON to Kirkfield Lock
We are officially nowhere. We had a pretty short trip today.
We left Fenelon Falls when the lock crew showed up at 10am and could put us through.... But ended up stuck there for a while because the lock (which is automated) was blowing circuit breakers and wouldn't open for the lock master.
As we exited the lock we saw the rocks on the left. Neatly stacked by humans to draw attention to the massive shelf of rock just below the surface and just off the channel.
Without those little stacks it would be easily possible to run into that sheer rock cliff under the surface.
After a while she figured out how to get it to open and we were able to break free and head to our second lock of the day. This one was tiny and an easy pass.
They informed us, however, that our next lock was the Kirkfield Lift lock and it's on a maintenance day meaning they were not taking any traffic until 1pm so we might as well go slow or hold up for a while because we would be waiting in line behind at least five boats if we were there before they would take a boat.
So we went slow. And we stopped at a marina for a pump out and fresh water refill. Most expensive pumpout of the trip... It basically came to $40. Still - sewage is empty, water is full. That's good since we didn't know what was ahead.
This is the tightest and shallowest part of the whole great loop. The channel was about 25ft wide at times (our boat is 47 long so no turning around once you are in it) and the wind was a blowing.
We were instructed to announce a securite' call on the radio before entering the channel as there's no passing boats going opposite directions in here... At least not sizeable boats....
We had originally planned to head to Orillia on Lake Simcoe today. That plan was quickly thwarted. As soon as we got to the lock we could see they were clearing the last two of the five boats in line so we moved to the other lift lock and tied up waiting our turn.
Then nothing. And nothing. Eventually someone came out and explained that it was not likely we would get through the lift today because it's having mechanical issues and they weren't sure they could clear them before they left at 3:30pm.
Government. Now their govt and US govt people are feeling more similar. We are stuck at the highest point on the great loop.
15 miles today. Wow. We are near nothing here. No town. No nothing. There is a road that is well traveled but it's a long distance to anything. I told Katie we could have quality time together.... She asked if I could get the Internet working again.
.... And just as I hit publish they came out and said they would let us drop through the lift lock.... So we did.
