Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Smiths Falls, ON to Colonel By Island, ON

Miles Traveled 18.3
Total Miles Traveled 5101
Day 300

We entered our first two consecutive locks at 9 a.m. this morning raising us up to downtown Smiths Falls.  We spent about an hour visiting the Rideau Canal Museum; this is one of the best museums on the Rideau Canal that we have visited.  We watched a short film about the history of the canal, then took an elevator to the fourth floor to work our way down each level of historical displays.  Building the canal was an amazing feat during the era in which it was constructed. About 1000 workers died over the five year period it took to build the 126 mile canal.

The locks on this canal use vertical cables spaced about 10 feet apart.  When we enter the lock, I ease the bow close to the wall and Moni grabs a cable with the boat hook and wraps a line around the cable then back to the boat.  When she has the front secure, I wrap a line from the stern.  As the water rises in the lock, the line slips up the cable holding the boat in place.




We went from narrow canals with some places only showing 5 feet under our boat……….



To the Big Rideau Lake some places over 300 feet deep.




What a beautiful body of water, some of the little islands have cabins built on them.




Our destination today was Colonel By Island, owned by Parks Canada and located on the Big Rideau Lake.  The water at the dock is over 10 feet deep and we have no problem seeing the bottom.  We purchased our Canadian Fishing license while in Smiths Falls so we are looking forward to catching a few fish as we continue our adventure through Canada.




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