Little French River to the Pickerel River

[CanoeDaddy]

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, Canoe- Tripping Warriors.

I finished this 6-day report a couple of days ago about our August outing in the French River area of Ontario. What the trip lacked in genuine wilderness, it certainly made up for in Beauty and History. It's lengthy but might serve a purpose while digesting Christmas treats.

Canoe Daddy - Little French to the Pickerel River

Total Distance: 100 km Duration: 6 days Number of Portages: 8 (Less if running or lining rapids) Total Portage Distance: 965 meters Level of Difficulty: Novice (though some knowledge of running rapids would be beneficial) This route is on the traditional territory of the Anishinabewaki ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᐗᑭ

www.canoedaddy.com

Here's to a wonderful (and saner?) 2026!

 

[memaquay]

Excellent report, as always! As a side note, I took some whitewater training in the area of Five Mile rapids around 25 years ago. The recent campsite booking procedure must have dramatically cut down on the population of canoeists on the river. We were there for five days during the long weekend in August, and I saw more people on the river than lived in my small town. Also, along every bank, there were these mysterious white and brown flowers blooming in clumps every six or seven inches. Upon closer inspection, they revealed themselves to be human turds ensconced in toilet paper blossoms. Being used to only canoeing in Northern Ontario, where human sitings were extremely rare, and fecal encounters pretty much non-existent, my opinion of the French River became one of disgust. The thought of drinking water, even filtered and boiled, was a gut churning prospect.

Seems like your trip was feces flower free and relatively unencumbered by the masses of humanity that I encountered.

 

[CanoeDaddy]

Thanks for the kind words, memquay!

Disgust, indeed! I can understand why you haven't been back, especially with all the amazing rivers you have in your area.

I have encountered the dreaded feces flower in Algonquin, Temagami, and in the Delta region of the French River in the past. At times, I have encountered them within p!$$ing distance of a thunderbox. I mean...what the...?!?

To see them consistently along the shoreline of a route is off-the-charts wrong. Thankfully, we didn't see them at all on our trip down the French this time. I think, along with the new campsite booking system, Parks Ontario stepped up its maintenance of the sites, which probably includes installing and maintaining thunderboxes at each site. This is fantastic as long as people use the darn things. I never understood the feces flower thing, anyway. How hard is it to bury it?

As I mentioned in my report, the French River is hardly a wilderness experience. It wasn't feces flowers but the motorboat traffic that got to me a few times. It has pockets where you forget you are in cottage country, however. Despite this downside, it is stunningly beautiful in many places. Having said that, I can't wait to get back up to northwestern Ontario again next season!

 

[memaquay]

I found the area to be beautiful too, very different from what I was used too. During that five days, I probably saw well over a hundred canoes, just from our campsite. Lots of large groups. Are your plans for next summer bringing you anywhere near G-Town?