Leg 21 of our 2022 sailing trip up north
(to read about Leg 20, Chikanishing Hike and Killarney, click here)
In a nice change of pace, today we got to sail the entire leg from Killarney to Heywood Island in the North Channel.
We also went for another nice hike this morning, too, on a trail we’ve never been on before. We got a ride on Tinkerbell from our slip to the mainland, and asked the dockhand where the start of the lighthouse trail was. She replied, “At the Killarney Mountain Lodge by the giant paddle.” We remembered the giant paddle from our wanderings last night.
We got a good breakfast and coffee at the Gateway Restaurant, then hiked off for a few hours.
Similar to the Chikanishing Trail, the Killarney Lighthouse Trail is mostly over granite, with some trail markers actually painted directly on the rock. It basically follows the Killarney Channel eastbound to Georgian Bay and the site of the Killarney East Lighthouse.
By early afternoon we needed to get going to make at least a little progress west. We stopped at the Sportsman’s Inn fuel dock for a pumpout and I was again amazed at how well trained and courteous the staff were. It’s too bad most marinas on Lake Michigan aren’t as well run as in Killarney.
We want to end up in Little Current tomorrow night, and Heywood Island is a logical place to stop. Heywood is only about 12 miles from Killarney and 9 miles from Little Current, which works well when getting a late start from Killarney and planning a morning arrival in Little Current. Heywood Island has a little cove within it, Browning Cove, which also has a little offshoot leading to another cove within the island for complete protection. It’s pretty, too, but we haven’t found much to do ashore there… so it makes a great “one night” stop.
With southwest winds at 10-15 knots, sailing to Heywood would be a close reach or beat from Killarney. To give us room to tack, we sailed on the open waters of Georgian Bay rather than take the narrow, southwesterly running Lansdowne Channel. Even though we still had to tack a bunch of times, it felt nice to sail again after so many miles spent motoring recently. I found that even when it’s a bunch of work (ie. heeling over and tacking back and forth), I still prefer sailing over motoring. I guess I’m not buying a trawler any time soon.
