The entire historic Rideau Canal is a Canadian National Park and was a highlight of our Loop in 2022. So we do it again — just in reverse to give us a new perspective. From Lake Ontario we go up through 14 locks, through the three lakes at the highest point, then down another 21 locks to Ottawa, where we have a grand finale of 8 locks in a flight taking us down to the Ottawa River. That’s 43 locks in 126 miles.
The Rideau Canal was one of our favorite segments of the Loop, and when we were in the Thousand Islands we made a bit of a spontaneous decision to take it to get to Montreal rather than heading straight down the St. Lawrence River. We looked forward to slow cruising over short daily distances and the natural beauty of the area. Even the locking itself would be low key and much easier than the Erie and Oswego. It would be a great way to slow down and enjoy the trip and summer in Canada.
Under the leadership of Army Col. John By, the Rideau was built between 1826-32. He pulled off an engineering marvel by routing it along natural waterways as much as possible, damming up some to create lakes and blasting through the rock that is part of the Canadian Shield when necessary. Along the way was a saga worthy of a ‘based on actual events’ movie. There is head-butting with fellow engineers, malaria, frigid winters, sabotage, political interference, and even purchase of land at gunpoint.
We did the Rideau from Ottawa to Kingston back in 2022, and this time we would be doing it in the reverse direction. Parks Canada does a phenomenal job of maintaining all the locks in their historical context. All but a couple are manually operated like they were 190 years ago, with hand cranks for the doors and gates and using gravity to flood or drain the locks. Each lock chamber is relatively small — we take up a good chunk of it, with room for maybe two or three smaller boats. Staffed by a senior experienced Parks Canada lockmaster and seasonal hire college kids, they are all very friendly, helpful, and fun to chat with as you’re locking through. There are rubber-coated cables attached to the lock wall at the top and bottom to which you loop a line around and back to the boat at the bow and stern to hold you against the wall as you go up or down. Seeing the stone walls of the lock, the heavy wooden doors, and the metal hand cranks and chains really feels like traveling back in time.
With our unlimited lockage and mooring passes, we would be overnighting mostly on the docks or walls in the parks adjacent to various locks. The settings are always lush, well maintained, and typically have bathrooms, picnic tables, and some have campgrounds. Most are quiet and remote. A few are actually right in a town that sprung up around the lock itself way back when. Historic placards tell the technical and historical story of each lock and/or something unique about the site. There’s usually room for about a half-dozen boats, so you meet others along the way. With 43 locks, it would be easy to find locations different from where we had stayed before.
Going Up – locks 49-36
Jul 30 - Aug 1
Upper Brewers lock
Davis lock
Colonel By Island mooring field
We eagerly set off up the Cataraqui River to get to the first flight of locks at Kingston Mills, a group of three stair stepping locks. We arrived shortly after they opened – and then sat there for over two hours while they locked through the cruise ship Kawartha Voyageur. At 120’ long, it shoehorns into the whole lock, and we had to wait for it to get through the whole flight. By the time we finally got into the lock, we had four smaller boats and two jet skis in there with us and a guy in a kayak hanging on to our stern cleat. An hour later we were finally out on the clear water of Col By Lake and all frustration was forgotten.
We stopped at the beautiful Upper Brewers and then Davis locks the first two nights, both peaceful park settings. Sitting in the shade with Roxy on a hot afternoon at Upper Brewers, we started chatting with some other boaters doing the same. Turned out the couple were retired pediatric ophthalmologists from Boston, and we had a mutual professional acquaintance from my time there in the 90s. Plus she had done the Loop solo in 2017!
Travel the first three days up to the highest point at Upper Rideau Lake was all about natural beauty. We wound past a wide variety of landscapes. There were low marshlands, fields of lily pads, and tall dense forests on bluffs. At the old Brass Point Spring Bridge a couple young Parks Canada staff did the ‘hamster wheel’ walk in a circle pushing the large crank to swing the bridge open. We passed small, vintage summer cottages with no real towns. Narrow twisting sections with blind turns alternated with wide open marshy areas with fishermen in skiffs waving as we passed.
