Second Wind on the Great Loop and Beyond

Thursday, July 19. After an early start on this overcast, misting morning, we all woke abruptly when we left Lock 34 at Fenelon Falls. For the next several hours our three Looper boats alternated between largely unmarked shallow lakes with granite bottoms (one of the photos shows the bottom beside the channel) and exceedingly narrow, shallow canals – with granite bottoms. Of course we had been forewarned where the main trouble spots would be, so we stayed slap in the middle of the channel and cruised very s-l-o-w-l-y. Around noon we arrived at Lock 36, Kirkfield Lift Lock, the second highest lift lock in the world. Now we can say that we’ve experience both of them in three days. This 49-foot high lift lock is a bit scarier than the Peterborough Lift Lock because this time, you enter the chamber from the high side. That is, you drive your boat into a chamber that is literally “hanging out” 49 feet in the air. After Kirkfield, we went under a bridge called the “Hole in the Wall, experienced some fairly heavy rain and a succession of five locks before we stopped for the evening at Lock 40, described as having an “isolated rural setting,” with no public road access. The three Looper couples all got together for a sip of wine and chips on our boat and celebrated our day. We have traveled all of 42 miles today! WooHoo!Tomorrow we will cross Lake Simcoe, noted for rough seas. Maybe the thunderstorm watch will be over by then.