Summer 2013 Boat Cruise - Fenelon Falls, Bobcaygeon & Buckhorn

This time we leave Fenelon Falls and head south and east to our next destination of Young's Point.

 The morning was beautifully calm when we departed.

Fenelon Falls railway swing bridge.

An easy one this morning, as we had zero wind and only one other boat to go through the lock with.

Heading towards the top side of the lock.

Video of us leaving the tie up wall and heading to and down-bound through the Fenelon Falls Lock;


After exiting the lock, we are into the picturesque Fenelon River which, in turn, took us into Sturgeon Lake. At the far east end is the village of Bobcaygeon and this marina - Centre Point Landing - is on the north shore, just before town when heading in from the east.

Center Point Landing Marina

Approaching the Bobcaygeon Lock, one sees the unmistakable 'Bigley's' store for ladies fashions with it's bright pink roof, located immediately beside the lock chamber. Bobcaygeon has the distinction of being the site of the very first lock along what was to become the Trent Severn Waterway, having the first one built way back in 1833.

Approaching the top side of Bobcaygeon Lock.

After getting a pump-out at Gordon Yacht Harbour and continuing east, we passed through Pigeon Lake, which becomes Buckhorn Lake (Upper) at a spot called Gannon Narrows.

Gannon Narrows Bridge.

At the far east end of Upper Buckhorn Lake sits the hamlet of Buckhorn and the Buckhorn Lock, which drops us down into Lower Buckhorn Lake. Phew, that's a lot of Buckhorns :-)

Exiting the bottom side of Buckhorn Lock.

These guys were occupying a nest/perch just past the lock.

One of the many Osprey nests to be seen along the Trent Severn Waterway.

Crossing Lower Buckhorn Lake we saw a number of these rental houseboats. One must be wary of these slow moving, heavy vessels, more likely than not to be piloted by a less than experienced captain. Can make for some 'interesting' stories ;-)

Rental houseboat on Lower Buckhorn Lake.

Another lake and another lock. This time it's Lovesick Lock, with the shortest 'lift' of any of the locks on the system. At only 3.5' it usually only takes a few minutes to get through, but with the shenanigans by some of the staff in 2013 we found ourselves taking longer than expected. . . Hopefully that isn't the case again for the coming season.

Lovesick Lock

Next update is for our time at Young's Point

:-)

Boat Cruise on The Trent Severn Waterway - Sunset at Fenelon Falls

Have you ever visited a particular place a number of times, spent time there and thought you knew it, only to return once more only to discover a whole new place? Unfortunately, most of us go about our lives never having the opportunity to revisit a place they loved, or have the time to fully explore it in the first place. That's because we go through life trudging along in the here and now, seemingly oblivious to what is really happening around us. Sad, really. . .

 This is one of the main inspirations why we are moving to our boat full time in the Spring. Life moves too quickly and we end up missing so much. And to what end? Well, we are going to make our life work for us, not the other way around. And exploring places like this is tops on my life list.

 So, I hope you can take some time to relax and fully enjoy our little adventure in the lovely village of Fenelon Falls, Ontario. Perhaps you can think of this place when your world is simply going too fast around you. Stop, breath and think beautiful sunsets :-) 


Heading out from our stay for the previous two days, Rosedale Lock;

Leaving Rosedale.

It was a bit windy and cool when the clouds came overhead, as we crossed Cameron Lake to Fenelon Falls;

Approaching the railway swing bridge at Fenelon Falls.

This is Fenelon Falls Marina, a spot we had stayed at in previous years;

Fenelon Falls Marina, on Cameron Lake.

A shot of the recently expanded #boaters tie up wall. The last time we had visited here (6 years prior to this trip), this wall didn't exist and there was precious little areas for boats to tie up to. So, my hat's off to the town and Parks Canada for getting this project completed! A wonderful spot to spend a night or two;

Boaters tie up wall at the upper side of the Fenelon Falls Lock.

Here's a video of our arrival, as well as some masterful docking of 'Boogaboo IV'. Take note of the fellow boater, Mike, who takes our bow line as we approach the tie up wall. I wanted to point out that THIS is the correct way to handle someone's line. I've learned to watch people on the docks when they are 'helping' us in, to make sure they don't pull or cleat us off right away. When the boat is still manoeuvring like this, some slack is needed to bring the back end in, forward or back. More than once I've had to tell the dock attendants to slack off the line, because they end up pulling the front of the boat right tight to the dock. The result? The ass end is 4' off the dock! Thanks again, Mike;


One of the big attractions for many boaters and visitors in general is the close proximity to restaurants and shops, immediately beside the lock. This is located right in the downtown core of this small, but fully serviced village. The only problem is that the Beer Store isn't within walking distance, and there is no taxi service in town. So, be sure to stock up beforehand. There is an LCBO liquor store just a block over, so that's easy.

Restaurants and shopping right beside the lock.

The lock chamber. As the town is busy all season long, there's always a crowd watching the boats coming and going through. This is one of those spots where, when taking the boat through the lock, you feel like a monkey in a cage, with all the gawkers watching your every move;

The lock chamber at Fenelon Falls.

