Another beautiful day to continue our journey on the Trent Severn.
We headed out into Lake Couchiching, pronounced Coo-ca-Ching or Cooch as the Canadians call it. The lake is seven miles long and you have to mind the channel to stay out of the weeds. Bill has braved the very cold waters once to untangle the prop of weeds and he hopes to avoid having to do it again!
Threading our way between two islands in the middle of the lake, we pass shorelines filled with homes and lots of water toys. The only forested areas belong to the Indian Reservation. On the north part of the lake the First Nation Indians have a marina and casino!
As we traveled north on the lake, it narrows and again we enter the canal section of the Trent Severn. This part of the canal is heavily forested and it feels like you are blazing a trail through the wilderness.
Further along in the canal we came to a railroad bridge which warned us there was high train traffic today. So guess what, we had to wait! As the channel was narrow, we rafted with On Business to wait for the train.
The train came, a long freight train with double stacked semi trailers and two engines from the Northern Canadian line and the swing bridge opened. It took the bridge tender three pulls on his gasoline generator to power the bridge so it could close.
One mile later, we came to Lock 42, Couchiching, and tied up to the blue line for a 15 minute wait for a boat to finish locking up. Our turn came and we entered the lock, dropping 20 feet.
As we left the lock we returned to the canal with a shoreline filled with lovely homes and cottages. Next we traveled through another swing bridge, but this one was a road and opened right up for us. Here we enter the Severn River section of the waterway system. The Severn River winds its way to Lake Sparrow and then becomes a series of bays and very small lakes which eventually lead to Port Severn, the terminus of the Trent SevernWaterway 26 miles away.
The first lake, Lake Sparrow is the largest at 7 miles long and 8-20 feet deep. It’s eastern shoreline is lined with granite rocks and the western shore is mostly forested. The north end of the lake is filled with small granite islands.
As we leave this lake, we go through several small bays and some narrow cuts, with a granite shoreline. Many homes were atop the granite rises on the lake.
The cuts we went through were quite impressive-Little Sparrow and McDonalds Cut were the prettiest. Both were dug by hand in 1905. That is a lot of digging! We also passed through Hydro Glen known for its tricky current and swirling water. There was a rope swing appropriately called the Hydro Glen Rope Swing half way through. Bill said he’d try the rope swing, if someone else went first, but not sure about the climb back to the top with a 18-20 foot of extension ladder leaning against the rocks as the only way up.
The scenery is slowing changing to more tall pine forest, as the pines can survive on the rocky ground. The last small lake is almost completely beautiful pine forest.
Turning through the last bend, we see our destination of Lock 43, Swift Rapids, where we will tie up at the top of the lock. Will tackle that one tomorrow as there is no wall for tying up at the bottom of the lock.
Lock 43 has a vertical drop of 47 feet, the largest of the conventional locks on the waterway. There is a large power generation plant associated with the lock. Lots of water comes through the system which makes for tricky maneuvering leaving the lock, but that is for tomorrow. Is pretty impressive to see the height of the dam and lock.
Our boat at the lock wall, Swift Rapids.
