Orillia - Couchiching Breach

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 105 - July 14, 2017

We crossed Canal Lake right after leaving the Kirkfield Lift Lock lower wall this morning, then crossed Mitchell Lake, and finally found ourselves back in the Trent Canal. I got one good photo only today - Desperado in the Hole in the Wall bridge.

Desperado in Hole in the Wall Bridge

Then we started through five locks. These five locks were all spaced about a mile apart. There are some advantages to being small! We are dwarfed by the boats we have been traveling with, most of which are in the forty foot range. The Perch, Gump Stump, Desperado and Daydream all left Kirkfield Lift Lock's lower wall together, and when we got to the first lock, two other Looper boats were waiting, Shell Belle and Seascape. The lockmaster let Shell Belle, Gump Stump and Seascape in the lock, but then called us to go around Desperado and The Perch because we would fit and the other two boats would not! So we locked through that lock, and the next four, as a group. We did not see The Perch or Desperado after that today. 

After the locks, we traveled in the Trent Canal until we got to Lake Simcoe. Lake Simcoe is a large, shallow lake, and if the wind is blowing it can kick up large waves. Fortunately for us, it was flat as a pancake today, and we had an easy crossing! We made our way through The Narrows which are the end of Lake Simcoe and proceeded only a mile or so on the Canal where we made a left turn onto Lake Couchiching. We always try to decide the day before where we are going to stop for the next night, and we had decided to anchor at Couchiching Beach Park in the city of Orillia, since we were pretty sure we could land the kayak at the park. It is true as to our choice of anchorages, this could be described as the "Baxter Pooped Here Tour" cruise, as one wag has noted! 

This anchorage is right in front of the Couchiching Beach Park, which is adjacent to the Port of Orillia Marina and boat launch. The park has a huge statue of Samuel de Champlain commemorating Champlain's establishment of "the white race" in Canada in 1615. Honest, that is pretty much verbatim what the bronze plaque says. No further comment on that! I took Baxter to shore, and then I went back later to the Metro Supermarket and LCBO, which are only a few blocks away. We liked this anchorage enough that I created a new Active Captain entry for it.

Now I seriously want my Canadian friends to tell me the answer to this question: does canned corned beef hash not exist in Canada? Libby's, Mary Kitchen, Safeway or Kroger store brands? In every store in Ontario between Trenton and Orillia, I have looked and asked, and all I get is a blank look or a reply "Never heard of it."  This is not exactly a necessity of life, but it does make a dandy breakfast with fried eggs on a boat! We can get it in every U.S. supermarket and even most convenience stores. And it does not exist in Canada? Does this not sound like a great business opportunity for some enterprising Canadian?