Travels with KOKOMO II: Aug 21, Campbellford, ON

We started cruising north from Trenton on the Trent-Severn Waterway today.

The first bridge as we leave the marina in Trenton and enter the Trent-Severn Waterway. There is no wind in the early morning.

Trent-Severn starts in Trenton, which is the same level as Lake Ontario, and which is 243 feet above sea level. From there we lock up some 35 locks to a height of 840 feet above sea level (at Balsam Lake) and then lock down seven more locks and use the "Big Chute" (a railway) to get down to Port Severn, at 576 feet above sea level. That level, 576 feet above sea level, is the level of the Georgian Bay, Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. The total trip on the Trent-Severn Waterway will be 240 miles and there will not be any more locks until we reach Chicago.

Lock #1 with the main Canadian rail line bridge overhead as we enter.

The Trent-Severn is made up of scenic rivers and lakes connected by dug canals and locks which raise and lower the boats to the level of the rivers and lakes. To locate this on your map, find Toronto and go north abour 60 miles. This is where lots of families from Toronto go to vacation. There are lots and lots of second homes.

Today we left Trenton about 8:30 and moved north about 30 miles through 12 locks to the pretty little town of Campbellford, Ontario. The Trent-Severn Waterway and locks are designated as a "National Historic Site of Canada" and are operated by "Parks Canada". Everyone working in the locks was very friendly and commenting on the great weather we are having. It was clear today with no wind and about 80 degrees. Beautiful! The lock tenders at each lock presented us with collector cards featuring wildlife we might encounter on the waterway. The cards depict birds, reptiles and fish that frequent this area. Each lock has a different card for us and we are building up our collection. The lock tenders are saying they are very glad for the good weather. They say July and early August have been very rainy with rain 18 of the last 21 days. Glad we are here now as it is very pretty. All the lawns at the locks are green (have to be cut every 3 days) and last year everything was brown from lack of rain.

Grounds at the locks are pretty and green.

Famous bakery in Campbellford

We arrived in Campbellford about 3pm and headed straight for the famous Dooher's Bakery. Got some doughnuts and stickey buns and bread. This crew travels on it's stomach - and loves the bakeries. We are docked in the middle of town with power and some (intermittent) internet access. The bad news: We missed one set of markers about 2pm coming out of lock 9, and we grounded. Good news: We backed off about 5 minutes later without any apparent damage. No vibration and no leaks and we figured we were lucky.