Big Chute, ON, CA
After a nice day with high scattered clouds, a little breeze, two locks and two swing bridges, here we are at Big Chute, one of the major highlights of the Trent Severn Waterway. More on that in a bit.
This leg included needing to get past the “notorious” Canadian National Railway swing bridge about an hour north of Orillia (by boat that is). Protocol dictates that upon arriving at the bridge boaters give a polite three blasts of their horn to request passage. Apparently this bridge got its bad rap because some boaters have reported having to wait more than two hours for the bridge to swing open due to a foul tempered operator who - if he’s having a bad day - refuses to open the bridge for hours, or at all, if a boat sounds its horn more than one time - sort of like having a troll guarding a bridge. In addition, to having to contend with a moody bridge troll, there is no place to moor while waiting for the bridge, so boaters have to maintain their position in the canal with an ever so slight current dragging their boat towards the bridge. As you can imagine, on a busy summer day with multiple boats waiting for the bridge to open, it can be a real pain! We assume a lot of complaints have been made about this bridge, because now there is an electronic sign about a mile from the bridge that reads “Next bridge opening, 1030 - 1100” so at least boaters know what they’re up against. We arrived at the bridge at about 10:20 knowing we might have to wait up to 40 minutes, but lucky for us, the troll was having a good day, the water gods were with us, and we waited only minutes for the bridge to swing open. As we passed through the open bridge, we looked up and saw the operator standing outside the control room and gave us a wave. Guess he was having a good day - or maybe he was a new guy and the troll retired? All in all, not too bad and not nearly as bad as expected and who doesn’t love a little folklore, right? You can seen in the pics how narrow the channel is and the train crossing the bridge as we waited to go through.
The other swing bridge was farther down the river and there is a sign asking for three horn blasts before you can even see the bridge around the corner. We signaled as requested and the bridge started opening as we approached. Much more modern bridge and we’re glad it could open quickly because there was a two knot current dragging us towards the bridge that we had to actually back against to slow down. If you can’t tell, we hate wind currents…and they hate us back.
Of course, as we traveled along, you really can’t go more than a mile or two without some sort of waterfowl antics being involved. Two swans were trying to claim right of way as we went past but when they realized we weren’t moving they took flight. We also continue to see some unique homes lining the canals and one had a CNR caboose on the property set up as a small house or maybe an outside bar? Unique idea.
The next lock we encountered was the Swift Rapids lock, which was a 47 foot drop/lift and it seemed immense. It was all hydraulic, very fast drop and only had two lock tenders compared to others that have as many as five. They also had floating bollards that we wrapped our line around as an alternative to the normal cable. That was nice because the lines can be tied off instead of us having to hold and monitor them while the boat is moving. Any break we can get is welcome.
The Big Chute is next. This is a marine railway that lifts boats out of the water, transports them over land, including across a road, and then puts them back in the water 17.1 meters lower or higher depending on whether they are coming or going. It is truly an amazing feat of engineering and we are planning to go over it tomorrow. It’s hard to describe and we’ll have a video or two and some pics to share our experience. Here are some pics we took today as we took a look at the challenge than awaits us tomorrow, and tried to figure out what to expect tomorrow. Smaller boat and a jet ski in the carriage coming up the hill, over the road, and being released into the water.
Tonight we’re staying at the Big Chute Marina, and are excited about the experience that lies ahead tomorrow.