Downtown FF. Well, the old part of town. As with the rest of the small towns, they have their new section on the outskirts for the cluster of big box stores. Pretty soon, every town in Canada & the U.S. will look the same, something I call the homogenization of North America.

Downtown Fenelon Falls.

Anchor Girl looks around at the bottom side of the lock. This used to be a double set of locks, with the indent in the foreground being where the old lock doors opened in to. This was converted to one during the big wave of upgrading projects that took place along the Trent Severn Waterway during the 1960's.

The bottom of the lock.

Ominous looking clouds blew in on the first afternoon, but after a little sprinkle, they cleared out to reveal a beautiful sky.

Scary looking clouds over 'Boogaboo'

The clouds moving out;

Clouds and sun over the railway swing bridge.

Not much more than a pretty rainbow out of the passing rain clouds.

Rainbow over Boogaboo at Fenelon Falls.

Cool pic, eh?

The sun returns to the boats at Fenelon Falls.

 

 Mike (who helped us in on the first video) & I discuss the deeper meanings of life, like #boating and Bayliners ;-) Did I spell that correctly this time, Mike?

Boats and Bayliners.

This is a collection of rentals at 'Summerland Cottages', located directly across from where we were tied up, close to the swing bridge.

Rental cottages on the Fenelon River.

Here we go, the sunshine returns, the wind dies down and we settled in for a lovely evening. Good times, my friends, good times :-)

Sunshine on the water.

Perry the Penguin, relaxing and enjoying watching the boats going by on our second day here.

Perry the Penguin catching a few rays.

I took Perry over to the welcome sign for some pictures.

Welcome to Fenelon Falls - and they put it in stone!

Perry & I enjoying the glorious setting sun. This place sure has some beautiful sunsets!

Sunshine on my shoulders - and Perry in my cap :-)

Nice.

Pretty sunset.

 Anchor Girl snapped this lovely pic of the setting sun's reflection off the side of the 'Kawartha Spirit' cruise boat.

Kawartha Spirit framing the sun.

One more, spectacular view. Enjoy.

A spectacular setting sun over Cameron Lake.

The best part of this year's holiday voyage is that we got to return here once more. And to make it even better, we got to stay both at the top (like here) and the bottom of the lock. so stay tuned for those upcoming posts, as well!

:-)

Boat Cruise on The Trent Severn Waterway - Overnight at Rosedale

In the autumn of 2012, we were shocked and somewhat dismayed by the frightening water level drops in Georgian Bay/Lake Huron and feared we would not be able to take the boat up there during the the following summer. Having had the good fortune of spending three weeks each summer up on 'The Bay for the previous five seasons, we were starting to consider heading 'down east' along the Trent Severn Waterway (TSW) once again.

 Considering that our 2013 summer holiday plans came from a sort of last resort type of approach, I thought that this would end up turning out to be basically a shrug when asked how it was. Far from it! This turned turned out being a great decision, as we not only got to revisit ares we hadn't seen in a number of years, but it actually ended up being like a first time experience in many ways.

'Boogaboo IV' tied up at the bottom of Rosedale Lock for a couple of nights.

 In the past, and with only one exception, we had stayed exclusively at marinas for all of our overnight stops. This year, we got a season's mooring pass which allowed us to spend limitless days/nights at the locks along the way. Sure, we had been by and driven through all the locks all the way to Trenton (Mile '0' of the TSW) but now that we were stopping and spending a day or two at each lock, it was like the a whole new world.

Setting up the BBQ grille on a picnic table beside the boat.

 Lock # 35 at Rosedale is a perfect example. When approaching from the east and simply focusing on getting the boat through the lock, one has little time to actually survey the surrounding grounds. Couple that with thew fact that this lock has the second lowest 'lift' (just a little over three feet) the boat is down (or up) and through in no time at all. Stop for awhile and discover that Rosedale has probably one of the biggest park areas of any of the locks!

  When we were siting at the back of the boat on the first morning here, I noticed something in the distance that looked like a very large snake poking it's head up out of the water amongst some Lilly pads, so we walked over for a closer inspection.

Scouting the Lilly pads for a large snake or turtle.

 We stared into the water, waiting for movement from what I thought for sure was the head of either a large snake or turtle, but it just seemed to float motionless. I suspected that whatever it was, it was waiting for something tasty to float or fly by, within striking range. Of course, at the point I was pretty much on my own, as Anchor Girl was too scared to get too close to it.
 After studying this close up, zoomed in photo, I surmised that it was nothing more than an oddly rolled up leaf from the Lilly plants, arranged to look like an animal's head. Tell me I'm seeing that and we weren't going crazy ;-)

Snake, turtle of oddly shaped leaf??

 As I mentioned, the grounds are quite expansive, larger than any other lock we've stayed at in the past. Our second evening there brought an opportunity to wander around in the (windy) sunshine and capture some nice shots with the boats in the background.

 This is at the top side of the lock. Always a popular spot for overnight boaters, one has to time their arrival just right - or be lucky - to grab a spot on the tie up walls.