On our second day, I came the closest to having to cut a line in almost 200 locks we’ve done. We tied up just before the Jones Falls flight of four locks to wait out a passing rain shower. When they let us know they had other boats coming and were going to start the lockage, we hastily got underway. In the rush to get into the lock, I didn’t have time to change out our thicker docking line at the bow for the smaller diameter one I use in locks. Not noticing the two ends of my line were crossed in the metal fairlead, or track, when the boat rose above the lock wall and I needed to pay out some line the thicker lines jammed in the fairlead as the boat continued to rise. The lock staff saw what was happening, and as I was ready to get a nearby knife to cut the line they opened the rear sluice to let water out, sending all the boats back down a few inches until the tension on the line lessened and it could be freed. Thank heavens for his quick thinking and apparent training.
Our third day saw us on Upper Rideau and Big Rideau Lakes, where the scenery changed to more and bigger rocky islands with cottages, as well as much larger homes perched atop the high tree-covered shoreline. We grabbed a mooring ball at Col By Island, one of our favorite stops from two years ago for its peacefulness there on the water. The island was donated to Parks Canada by the previous owner, who used to host famous Hollywood types there in the 50s and 60s. The modern-style cottage is now falling down and fenced off, but there are still grounds and trails to explore. There are also bathrooms there which two years earlier had tinny country music playing from what sounded like an old transistor radio behind a supply closet, even through no one was there, and which made us laugh. This time, there was still the same country music playing! Now it was kind of creepy.
Back at the boat, it was hot enough for a swim so we grabbed our pool noodles and jumped in. The ability to do this is one of the joys of cruising and staying on mooring balls or at anchor. Roxy wanted no part of the swimming, but she did enjoy an evening dinghy ride with us around some of the nearby islands of this little archipelago. At sunset we were forced to retreat inside by all the mosquitos, biting flies, and no-see-ums that suddenly materialized.
Going Down -- locks 35-9
Aug 2 – 6
Smith Falls town dock
Merrickville lock
Burritts Rapids lock
Hartwells lock
Starting with the Narrows, the rest of the Rideau was a slow descent toward the Ottawa River. As we exited Big Rideau Lake the landscape became marshy and we transitioned to more populated areas and small towns. We stayed two nights at the decent sized town of Smith Falls dock. We had explored it extensively two years ago, so this time we could just enjoy wandering through the main downtown area on foot and scooter, have dinner out, and do a little reprovisioning.
We had five locks to go through to our next stop at Merrickville. At Old Slys we had an uncharacteristic delay while they cleared out some logs in the lock, and then the resulting backlog of boats kept us waiting on the blue line for almost an hour. But it gave us a chance to meet and chat with a couple Canadian boats waiting and subsequently in the next four locks with us. Really nice people and generous with their local knowledge, particularly about their home port of Ottawa.
The town of Merrickville is a bustling, charming town. After walking through downtown admiring the colorful historic architecture and having a gelato, we found a shady spot in the park and watched all the people gawking at the boat, taking selfies, etc. We met Al and Dana in the small boat in front of us, and learning they were aspiring Loopers talked with them for quite a bit. We departed Merrickville on a gray and drizzly morning. Al and Dana did the next morning’s five locks with us, then peeled off to their nearby home/dock while we continued a few miles to our night’s stop at Burritts Rapids, arriving just before heavy rain started.
Fog delayed our departure the next morning, so I embarked on what had become my daily ritual: spider purge. They seemed particularly bad here and I had about had it with these guys and their webs spun in every nook and cranny, leaving green spots of spider poop everywhere. Having previously tried to relocate them to the dock or shoreline, I had resorted to knocking them off into the water and making them swim for it. I flicked one guy off the bow and watched him scurry along on the water’s surface – and get eaten by a fish who came up from below! Gotta admit it was more than a little satisfying. It was ‘circle of life’ meets ‘get off my boat! ‘
Burritts Rapids to Ottawa was our longest mileage day, with the first part being a leisurely 22 mile lock-free stretch with the constantly changing landscaoe rolling slowly by. We passed flat marshes looked either eerie in lingering mist or peaceful in clear calm. Carpets of blooming water lilies might segue to tall cat tails or purple wildflower-covered banks. There were clusters of summer cottages with kayaks pulled up on shore and the requisite red Muskoka chairs, maybe even a float plane tied at the dock. Then around a bend might be a large farm complete with tall silver silos and grazing cows. Seagulls perched atop channel markers, and geese and ducks were plentiful.
