Even though we typically like to travel for at least a couple of weeks in the summer, this year it was jut not possible, but we still wanted an epic adventure. So, Dan took a couple of weeks of vacation and we sought out to plan something other than an overnight or weekend adventure. As I scoured through maps and books with different canoe routes to conquer, we settled on heading to the French River and completing a similar loop to one in Kevin Callan’s Top 50 Canoe Routes in Ontario.
Monday
In order to complete this trip we knew that starting early in the morning was essential to avoid the potentially high afternoon winds on the river, so we made the decision to camp Monday evening at Grundy Lake Provincial Park and wake up super early on Tuesday to head to the marina for our departure.
This was our first time visiting Grundy Lake and after spending only a few hours that afternoon and evening made us realize we will have to go back for a much longer visit. Our visit was short, so we made the best of it by going swimming at the “slippery rocks” where you can slide in to the water on what is most definitely not gross slimy algae. We also swam across the bay to a small jumping rock where Hayden enjoyed jumping in the lake and Dan face/belly flopped in spectacular fashion. While swimming we met a man who grew up in the town where we live and Hayden and his son played together in the water while we chatted. Such a small world, and it got smaller the next day…
After our swim we headed back to the site for supper and enjoyed a lovely evening campfire. Then it was off to bed early as we would be leaving Grundy before 8 am to head to our put in.
Off we go! 
Slippery rock swimming fun 
Hamburger wraps, definitely a repeat meal in the future 
Tuesday Morning
Our adventure on the French River was about to begin. We crawled out of our tent just after sunrise, quickly packed up, ate breakfast, and headed to Hartley Bay Marina.
The loop for this trip took us into the Western Channel, through the Old Voyageurs Channel, to Georgian Bay, and then back north through the Main Channel. We had a general idea of places we wanted to stay for each night, but the plans changed slightly as we progressed with our trip (I will provide details in these posts). See below for the two maps (Check out Unlostify as you can edit and write on the maps!), one being our planned route, the other was our actual route.
Planned Route 
Actual Route
Our check in at Hartley Bay Marina was really fast and very easy. The staff here are really organized and know what they are doing. We were unpacked, parked an loaded within 15 mins of our arrival. On another weird note, one of the staff that helped give directions was from our town and spends the summers working at the marina, the world just got even smaller. FYI: parking at the marina has a cost per vehicle as well as a loading/unloading charge. This is NOT covered under Ontario Parks reservations, so do not pay for vehicle parking on the reservation site.
The time officially arrived to get this trip started, so we pushed off from the marina docks and headed on our way. It was a beautiful day, except for the wind – Mother Nature wanted to us to have a bit of a challenging trip. The weather for the week called for high winds by mid afternoon on most days, and and of course we had to paddle straight into them. As we entered into Wanapitei Bay we sneaked along the many islands on the eastern side until eventually crossing over to the western shore. By doing this we managed to have the islands protect us a little from the winds that were coming from the west.
On the dock ready to go 
Off we go! 
As we crossed the bay and went behind one of the islands we saw a Bald Eagle on the top of a tree. What a beautiful creature. We paddled quietly towards the island watching the eagle and hoping to get closer but it took off and circled the area before finding somewhere else to land.
As we entered the Western Channel the winds became more prominent. Many times we had to encourage Hayden to help paddle as we continued on down the channel aiming for a particular site for the day. I only took a few pictures in this channel as we fought the wind for the majority of the time. As we approached the area where the site was located, the river was full of white caps and wind gusts recorded that day was a maximum of 46 km/h. Needless to say, we were happy to reach our site and offload! Despite the wind, it only took us about 3 hours to paddle the 15 km from the marina to the site.
Pit stop along the western channel 
Landed at our site
Tuesday Afternoon
As the winds kept getting stronger and we watched as other canoeists pass by getting tossed around in the wind and waves, we were happy to be settled for the day. Our paddle could have easily continued further down the western channel, but we wanted to enjoy our trip and not rush paddling long distances every day. It was time to eat lunch which I served up on ManCamping’s Waxed Canvas Ground Cloth.
Once we all ate and enjoyed some gummy bears (thanks for someone’s post on FB for mentioning taking these on a trip), we set up our camp and then went for a beautiful afternoon swim.
The remainder of the afternoon was spent relaxing in our hammocks napping and taking in the beautiful views.
Lunch is ready 
Camp views from inside the tent 
Camp from left 
to middle 
to right 
I love Gummy Bears (bouncing here and there and everwhere) 
He loves gummy bears too 
Great swimming spot 
Love the hammock views 
Tuesday Evening
Feeling rejuvenated from our naps, we finished collecting firewood – no prior campers had left any behind – started our evening fire and warmed up our chicken fajitas for dinner. I precooked and wrapped these fajitas prior to our trip so that on our first night we had a fresh quick meal to enjoy. Topping off our supper we ate some chips (yes we brought a bag of chips in our barrel), and I enjoyed a lovely drink. For dessert we had Jiffy Pop popcorn that was a bit of a challenge to cook as the fire was really hot. I had to use some foil to protect my hand inside the glove.
Hayden had some fun with the foil from the wraps making himself an alien-proof hat, then he wanted to try starting a fire with Dan’s glasses. They managed to get a little hot spot on the leaf but was not successful in started a full fire. Both of them agreed this would be a very last minute survival attempt at getting a fire started.
Silly boy 
Drink Views on point 
Will this work? 
Jiffy Pop! 
YUMMMMY 
Good night sun
As the sun went down we headed to bed as we would be getting up at 5 am the next morning. Our trip the next day would take us out to Georgian Bay, where the winds and waves would be unpredictable. We had multiple plans for this next section of our trip. 1 – get as far as we could if the weather was cooperating; 2 – stop earlier than we wanted if Georgian Bay was not passable; 3 – paddle until we felt unsafe and stop wherever we could along the route.
Come back for part 2 as we continue on this epic adventure.
Affiliate Information
I am currently in an affiliate for companies where I purchase my gear. I do receive some compensation for products purchased through my link. If you are interested in products that I use, click on the appropriate links below to access each company.
Keen Canada please click here.
Mountain Equipment Co-op click here. Save up to 60% off at MEC.ca during our Mountain Days Sale!
Back Road Mapbooks click here.
LARQ click here.
Very interesting.