Canoeing Ontario
"The river is the melody, the sky is the refrain"
Gordon Lightfoot
Whispers of the North
Home Page
French River
Loosely considered to divide North from South Ontario. Easily canoeable from Wolsley Bay, Ontario, to Highway #69 and can be extended westward exiting through one of several branches into Georgian Bay. A day trip hugging the coast eastward will bring you back to Key Harbour on Highway 69.
The 'pool and drop' character of the French River is typical of Karst Topography rivers and thereby provides both exciting white water as well as flat water for those less adventurous.
This is part of the historic route that Samuel De Champlain took while pushing westward. North West Company fur traders from Montreal canoed up the St. Lawrence and up the Ottawa to finally cross the 'height of land' after the gruelling Mattawa River.
Lake Nippissing fed the French River, within a drainage basin flowing westward to the Great Lakes. Supplies could be shipped south to the Jesuit settlement now known as Ste. Marie among the Hurons in present day Midland, Ontario, or Cour de bois could explore west or northward, bartering with the local natives for furs destined for the European market.
A beautiful river of windswept pines and granite outcrops.