On to the Big Chute! (Travel Day 8)

We headed out for an easy ride to lock #44 – The Big Chute. We plan on staying at a marina right before the lock and watch how it works before we go over it.

As we left the marina we noticed this white island. Upon closer observation we decided it was a bird nesting site and the white was bird droppings. They will nest here until they kill the trees then move on to another location.

Our first obstacle to pass was not a lock but a railroad swing bridge. We had heard that you do not want to upset the bridge master or he will let you sit there for awhile. The rule was that if there was a train coming in the next 30 minutes that the bridge would not open. When we got there we found the bridge closed so we waited and soon we heard a train whistle. After the 15 minute long train passed then the bridge master walked out and climbed up the stairs to the control room. This bridge is old. We could see why they would not open the bridge unless they had more than 30 minutes to do so. It took a few minutes then we heard the engine fire up. It sounded like an old coal engine. The bridge opened and we were through in about 40 minutes.

The area we cruised through was nice and green with pine trees. There were many cottages and everyone had docks and boats. Glad it was a Monday so we did not have as much traffic. There were a few narrow areas that we had to take care passing through. We were in the Severn River so the water was deeper here, but you still had to watch out for rocks.

We pulled into the Big Chute Marina to spend the night and to check out the Lock and how it works. We watched a few boats make their way across the lock.