On the outskirts of Ottawa, the cottages became houses and decidedly more suburban as we traversed five locks over 12 miles, with blooming gardens and an abundance of weeping willows (my favorite). Tall flagpoles proudly flew the Maple Leaf Flag. Almost all had a private dock with a small boat tied up to it.
The lock of Hogsback was right by a busy recreation area. A summer camp was in full swing, with teen camp counselors in small skiffs trying to herd kids in kayaks and canoes. There were paddle boarders, a pirate ship, and a few pontoon boats. Dave skillfully maneuvered through it all, graciously complying when the kids on the dock all pumped their arms up and down in the universal request to sound the horn. While in the lock, the lockhand warned us about a rented Le Boat cruiser we would encounter before the next lock with a ‘first time ever on a boat’ captain (so yeah, the lockmasters talk to each other about us boaters), and sure enough there he was in the middle of the narrow channel coming around a bend. We weren’t sure he saw us and Dave had to give a single toot of the horn, to which he overcorrected one way and then the other. (We could really feel for the guy.) Soon after we were tied up for the night within the city limits, just before the locks at Hartwells. Only the two Hartwells locks and a few miles stood between us and historic downtown Ottawa.
Ottawa
Aug 7-9
Waiting for the locks to open, Dave decided to run the generator for a bit because you need to do that every now and then – and discovered the inverter wasn’t working. Aaack!!! Don’t ask me what the inverter actually does because I know not, other than it determines if I can turn on lights or have a hot shower. Well, we had a really good stretch without any major breakdowns, so I guess we were due. Nothing that would keep us from moving on, but rather a big inconvenience as we would need to juggle our electrical loads carefully. Fortunately, we had our terrific solar capacity or else it could have been a really big problem.
We locked through the two Hartwells locks, waited for the Victoria Bridge to open, and then docked right smack in downtown Ottawa. Dave immediately commenced diagnostic procedures on the inverter, and soon declaring it kapooey. But he was able to work his Mr. Fixit magic and bypass the inverter so we could still plug into shore power. Now we would just need to figure out how to get a replacement. Right about then along comes Alain, one of the Canadians we had met while waiting at the Old Slys locks a couple days earlier. He was there waiting to lock down the Ottawa flight to his home port on the Ottawa River. Hearing about our inverter issue, he immediately suggested Dave order one on Amazon and have it delivered to his house in Ottawa and he would bring it to us. We would have done it except discovered it would be a week or so to ship and we couldn’t stay there that long. But how nice is that? That is not only the spirit of boaters, but I think there was a heavy Canadian Nice Guy influence in there as well.
Ottawa is a beautiful city, and we walked parts of town we hadn’t seen when we were here before. We did a bus tour to see some areas too far to walk such as Embassy Row and the fancy houses, found a free concert our first night, happened to be in the right place when the Royal Pipes and Drums paraded down the streets to Parliament while traffic kept moving on the other side, and marveled at all the ‘old world’ architecture. And of course we found a bakery, one with a big sign announcing it had ‘Obama Cookies’ and proudly displaying photos from when Obama stopped by during an official visit for their signature cookies.
But our favorite thing was the best fireworks show we’ve ever seen. Shooting them off from a barge on the Ottawa River below the towering Parliament buildings, they were a choreographed and artistic display of color and effects like we’ve never seen — a ballet of light and flashes. We watched with the large crowd from just above the locks in the Ottawa Flight, with the locks in the foreground and the Parliament Building as a backdrop. It was awesome.
We ended up staying an extra day because the remnants of Hurricane Debby were passing through. We didn’t get any wind, but lots of rain. At one point, I looked out and smiled at a young woman in a yellow slicker skipping along the canal in the pouring rain as if she was Dorothy prancing along the Yellow Brick Road. Someone needs to bottle and sell that attitude!
With all the rain and runoff into the canal, they had to leave left the sluice gates of the Ottawa Locks open overnight so all the water would be able to flow out and not flood over the canal walls. That evening when we took Roxy out after the rain had stopped, we noticed the boat was sitting lower because the water level was down in the canal at least 18”.
