If you love to canoe & camp in the wilderness like I do The Key River area of The Georgian Bay can not be beat.
Approaching the fallen rock lower Pickerel River Georgian Bay.
If you also like to fish you will will get plenty of action irregardless of where you stop for the night.
There are unlimited places to stop & set-up camp with no hassle or red tape.
You will see more bears & moose in a canoe than a motor boat because wild animals can hear boat motors a long way off & usually book it or step back into the bush when they do.
Bear & moose swim from island to island & if you are lucky you may catch one in the process.
Canoe camping is different than motor boat camping simply because you have to go light & keep all your gear to a minimum & leave the lawn chairs, folding cots & heavy lanterns, camp stoves, gasoline & all that behind.
All you need is a good open faced spinning rod & assortment of small floating Rapalas, Daredevils, Rooster Tails, Mepps, Mr Twister Grubs, Jig Heads, Safety Pin Spinners for jig heads & extra spools of six, eight, ten & twelve pound test Stren line & six inch long wire leaders in ten to fifteen pound test.
I never take more than one rod on a canoe trip so I prefer Ugly Sticks because the are almost impossible to break unless you smash them with something.
The winds are westerly & the trip out The Key River to Georgian Bay can be a real pain at times if the wind is up.
Many canoeist will make this trip in the evening or early morning to avoid afternoon winds & motor boat traffic which can be pretty heavy on weekends & very few of them slow down for loaded canoes so you will have to keep your bow up & cross over their wakes.
You can also hop a ride out to the bay on a big motor boat if you check around at the road & someone is willing to accommodate you.
Checkout my blog roll for canoe route links & information.
One popular three day trip is putting in at the Pickerel River & coming back to the road up The Key River where you will park your vehicle for a fee.
I only know of one or two portages on this route & the camping & fishing for smallmouth bass & largemouth bass is really good.
Always keep an eye out for rattlesnakes on portages in this area especially near The Pickerel River Falls where it drops down to the Georgian Bay.
I have seen more of them in this area than anywhere else in Georgian Bay & especially in hot weather in July & August.
Many canoeist that have gone through there told me they saw one there & that was the best part of their whole trip.
There are not a lot of rattlesnakes in Ontario, Canada & that was the only chance they had to ever see one in the wild.
I have also encountered wolves in this area.
You can also take a longer trip by going past the Pickerel River where it drops down into Georgian Bay & keep going on down The French River all the way to Dallas Rapids or The Bad River Channel both of which will take you to Georgian Bay & back to The Key River to the road or if you are brave on to the town of Killarney via Georgian Bay where you can get out there & have someone come to pick you up & take you back to your vehicle.
That would be a trip of a lifetime & it would also take a week or more unless you are into the all out paddle gang.
You can not go directly down The French River from Rte. 69 because of several falls or drops in that area before it joins The Pickerel River where the two come together.
The French River is often high & dangerous in early spring & so is The Pickerel River where it drops down to Georgian Bay.
The rapids & drops there are full of big boulders in early spring when the water is way up & you would do better to line them or carry around them & especially the falls that begins in a very narrow place & just drops out of no where.
I always attach two lining ropes to each end of my canoes & use them or carry when in doubt.
The last time I was out on The French at Dallas Rapids the first of June the water was up seventeen feet & roaring over Dallas Rapids & dangerous was the only word I have for it.
This route is not for everyone in early spring as the carry around Dallas Rapids is a bruiser.
There is a store at The French River on Rte. 69 that hauls canoeist up to Lake Nippissing & they can canoe back to the store where they leave their vehicle.
They offer several different lengths of trips & they also rent canoes.
There are several options to be picked up & all that.
Check with the lodges & stores on Rte. 69 for information & arrangements.
The big danger is cold water out on the big open lake water past Dead Island & this is no place to be if you are not highly skilled in the art of canoeing & safety.
There are back routes marked with buoys that take longer but they are much safer as the route winds through islands that shelter canoes from high winds & big waves.
I could do a whole blog on canoeing but the best thing to do is go to my blog roll & click on Bill Mason & Cliff Jacobson & buy their books on wilderness canoeing & camping.
You will know how & what to do after you read & study them & I can assure you they are the Bible on this subject.
Personally I am a canoe poler & have actually competed in The National Canoe Poling Championships in the past.
I got to meet Harry Rock & pole with him & he is probably the greatest canoe poler that ever lived. Many of the professionals actually do back flips in their canoe to warm up or jump up & twist their bodies & land in the opposite direction to reverse their conoes direction & they climb drops that most canoeist would fear going down let alone up standing up. Canoe polers stand tall & carry a big stick & always go up stream against the flow hopping from eddie to eddie & cross ferrying to the top of the drops.
You just have to see it to believe it.
I also have a link on that if you are interested. Not many of us around.
The Old Town Tripper in Royalex is my favorite canoe for tripping & I also have a fifteen foot Grumman that was made in nineteen fifty.
Always get really good maps & a good compass & study them before you go as you will need them to navigate in Georgian Bay & out around the islands. I have never used a GPS but hear they are great.
When the sun goes down everything & every place out there looks the same at night & it is very easy to get lost or disorientated.
You mention above
“There is a store at The French River on Rte. 69 that hauls canoeist up to Lake Nippissing & they can canoe back to the store where they leave their vehicle.”
Do you have any contact information on this?
Lloyd
Should I be concerned because of rattlesnakes about taking a dog and not leashing him during the trip? Thanks in advance.