Sadly we had to leave our aquatic paradise and make tracks further along the Trent-Severn.  We pulled up anchor with surprising ease – and best of all – there were no weeds, just a bit of mud to wash off the anchor.

We made our way up the lake and entered the very, very narrow Trent Canal.  They require you to broadcast a securite – to warn other boats coming the other way that you are entering.  We duly did that, but most of the small boats, don’t even have VHF radios – so of course we met many of them coming the other way, but luckily we encountered no vessels as big as ours.

We passed Rosedale Lock 35 (up 4 feet) and passed into Balsam Lake, the highest point in elevation on the Trent-Severn, and the Great Loop for that matter (598 feet above Trenton; 850 feet above sea level).   Passing through the beautiful Balsam Lake – as lovely as Cameron Lake – we then again entered into a long stretch of the very narrow Trent Canal, interrupted by a broadening at Mitchell Lake – where we believe we touched bottom or hit something it was so shallow (readings of less than 1 foot beneath props).  

Again we continued on the narrow canal, coming up upon Kirkland Lock 36 (down 49 feet) – the second of the amazing lift locks built in the first decade of the 20thcentury.   Approaching and entering the locking pan of the Kirkland Lock, you feel as if you are edging the boat close to a cliff, but had as smooth a ride down as on the Peterborough Lift Lock.  We tied up at the base of the lock and spent a good 40 minutes admiring and walking around the lock.

We continued further on the narrow canal again and finally we came into the broader Canal Lake – the first part as shallow as Mitchell Lake, then passing via the Canal Lake High Bridge (the Hole in the Wall Bridge) – an historic engineering marvel and makes a great arched frame for the second part of Canal Lake.  The second half is deeper but certainly did not look like a place to anchor – full of weeds and stumps according to the guides.  We entered the Trent Canal again after Canal Lake and within a mile found a slip at Sunset Cove Marina – a very friendly family-own place, where we parked the boat in the shade of a tree and tried to escape the 90 degree heat and humidity for the night.