The Ottawa Flight -- Locks 8-1
Aug 10
The water level was still down the next morning when we moved the short distance to the blue line for the Ottawa flight of locks that would take us down to the Ottawa River. We could see that all eight locks were completely drained and dry, something they usually only do when they close for the winter and which explains the oddly low water level in the canal. The good news for us was that this meant they would need to refill the locks and so would take the boats going down first, saving us a two hour wait if they had locked boats up the flight first as they typically do. So once they got the first couple locks filled, they started moving boats down.
The Ottawa Flight is an incredibly unique experience. The locks are no different than the other 35 of the Rideau as far as how they operate, but you exit one and go straight into the next seven times. Seeing the Gatineau and the Ottawa River drawing closer and closer off the bow while the looming Hotel Laurier and the peaked towers of Canada’s Parliament complex falling away behind us with each lock is just amazing. It’s hard work for the two hours it takes to do the whole flight, but so satisfying for the fortunate that are able to to this.
For those who can’t experience it by boat, apparently lining the side of the lock just a few feet from the boats is the next best thing, judging by how many spectators we had on a Monday morning. Several wanted to ask about the boat, where we were from, where we’ve been. Even more were taking pictures and video as I manned my station at the bow; I often felt I should be performing a dance or something to entertain them as we slowly dropped below their line of sight. We had two other boats in our lockage group, and the order of entering and departing became almost a cadence as we repeated it seven times. The lockstaff are amazing there, coordinating two groups of boats locking through (there was a group two locks ahead of us) and managing water levels throughout while also doing spectator crowd control.
Then the forward doors of Lock 1 opened to the expanse of the Ottawa River before us, we were released into the wild! Our second trip on the Rideau was in the books, as beautiful as we remembered it, and I actually felt a tinge of disappointment mixed with a feeling of accomplishment and a job completed. But that twinge was quickly replaced by the anticipation of our next goal – the city of Montreal!
Final Thoughts
The second time around was just as good but a lot easier. Being already familiar with how the locks operated made it much more relaxed without worrying about the unknown ahead, and less time and energy went into route planning and research. We could focus our attention on the view and passing landscape, as well as build on the history we had learned previously. Staying at different lockstations kept it fresh and gave us the opportunity to explore new places, even if we had a pretty limited radius to wander.
The only slight negative this time around was that we were traveling alone instead of with a buddy boat. We had hoped to meet someone in Thousand Islands or Kingston we might want to travel with, but no such luck. We did meet some wonderful people at some of the locks that made the stops memorable. People such as the retired peds ophthalmologists at Upper Brewers, Al and Dana in Merrickville, Alain from Ottawa and many others I didn’t mention. But we were reminded once again how much having our friends on Inconceivable with whom to share the day’s travel experience had enhanced the same trip two years ago. While we still love the cruising life, like so many other things it’s the social aspect that takes an adventure to the next level.
While our current ‘triangle loop’ through Canada continues to be just what we were hoping for this summer – slow-paced, relaxed, and enjoyable – we also continue to feel that we have accomplished what we set out to do on See Level. Our travel itch continues to spread, and we talk more and more about the many options before us. We are working on the faith that we’ll know the right opportunity when it comes along. After all, that’s pretty much how we ended up living on a boat and doing things most people don’t even know exist these last three-plus years.
As for the immediate future…Allons à Montréal!
Pops’ Stats Corner*
- No of Days: 11
- Travel Days: 8
- Miles Traveled: 128.2 (111.5 nm)
- Locks: 43
- Anount of rain in Ottawa from remnants of Hurricane Debby: 2″
- No. of hurricane remnants we’ve had pass overhead while up in Canada this summer to avoid hurricane remnants: 2 (of 2 hurricanes to make landfall in the US this season — so far)
*Pops is the family’s affectionate name for Dave’s dad. He had a mind for sports statistics, earning him the nickname Numbers from the coaches of several Stillwater teams with whom he worked. This regular section of the blog is in his honor, because it’s the kind of thing he would love.
What a magnificent adventure!
You guys are hurricane magnets! Well at least it’s only the remnants, less winds but plenty of heavy rains. Loved the details on your daily events, like the spider “Circle of Life”
Chapeau of doing all the locking. It is hard work. 45 locks on the Trent Severn make me appreciate Georgian Bay. Save travels