A full house of boats tied up along the top side of the Rosedale Lock.

 Looking back eastward, towards the lock and lower tie up / blue line walls;

Rosedale Lock along the Trent Severn Waterway.

 Not quite a sunset, but an interesting shot of the sun's rays shooting out around this quickly passing cloud, right above the lock chamber;

Another windy day, with quickly passing clouds at Lock #35

 Here's a nice pic of 'Boogaboo' and our home for two days. As I mentioned, this is a very popular lock for overnight boats, and we had to squeeze into the corner between the lower entrance of the lock and the blue line. We just fit too, as the lockmaster didn't want us withing the blue line area or having the bow stick out beyond the entrance to the lock. It took a bit of creative tying of the boat, but we got it, with a whole three or four inches to spare ;-)

'Boogaboo IV' snugly tied up at the bottom of the Rosedale Lock.

 

 They say that parting is such sweet sorrow, but our next destination would be even more fun, as we leave Rosedale for a short hop across Cameron Lake and the village of Fenelon Falls.

Pulling away from Lock #35 at Rosedale, Ontario.

 Up next, a wonderful time - and spectacular sunsets - in Fenelon Falls!

:-)

Sunny Days ~ Cameron Lake + Fenelon Falls Sunset

It seems that this season the sunny days were few and far between. The same held true for the Canada Day Long Weekend, but we were fortunate enough to at least have a couple of nice sunset evenings out of the mix - one of which I'm highlighting in this posting. 

 As you may remember, the Freebird crew joined us for a trip to Fenelon Falls for the weekend. On the Sunday evening we were privileged to witness a glorious sunset over Cameron Lake. As we were staying at Fenelon Falls Marina, the view from the docks looks towards the northwest and the setting sun. Anchor Girl & I have spent more than one night here over the past few years and we've always had the good fortune of witnessing these sunsets on each journey.

 The top photo captures a bit of both Boogaboo & Freebird with the setting sun in the background. The next shot is looking directly backwards towards the marina itself. Note the bright sunshine reflecting off the glass; Here's a bit of a - forgive the pun - 'reflective' sort of pic, with me both capturing the photo and the sun itself. For some reason, this shot brings to mind the song by Jim Croce 'Time In A Bottle' Why do I always bring up the notion that our time here is limited? Reflective, I guess . . . Figure that one out you'll realize why I take so many pictures. And why I love to share them;

Hey! Graham's taking a picture of us;

 And somehow I got the picture he took. Look close & you'll see my video camera sitting on the dock at my feet. That's where the video clip came from;

 Need I say any more?;

Fenelon Falls Lock

 Speaking of Fenelon Falls, this coming Canada Day lands on a Tuesday this year, so A. G. & I are gonna be taking the Monday off as well and making it a 4 day long weekend.

With all this time to take advantage of, we are planing to do a mini trip to Fenelon Falls for that weekend. The working itinerary is to head to the bottom of Kirkfield Liftlock on Friday (3-4 hours from home) & spend the night there. Saturday we would continue on to Fenelon Falls Marina (2 hours travel time) & spend Saturday & Sunday nights there. Monday, we'd head back homeward & stay the night at one of the locks before Lake Simcoe & head home on Tuesday.

As well, you don't have to worry about going through the lock, as the marina is before the lock, right on Cameron Lake.

Here's some pics of the anticipated spots to whet your whistle;

View from F.F. Marina

Kirkfield Liftlock, bottom sideAnother view of the bottom side of Kirkfield

Finally, a look at Lock #39.
A very pretty spot!!!

Boat Cruise to Fenelon Falls - Holidays 2007

----------------------------------
Day one of our on the road portion of the 2007 trip to the eastern portion of the Trent Severn Waterway - all the way to Fenelon Falls Marina.

 Here's a few pics that mirror the excitement we have enjoyed up to this point. Click on them to expand to full size.

The first one is just heading out onto Lake Simcoe - how's that for Perfect conditions???








The second one is 'Boogaboo III' sitting on the blue line, waiting to lock through. Except for one lock, we were able to hit all of them on our own, which made the whole process easy. However, there was a fair bit of traffic heading in the opposite direction, so there was a wait for them to 'unload' at most of the locks - and a 20 minute wait at Kirkfield Liftlock while the staff did some maintenance.

This is a Close Encounter we had passing through the cut, just past Kirkfield. These folks were so intimidated by OUR BOAT, that the captain actually started to back up! I tried to hail him on the radio, but no luck, so we just got closer and yelled for him to continue on (with a bit of speed, to maintain control) & we passed by each other without even a little clunk (above or below the water line).


This was the view at or current spot, Fenelon Falls Marina. A lovely little cloud passed by and left me no choice to to capture it - on film.

After the clouds passed & the wind died down, we had this wonderful sunset view for the evening. Seems like every time we come here, we get to enjoy these spectacular vistas.

After the sun was gone, the moon showed up. Take a look at the moon's reflection over the lake! Beautiful.

Chow for now.