Weekend recap: French River Provincial Park
September 29 - October 1
2.5 days, 2 nights
Featuring canoeing, camping and Parks Pass-stamping.
A clear, sunny, and quiet weekend, paddling and camping on the French River. I’m writing this one retrospectively. What a great weekend to cap off the end of summer, and start the autumn season.
OUTING DETAILS
THE LOGISTICS
Where: Hartley Bay Marina, French River Provincial Park
When: September 30 - October 1
How: Drove our own vehicle to Hartley Bay Marina, brought our own canoe and gear.
THE ROUTE
THE STAY
THE ACTIVITIES
WEEKEND RECAP
DAY 1 - FRIDAY
Gear packed, canoe strapped to the top of the taco, and ready for the weekend, my fiancé, Adrian, and I left home late afternoon, after the work day. We pulled into Hartley Bay Marina a little later than anticipated – a stop at Tahini’s in Sudbury for an early dinner shawarma and a train crossing slowed our travel time by a bit – and quickly checked in to the Marina. We purchased a parking pass for the weekend (roughly $20), and loaded our gear onto the access point dock.
Tip: check in with Hartley Bay Marina for canoe rental and parking passes.
You can rent canoes from the Marina, but we brought our home. Oh my goodness this canoe had such a low profile. There was - no joke - about 1 inch of canoe from the surface of the water. Any big waves would have resulted in much unwanted water in our canoe.
With only about an hour of daylight left, we hustled out of the marina and began our paddle down the French River! In hindsight, I would never recommend leaving with only 1 hour of daylight – we thought finding an open campsite would be easy enough, but we quickly realized that there were many campers on the River that night, and found our site on the 4th try at around 7:00 pm, with 15 minutes remaining before the sunset.
In usual behaviour, I wanted to pick a campsite with a good ~vibe~. Adrian was wonderfully supportive of this, and he gave up his pick of a campsite (the first one we paddled by in fact) in the hopes of finding a more aesthetically pleasing one. Four campsites later, we found an open spot, and claimed it! Campsite 658 turned out to be a gem of a campsite – great spots for pitching a tent, easy landing spot, great sunrise view, and good for swimming.
Note: I have a hunch that this spot might be quite flooded in the early spring; if you’ve camped here, let me know what you think!
We set up camp: pitched the tent, laid out sleeping bags, pads and pillows, laid out tarps; lit a fire, set up our chairs, and pulled out dessert (mini bottle of red wine and Nutella biscuits) from our Yeti Go Box.
As the fire crackled, the stars shone, and the water quietly lapped against the shoreline. Since I’m an incredibly sleepy person, I was ready for bed at 8:30 pm!
My tactic for sleeping in the forest is to bring earplugs and, ideally, take some melatonin. I realize this may be a silly approach, as I’m not on guard or staying vigilant for any large animals outside. However, I slept like a baby!
DAY 2 - SATURDAY
Feeling refreshed, my body woke me up at sunrise, around 7:30 am. The cool mornings of early autumn have wonderfully misty mornings. Our campsite was fairly quiet that morning, despite the odd boat or two passing by. Adrian lit a fire, boiled some water, and made hot chocolates to warm up. Breakfast was instant oats with peanut butter.
By 9:45 am we departed for our day trip: circumnavigating Merrangers Island! We opted to paddle south, on the east side of the island, round the bottom, and paddle back up north to return to camp. The water was still, the sun was shining and there was hardly a breeze in the air. Perfect paddling conditions. Around Merranger’s Island, we saw medium-sized cliffs, windswept pines and maple trees with leaves turning bright orange and red.
Wildlife spottings included a bald eagle and a horrific dead lake sturgeon fish that was the size of a large adult. Fun fact: “The Lake Sturgeon is Canada's largest freshwater fish, weighing up to 180 kilograms and reaching over two metres long.” I will spare you from the image and not post the photos I took.
After that riveting national geographic moment, we paddled down the river peacefully and arrived at our lunch break spot, campsite 671.
Lunch consisted of butter chicken with fresh snap peas: instant rice packet paired with butter chicken we had made on Friday, and kept stored in our food bag.
The water was a bit too chilly to swim, as the wind had picked up a bit. We were back on the water by 1:00 pm!
Thankfully, the wind picked up considerably and pushed us up the River. I want to say we shaved off roughly 45 minutes of paddle time because of that!
We coasted back to our campsite and had a well-deserved break. I sat in my camping chair, listening to the water, and took a short nap (again, I am a very sleepy person). The late afternoon passed by quickly.
Dinner consisted of our classic, go-to camping/hiking meal: elevated boxed Kraft Dinner (a Canadian childhood staple). White cheddar flavour, with crispy kielbasa (a Polish pork sausage), and tons of cracked black pepper. Maybe next time we’ll try a different flavour? Tell me your favourite mac’n’cheese upgrade recipes!
We rounded out the evening by watching the sunset and chatting with each other. We ‘stamped’ our Ontario Parks Pass, which is becoming an addiction, filling up those stamps! Dessert was another round of Nutella biscuits, warmed by the fire. Happy, tired, and full, we went to bed at 9:30 pm.
DAY 3 - SUNDAY
Another beautiful morning on the French River. I felt brave enough to take a chilly morning swim. So refreshing! Makes me feel alive.
For breakfast, we had tea and instant oats with peanut butter and granola. As we sat on our camp chairs, eating our cozy meal, we saw a moose emerge on the small island across the channel from our campsite, enter the water, swim across the channel, and exit on another island across the way. So magical to see such a large animal in nature!
After breakfast, we packed our gear and headed back to the water. We paddled back the same way we came in, and arrived at the docks at Hartley Bay Marina just before noon.
A perfect weekend adventure! For those wanting to dabble with canoeing camping trips, this was a great option. There was no portaging in our route: simply load the canoe from docks and shoreline, paddle, ‘dock’, and unload. It allowed us to pack a few things that would have not been possible if we had to portage, such as our Yeti Go Box and a few niceties (mini bottle of wine, bulky container of pre-made butter chicken).
The route is not strenuous: we circumnavigated Merranger’s Island in the day, but, it would be just as pleasant to split it up over two days. Can’t wait for the next trip!
Till next time!
Aili
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