Trent-Severn Waterway

The Trent-Severn is a 386-kilometre canal system running from Lake Ontario at Trenton to Georgian Bay at Port Severn. The middle section threads through the heart of Kawartha Lakes, with locks at Bobcaygeon (Lock 32), Fenelon Falls (Lock 34), and several smaller stops between.

The locks were built in the 19th century to move logs and goods, but the canal was overtaken by the railways before it was finished and now carries almost only pleasure traffic. Operated by Parks Canada, it is open from May to October. The lockside parks are some of the prettiest public spaces in the region.

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The Peterborough Lift Lock, downstream of Kawartha Lakes on the same waterway, is the highest hydraulic boat lift in the world. The Kawarthas section is more modest, but Lock 32 in Bobcaygeon was the first one built — construction began in 1833, decades before the rest of the system was completed in 1920.

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