Kayaking the French River and Phillip Edward Island
I don’t need an excuse to head out into the woods, but in July 2019 I had one. An Australian friend was going to be in Canada for a few weeks, and insisted we help find him some good fishing.
My fellow camping compatriots suggested we use this opportunity to get out onto Georgian Bay to (among other things) hunt bass, pike, pickerel, and whatever else we could convince to bite a hook. I’m no fisherman, but figured we would have some luck in one of my favourite places on earth - the Lower French River.
The Route
Running the Lower French is a phenomenal long-weekend route. You get a little of everything: river paddling, light rapids, and the inevitable descent into one of the most beautiful sections of Georgian Bay. Canadian Shield, the mighty pine, and white-capped waves abound. There are plenty of routes that will take you down and back up in three days, but we had five set aside in the calendar and I wanted to try something a bit more ambitious.
Download the GPX file here
I’ve spent lots of time in the rocky bays of French River Provincial Park, but had never been beyond Point Grondine. If you can get around the Point, it opens up a whole new section of the shoreline - including the vast length of Phillip Edward Island. The Island is on crown land (for now), and camping is a bit more rugged and less trafficked than many of the parks.
We decided on a route that would take us from Hartley Bay Marina, down the French River’s Old Voyageur channel, around Point Grondine, and across the open shoreline of Phillip Edward Island into Killarney. We opted for poly sea kayaks as the open bay can be pretty shaky in a canoe when the weather turns. All in all, about 75km over five days.
The Trip
We planned on a mid-week jaunt, from Monday to Friday, hopefully avoiding the weekend warrior crowds. Unfortunately mosquitoes don’t have the same 9-5 schedule as the rest of us, but we figured getting out to the open water would keep them windbound. We were right about the crowds, and partially right about the mosquitoes.
Sunday night, we drove up to Killarney and stayed at the Sportsman’s Inn. This gave us the flexibility of an early start on Monday and the (unexpected) option of a couple dozen oysters, shrimp jambalaya, and French rosé at Big Willy’s Bait Shop the night before. Highly recommended.
The Sportsman’s Inn in Killarney
We had organized kayaks and a shuttle to Hartley Bay through Killarney Outfitters. They are an incredibly organized outfitters, but get busy in the high season and I recommend booking your gear early, even if you’re not 100% locked and loaded - they’re flexible with changes.
In our oyster/jambalaya/rosé haze, we made the aggressive call to push the entire French River on Monday, to give us more time on the Bay through the week. Day 1 ended up being 28km, and took us through a headwind for most of the day and into a jaw-dropping paddle down the Old Voyageur channel and rapids. Staying in Batt Bay on Night 1 reminded me why I typically only camp in the fall - the mosquitoes were insane. But after a long day (and Morne's 60cm pike!), we didn’t need an excuse to crash early.
Rapids along the Old Voyageur Channel
We left early on Day 2, having been warned that the exposed route around Point Grondine can be treacherous (if not impassible). We lucked out with manageable winds, but I can understand why we got the warning. This is a gnarly pass with plenty of shallows and shoals that could force you back into Horseshoe Bay until the winds calm. If in doubt, take it wide. After 16km, we landed on a gorgeous site at Moose Bay where we had a bass and BBQ dinner, followed by a late night of banter, bourbon, and more mosquitoes. Maybe not in that order.
“Docking” kayaks on West Fox Island
Our plan for Day 3 was to buzz around Phillip Edward’s inner bays and find a place to camp for the next two nights. We settled on a 12km paddle to West Fox Island which had a protected cove to dock at, and plenty of potential for sunsets and exploring. Not to mention some exposed points to (hopefully) mitigate the bugs. We settled in and spent the next two days and nights, swimming, hiking, and playing cards.
Sunset on West Fox Island
Originally, we had intended to finish the trip in Killarney. To make it home a bit earlier on Friday, we opted to finish at the Chikanishing boat launch and have our shuttle pick us up there instead. (We found cell signal at West Fox and were able to contact Killarney Outfitters to change our itinerary.) This 9km route saved us a couple hours and bought more time to explore the coast of Philip Edward on the way in. If the wind had been heavy, this might have been a necessity.
Itinerary (GPX File)
Day 1: Hartley Bay Marina to Batt Bay (28km)
Day 2: Batt Bay to Moose Bay (16km)
Day 3: Moose Bay to West Fox Island (12km)
Day 4: Island day (no travel)
Day 5: West Fox Island to Chikanishing Boat Launch (9km)
The Food
Trip cooking for four people is ideal - any more and you have to deal with bigger (or more) pots, and more complex food requirements. Breakfasts and lunches we typically do solo, to avoid over-engineering meals that people typically like to enjoy at their own pace. But a big communal dinner brings everyone together at the end of the day to break (gluten-free) bread. We had two interesting constraints to work with: no gluten, and no dairy. I actually found those constraints easy to plan for, frankly because they eliminated so many options.
This was my first field test of the Ice Mule Boss cooler, which I had strapped on the deck on my kayak. They claim that it’ll keep ice for 5+ days - in practice, we were able to keep ice through 3.5+ days (in the middle of July!), which I think we could have stretched a bit had we flash frozen some of the food.
As much as the Canadian Shield makes a good hard surface for cutting veggies, we aimed to minimize prep and cleaning with simple single-pot recipes. Chili pressure-cooked and frozen in ziplock bags, BBQ pre-cooked and vacuum-sealed, and Jordan’s more decadent (and trip-winning) Dan Dan Noodles with sauce pre-made.
Meal Plan
Day 1: Beef Chili (Josh’s home-made pressure cooker recipe)
Day 2: Brisket Tacos (meat from Adamson BBQ, with peppers, shallots, and tortillas)
Day 3: Dan Dan Noodles (Jordan’s go-to, with ground pork, rice noodles and a peanut/soy/sesame sauce)
Day 4: Pulled Pork Tacos (again from Adamson)
Pro Tips
Designing the route to have less and less distance each day made the experience a lot more fun - we powered through the first bit, and really got to relax through the lazy bays of Philip Edward.
Stressing about trip planning? Get your travel pals to sort out their own (simple) breakfasts and lunches, and only plan for group dinners. People tend to enjoy the freedom to eat at their own pace earlier in the day anyways.
If you’re going to run the rapids in the Lower French, consider poly boats. It can be shallow and rocky at certain parts, and you don’t want to punch a hole in your craft before you get to the good stuff.
Cell reception (as of July 2019) is pretty scarce. Once you approach Killarney it gets stronger, but assume you won’t have bars unless you can find a high point or you are beginning to approach the western end of Phillip Edward.
