June 28: Jones Falls

I've taken advantage of the early morning to wander around the Jones Falls lockstation, before Mary Lou stirs. There is no sign of life anywhere.

It's Day 2 of our trek on the Rideau Canal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that extends from Kingston, Ontario, to Ottawa. Sometime in 2001, buoyed by the exhilaration of having paddled stretches of the Churchill River in Saskatchewan and through the Red Lake District and Quetico Wilderness Area in northern Ontario, I became obsessed with the notion of one day paddling the Rideau Canal. The years since 2001 passed quickly, and, with life's nasty twists and turns stacking up against me, I had all but given up on my dream till Christmas Day, 2010, when my sister Mary Lou, in her no-nonsense tone of voice, said, "Let's do it."

Now, as I peer down into the first of the four locks at Jones Falls, I panic to think of entering through those foreboding gates and being enclosed in such a deep, dank chamber, at the mercy of the water that will come gushing though the sluice.

Jones Falls is an historic jewel that depicts both the original construction styles along the Rideau Canal and examples of restorations and additions over time. The site includes a wood planked long bridge, three interconnected 15-foot deep locks and a fourth lock, the original blacksmith shop, the Sweeney House that is reputed to be one of the more luxurious of the 12 remaining defensible lockmaster's houses, a keystone arch dam that workers during construction dubbed "the Seventh Wonder of the World", remnants of a wood timber multi-span deck beam bridge, and a powerhouse built in 1947 and owned and operated by Granite Power Corp. The powerhouse continues to provide hydro power between here and Kingston Mills to the south.

We have entered the first chamber. The lockmaster is perched on the lock gates in front of us and the gates are closed behind us. We wrap our throw lines through the cables that hang down along the chamber wall and wait for the onrush of water. The silence is eerie. The experience is humbling. But what an exhilarating experience! The force of the water is something to marvel at. We move ahead into the second lock, rope on and wait for the next rush.

Then into the third lock. We move in, rope on, and enjoy the ride from deep inside a dark, damp, moss-covered chamber, up, up, up, till we are once again level with our surroundings. We paddle across a small basin and into the fourth lock. One last time—move in, rope on, and enjoy the ride.