Loop Dreams Adventure with Ken & Barbara: July 19, Kirkfield Lock

July 19, Thorah Lock 40, docked at the wall

What a challenging day! We left Fenelon Falls today around 8:15AM and traveled 27 miles, with winds at 20MPH. We arrived at the Rosedale Lock which will be the last lift lock on the Trent. Beyond this lock was Balsam Lake which is the highest elevation in the world of 598 feet that a boat can reach from the sea under its own power. Once we crossed the lake we announced our entrance to the Trent Canal. We held the center of the channel and there were times that our depth alarm was sounding, letting us know that the depth was less than 5 feet. We crawled at 5MPH in the canal and then we reached Mitchell Lake, which is a man-made lake full of stumps and very shallow. The depth alarm was going crazy and at one point we were plowing mud and we kept on trudging. We re-entered the narrow canal and mid way through we met three on coming boats!!! Two of them pulled over to the side and let us through, the house boat kept barreling through the water and we held our breath as we inched closer to the rocky shore. Around the bend, we were glad to see the Kirkfield Lock. The winds were howling and we felt like we were hanging in the air. Once secured, we dropped 49 feet while I was trying to take pictures. This is the second largest hydraulic lift lock. The teeter totter ride ended too fast and soon we were pulling out of the lock pan. Soon we entered Canal Lake with shallow spots, extreme weed growth, many submerged dead heads and the wind pushing us all around. We made it through 4 more locks and could see the sky turning black and the wind was now gusting up to 35+MPH. We decided to call it a day and asked the lock crew to help us tie up at the lock wall. Ken pulled out of the lock, the crew was not paying attention and I had to call out to them to catch my line…a gust of wind crashed us into the wall and gouged Loop Dreams. I hopped off and secured the lines. It started to rain, and we were both drained after a stressful day of cruising. We kept watching the weather, because we had tornadoes warnings all around us. We were glad that we were secured at a lock wall. My nerves were shot!