Kirkfield Lock - Another Amazing Feat of Engineering

As we cruised through the Lock at Bobcaygeon we noticed Muddy Waters just beyond the Lock. Jennifer was exercising on the top deck and Michael and Daria were cooking breakfast. Sorry to have missed them last night.

Muddy Waters, Michael, Jennifer, Keegan and Daria. Daria is BooBoo's good buddy.

Not many locks today but slow cruising through some shallow areas. As we watch the depth sounder, we watched as 5 feet to 5.5 feet was common. Crawdad’s draft (how deep the water needs to be for our keel) is 4.5 feet. We were a bit nervous and thinking about Salt and Sand with a draft a few inches more than we. Salt and Sand is a Sea Ray 54 feet long.

Looking a bit narrow, but oh, so pretty! As long as we don't hit a deadhead (log floating under water) we are going to love this run!

The channels were carved out of stone. Next to the channel there are mounds of stone. You can see where it was broken off for the Waterway.

Other parts of the cruise were pleasant across Sturgeon Lake. Again, so ma
ny cottages!

Renee from Canada. He is doing the Loop singlehanded (with two small dogs) as his wife died less than a year ago. She wanted him to go without her. He does amazingly well in the locks by himself.

My favorite boathouse so far. Love the window flower box! And the flag! Canadians are very patriotic. We see many, many Canadian flags.

What can drive a guy to stand up in a boat with his back to his pal, trying to catch fish - of which he probably catches none worth while. Looks like a blast.

As we approached the Kirkfield Lock, we tied on the blue line to see if t here were other boats below the lock. Kirkfield is the first Lock to drop us down, instead of raising us up. Kirkfield is the highest point that can be reached by boat from the Atlantic. Actually, Kirkfield is a pan lock, just like Peterborough. But the support system is not as dramatic and massive.

Brian and Bev from Magic Kingdom. We have moored next to them twice and seen them in the locks two more times. Nice couple from Fenlon Falls, ON.

What a crowd at the lock in Fenlon Falls. Nice town and nice people! They all waved us on! We are charged!

Sometimes they SQUEEZE us into the lock. Our mast is still down until we complete the Trent Severn. We could not pass under the bridges with our mast up. Our height with the mast up is 24 feet. Many of the bridges are 22 feet or less.

Another ho-hum day. I'd rather be in my yard in Michigan chasing squirrels and acting like I'm an angel when Mom comes outside.

 

Shenanigans following us in the channel.

Now we know where the buoys are born.

Moored on the wall at Kirkfield Lock. Only one other boat was moored with us. Incredibly quiet and serene.

Kirkfield Lock from the top. Kirkfield is another lock with large pans that drop or rise based on adding or dropping a foot of water in the pan.

We traveled up the locks until Kirkfield, now we are traveling down the locks. Much easier to travel down than up the lock.

The door to the lock falls to let the boat out. After we were in the lock, the door raised back up to secure us in the pan.

The road runs under the channel and lock.

The big panel up above is the side of the outside of the pan.

The pan is now down.

With Grianan, we enjoyed a peaceful evening with dinner together on Grianan’s flybridge. We cook our own entrees and share our veggies, rice & potatoes and dessert. Great meal of salmon, wild rice, roasted zucchini and fruit salad. What restaurant could be better than that!  We really enjoy the company of Greg and Kate from Grianan.