Rideau Canal

 A days locking

Today (May 27th) a friend and I decided to have a paddle that would let us make good use of our season lock passes so I decided a return trip from Merrickville to Lower Nicholson's Locks would do just that.   My kayaking season is well under way with almost 150 kms already paddled with this paddle just being 12 km but giving us a total of 10 lock throughs, 5 down and 5 back.   So George and I launch from the beach near the Merrickville library and paddle towards the entrance to the channel leading to the 3 Merrickville locks. The entrance to the channel can be seen at the right of the image below.

After a short paddle we are sitting before the first of 3 locks with no one in sight.  So the procedure is 3 blasts on your whistle to hopefully summon one of the lock crew.  In this case it didn't work even after successive tries likely because the crew are sitting in the lockmaster's building which is somewhere near the middle of the 3 locks. So nothing else for it but get out and walk down to look for someone.  I reach the middle lock without seeing a soul so cross over to the lockmaster's building and knock on the door. After a minute or two a guy appears and I explain we are waiting to lock through downstream. So then I hike back which involves crossing hwy 43 then its down to the kayak and join my friend in front of the lock.  Pretty soon we are slipping into the lock and the gate closes behind us.

Merrickville lock

Note, if you plan to do some locking on the canal the smart thing to do is bring a list of the lock phone numbers so you can call them with your mobile phone and not have the bother of getting out to look for someone.  I forgot to do this this time!  So 3 locks to get through Merrickville and then we paddle 3.5km to arrive at Clowes lock where there is just one to get through.

Clowes lock

Once you start locking they will usually call ahead to the next lock so when you arrive there they are ready for you and this was the case today the lock at Clowes was partially open to receive us.  After Clowes Upper Nicholson is a mere 670m and again just one lock.

George at Upper Nicholson

Next comes Lower Nicholson and it is even shorter distance of about 450m the image below is taken in that short paddle before the lock.  Arriving there we find that the only floating (low) dock is on this side of the lock so as we plan to have our lunch here we pull over, get out and haul the yaks onto the floating dock so we can relax and have our lunch.

Approach to Lower Nicholson

Kayak parking at Lower Nicholson

It is a lovely day and we eat a leisurely lunch, no rush as last locking at Merrickville is 5:15 p.m.  They actually close at 7 p.m.  but it takes quite a bit of time to empty and fill 3 locks and they like to quit on time. So after a restful lunch we pack up our gear and head back up stream.  As we approach Clowes lock I snap a pic of George in front of the dam which extends to the left of the lock channel.

George on approach to Clowes lock

And then we are back at Merrickville locks for our last 3 locks before paddling back around to the beach put-in by the library where we will take out and head home.  Not a very long paddle but took most of the day as we got underway around 11:00 a.m and we returned to the beach at  4 p.m.  

Entering Merrickville locks

So for anyone who wanted to get a bit of locking experience this trip could be done by purchasing a days locking which costs $1.75 per foot or just under $30 for a 17' kayak, not a bad deal when you figure you can get 10 lock throughs, 12 if you go through Lower Nicholson.  So we had a very enjoyable and relaxing paddle and I highly recommend it!

Happy paddling

from

KayakJock