Ottawa to Kingston via The Rideau Canal

The Rideau Canal is a chain of beautiful lakes, rivers, and canal cuts winding 126 miles from Ottawa to Kingston, Ontario at the head of Lake Ontario. The Canal was conceived in the wake of the War of 1812 as a war time supply route to Kingston and the Great Lakes allowing vessels to bypass the vulnerable St Lawrence. The Rideau Canal was completed in 1832 and consisted of 45 locks that operate today as originally constructed – often cranked by hand. The Canal relies on natural rivers, lakes and canal cuts to provide navigation with an available of water depth of 5 feet in some cuts. The many lakes are connected by very narrow cuts that are often no more than 20 or 30 feet wide, shallow, with rocks on either side. You really need to pay attention to stay off the often rocky bottom and avoid oncoming boat traffic. Another challenge on the Rideau is the underwater plants that can grow up to 8 feet high underwater - the water is clear so you can see them on the bottom. They can't really be avoided since you are often in 5 - 6 feet of water so the plants are just below the surface. However, we need to clean our sea strainers often as the plants get sucked into the water intakes. We took this picture of the plants on the canal - you may need to enlarge the picture to see the thick plants.
Leaving Ottawa, the locks raise via 31 locks to the summit at Newboro and then lowered via 14 locks to Kingston. The trip down the Rideau was as interesting as we have seen so far on the journey. The narrow lakes are dotted with many rocky islands with small cottages or fishing huts built on them. The shallow shores are full of waterlilies, and marsh…Beautiful beyond words!
We departed Ottawa on Wednesday morning and traveled almost 8 hours (but only 46 miles due to the 12 locks and 2 bridges) to Merrickville. The lock walls were full so we, along with “Carolyn Anne” stayed at a marina and walked the short distance into town for dinner. Pleasant evening after a long day!
On Thursday, we traveled a short day to Smith Falls and stayed at a town marina which provided a short walk to the local grocery store and Wal Mart for some supplies. We enjoyed a pleasant walk to the historic buildings, and the museum in town. On Friday, we arrived at the Narrows Lock just in time to tie up to the lock wall as a violent thunderstorm moved overhead. The picture to the left was taken as the storm passed over before "the bottom dropped out" - winds were gusting at 30+ mph with heavy rain and some hail. We stayed at the lock long enough for the storm to pass and then proceeded to the next lock. Friday evening was spent on the lock wall at the Newboro lock which is the summit of the canal – up top this point we have “locked up” the canal. With no homes or cottages nearby, this was a truly quiet evening… From here we will “lock down” at each lock to Kingston. While locking through at Jones Falls on Saturday morning, we were forced to wait 45 minutes for oncoming traffic and were able to tour the lock master's house (now a museum) built in the early 1880's along with an operating blacksmith shop. Saturday evening was spent at Upper Brewer lock and on the final day on the canal was also another short run to Kingston. We arrived at the Confederation Basin Marina shortly after lunch on Sunday. This marina is in the heart of downtown Kingston and we will spend the next few days touring the area. Canada Day is July 1st and we will be centrally located for all the festivities, including fireworks. The marina is filling up with many boats that travel here for Canada Day.
We spent 5 days traveling the 126 mile trip down the Rideau through numerous lakes and rivers from Ottawa and we have really enjoyed this part of the trip. We plan to depart on Thursday and should be in Trenton – for the beginning of the Trent Severn Waterway – on Friday. Our goal is to be in Fenelon Falls (Camaron Lake) on the Trent Severn by mid July to visit family and friends before proceeding into the Georgian Bay.