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Ontario has a pretty interesting selection of ferries, but the Scott Island crossing doesn’t rate very high on that list. Scott Island is about mid-way between Kingston and Ottawa in the mass of lakes, islands and waterways that characterise this part of the Canadian Shield. The ferry to the island crosses a channel only about 40 wide, with Clear Lake to the north and Indian Lake to the south. This channel is part of the Rideau Canal system that Colonel By built between 1826 and 1832 to connect the Ottawa River with Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence—which means in summer there is plenty of recreational boat traffic passing through.

We drove up from the south west passing through Chaffeys Lock—a pretty spot, but that beauty has brought with it plenty of tourists and the related infrastructure. A couple of kilometres past Chaffeys we branched off the main road and drove another couple of kilometres through wooded country, punctuated by cottages. Finally Isthmus Road took us over the isthmus before ending at the water’s edge facing the ferry—which was moored on the opposite bank of the channel.

The ferry itself is as basic as it gets; a simple barge with room for one vehicle, a liftable ramp at either end and a chain connected to each shore that the user pulls on to move the ferry across the channel. I had expected based on Wes’ email that the ferry would be electrically powered, but there was no sign that anything other than muscle power moved it.