A quick trip to Healy Falls turned into a day trip as I visited a few locks on the Trent Severn, including:
Lock 16, 17, Healy Falls Flight
Lock 15, Healy Falls – looking upstream toward the Healy Falls Generating Station and lock 16.
Lock 14, Crowe Bay – looking across the control dam to the upstream lock entrance channel.
Lock 13, Campbellford – looking upstream
More images here
Adjacent to to Trent Severn locks 15 – 17, the Healey Falls Generating Station is one of those places that the owners would rather you stayed away from. I’m fascinated by hydro electric power stations and took a good look at the plant while I could.
Ontario Power will be fencing off the access to it soon and to be honest, well, it’s a good thing that they are as the penstocks and tailraces of hydro plants are not safe places to be around.
An expansion of the generating station allows some temporary access to areas that are normally inaccessible. The generating station will have a new turbine unit in a spare bay inside the existing hydroelectric power plant once the expansion is complete.
The project involves bifurcation of one penstock, feeding existing units two and three. In addition, the third penstock will supply water to the new unit.
The crews will excavate the generator pit and draft tube, construct the tailrace pier and install the tailrace de-watering gate.
More images here.
There are many active and abandoned quarries in Ontario – some are just gaping scars in the ground, some are flooded and have become popular swimming holes.
A few glimpses of Trent Severn control dam 1
Looking from the CFN Trenton Yacht Club toward the Bakers Island training area. Sojers from CFLAWC start bailing out about halfway through the video.
A look at part of my day spent at the Bakers Island training area with a Rappel Master course from the Canadian Forces Land Advanced Warfare Centre (CFLAWC).
The idea is simple – place a Rappel Master and four soldiers in a helicopter. Make the helicopter go up and hover.
Tell the soldiers to get out.
More images here
A few videos that I shot while observing the sojers from CFLAWC conduct an evaluation for a Rappel Master course.
The sojers marching to the helicopter – they do that a lot
A safety briefing
Start up and check out the helicopter
Up into the air
Out they go
Back to the ground…
A few moments with nature
Local weather – well, local to me Comox Weather – Olive Debeach’s home Ucluelet weather Victoria Harbour CBC news Qunite West news Scientific American