RIDEAU CANAL

Poonamalie to Big Sly

Poonamalie to Big Sly

Today (Sunday 16 June) a friend and I have decided to get some use out of our Seasonal Lockage permits and are heading up to a beach launch just west of Poonamalie locks with the intention of getting a number of locks that are in close proximity.

We arrive at our put-in around 10:30 and our first lock will be Poonamalie.

Poonamalie put-in

The image below is of Poonamalie lock but taken on our return trip so heading west to our put-in.

Poonamalie locks

Now we have a short paddle of approximately 3.4km to our next lock Smiths Falls detached.   Image below me approaching Smiths Falls detached taken from George's kayak.

Smiths Falls detached

From here it is a short hop to Smiths Falls combined about 570m. This is one of the locks that was automated and replaced the original 2.  Then there was such an uproar from general public that they gave up automating the locks as folks preferred the historic version which has worked well since 1832.  I'm sure a lot of students are glad of that decisionas they get summer employment working the locks.   Next up is Big Sly where we will stop and have our lunch before making the return trip to our put-in.

Exiting combined

Parking at the blue-line for Big Sly

So here are a couple of pics of us enjoying our lunch at Big Sly, we are a bit further away from the water as the picnic table closest was taken by fishermen.

George having lunch

Me with a mouthful

Lunch over it's back in the yaks to make our return to our put-in. First up is Smiths Falls combined.  Here we have to use George's phone to get hold of the staff as there is no way they are likely to see us and they didn't hear my whistle blasts.

Approach to combined

Waiting to fill lock

The experience in the combined was a little bouncy as it fills from the  bottom and all of a sudden there was this eruption of water just off my starboard quarter which took me by surprise and jostled me about a bit.  George also had one erupt just off his starboard bow.  But all was well just came as a bit of a surprise.

Next up and we are back at the detached.  This is where I have camped on canal transits, i.e. Kingston to Ottawa as there used to be a restaurant about 50' from our camp, it was called Roosteraunt but now is a Dollartree store.  It still is a convenient place to camp as there are a few restaurants within a short walk.

waiting to exit detached

In the background of the above pic you can just see part of the old bridge which I took a photo of when I camped here on a canal transit, see below.

Then it is back to the cars, load the boats and head home. Another nice days paddling!

Happy paddling
from
KayakJock