Field Guides/Kawartha Lakes/Sailing & Boating
▲ Signature
Best WindowMid-May through mid-October (Trent–Severn navigation season)
Variantssailing · motor-boating · yacht-boat-charter
RegionKawartha Lakes, Ontario

Sailing & Boating.

The Trent–Severn Waterway is a 386 km Parks Canada–managed navigation channel with 44 locks running from Trenton on Lake Ontario to Port Severn on Georgian Bay. Inside Kawartha Lakes the system carries Lock 32 at Bobcaygeon — the first lock built on the waterway, completed in 1833 — Lock 34 at Fenelon Falls beside the falls, Lock 35 at Rosedale, and the Kirkfield Lift Lock at Lock 36, one of two hydraulic lift locks operating on the system.

Sailing & Boating in Kawartha Lakes
01 — What to know

The brief.

Trent–Severn navigation season runs roughly mid-May through mid-October; locking through requires a Parks Canada lock permit. Sturgeon, Cameron, Pigeon, and Scugog lakes are the connecting cruising waters between the locks, and Balsam Lake at 256.3 m is the highest navigable point on the system — the watershed-summit lake.

The Kirkfield Lift Lock has a lift of 14.9 m and is one of two hydraulic lift locks on the Trent–Severn, the other at Peterborough. Bobcaygeon's Lock 32 is the busiest summer lockstation in the central reach.

Sailors and motor cruisers transit through; small craft can lock through alongside.

02 — Locations

5. places.

  1. 01

    Trent–Severn Waterway

    386 km National Historic Site navigation channel, Trenton to Port Severn, with 44 locks.

  2. 02

    Kirkfield Lift Lock (Lock 36)

    One of two hydraulic lift locks operating on the Trent–Severn; lift of 14.9 m.

  3. 03

    Bobcaygeon Lockstation (Lock 32)

    First lock built on the Trent–Severn, completed in 1833.

  4. 04

    Fenelon Falls Lockstation (Lock 34)

    Beside the falls between Cameron and Sturgeon lakes.

  5. 05

    Sturgeon, Cameron, Balsam, Pigeon, Scugog lakes

    Connected Trent–Severn cruising waters across the municipality.

03 — Conditions

Today's read.

Air Quality
18
eu-aqi · low
UV Index
1.6
scale 0–11
Humidity
73%
relative
Visibility
22.3 km
clear
Temp
+3.9°
H 13° · L -1°
Sun
05:50 / 20:31
14h 41m daylight
C
Marginal conditions for sailing & boating

Temperature (3.9°C) below the typical range.