Maps provided courtesy of Toporama which contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada. I have marked my route in blue and portages in red. 

I woke up excited for the day; I knew we would be running the fun Five Mile Rapids section of the French River. 

But first, I wanted to see what kind of day it would be. I walked down to the massive sloping rock face at the water's edge to inspect the sky and the weather. 

It had definitely clouded over during the night. I was somewhat relieved by this apparent fact; perhaps it would alleviate some of the heat later in the day. The sun rising in the east below the cloud cover made for a pretty photo, though!  

What I really did want to know, however, was if it was going to rain. I checked my satellite device and discovered that we probably would have a cloudy day, but stay dry. That was great from a canoe tripping standpoint, but not from an environmental one. Ontario needed more rain at that time. 

We had a quick breakfast and coffee, and got on the water just after 9 AM. I took the following photo of site 330 before our westward paddle. 

We paddled adjacent to the southern shore, keeping the islands on our right. We passed a number of people out in their fishing boats trying for a catch. We witnessed a lot of fishing and not so much catching. I got the feeling the fishing pressure on the area was fairly strong. 

The waters were calm as we moved around the northern point of Commanda Island. 

There was a beehive of activity in front of Crane's Lochhaven Resort on the west side of that island. A large group of people were gathered at the docks, loading their bags onto a boat. Obviously, it was check-out time, and they were waiting to get shuttled back to their vehicles on the mainland. 

A thought popped into my head, and I asked Dad if he was in the mood for a cold drink. He said he was, and we pulled up to the other set of docks at the resort. A quick run up to the lodge resulted in a couple of cold cans of Diet Coke that we slammed back at the dock. A cold, carbonated beverage on a backcountry canoe trip is a luxury, indeed. Sure, it may be cheating the 'wilderness experience,' but it had been hot, and the cold beverages were welcomed. Here's a shot of Dad enjoying it with Little Pine Rapids lurking in the background.

On a side note, I  want to offer some legal advice here to any readers who may be interested. I picked it up from my lawyer friend. She told me that if you have ever experienced being a cold drink on a hot day, you may be entitled to some condensation. I probably didn't need to explain that as moist of my readers already likely knew that. If you didn't, don't sweat it. (Canoe Daddy...stop! Water you trying to accomplish with these horrible puns!? I'm not sure...it's a mist-ery.)

After our refreshments, we were at Little Pine Rapids in minutes. We got out on the rocks next to the drop to inspect the run and discovered that there was no way we would get down it without bottoming out in the low water. Rather than portaging past it, I simply lined and waded the canoe down the rapids by scraping it over the shallow drop.

The short distance between Little Pine Rapids and Big Pine Rapids is incredibly scenic. The left bank was a pine-studded, dramatic mini cliff that dropped into the river, while the right bank was a massive, gently sloping mound of granite. Where else can you see river scenery like this other than paddling the French? 

Within minutes, we were approaching Big Pine Rapids. There were two canoe parties on the portage. A large group of teenagers were just leaving site 400 at the top of the rapids and proceeding downriver on the trail, while another smaller group was carrying their gear upriver. The landing area at the top of the rapids was, indeed, congested. We certainly didn't feel like contributing to that milieu. 

We pulled ashore very near the top of the rapids and got out to inspect them. We immediately realized just how low the water levels were by the amount of exposed riverbed.

The rapids were too bony to run. We felt we could run the initial drop, but then we would immediately be playing a dangerous rock-dodging game with a high likelihood of smacking into and/or pinning on a few. There was one particularly large rock in the centre of the run, halfway down, that forced the water to either side. Both of those channels were also very rocky. 

Due to the congested portage, we decided to line the fully-loaded boat down the initial drop, through the rocky minefield, past that centre rock, and then get in and ferry to the opposite side of the river to run the final drop centre to left. It took some maneuvering and tugging to get the fully-laden boat over some rocks, but we made our plan work. The final run was a slow scrape, but we had just enough water to keep moving without bottoming out. 

A couple of teenagers stopped their portage to watch us. We made our way past the obstacle considerably faster than they had on the portage. I think I saw one young fellow offer an expression that said, "Now, why didn't we think of that!" 

Having said that, I'd like to point out that lining a canoe up and down rapids takes practice, and at times, can be dangerous. Dad and I certainly got a lifetime of practice running the Kopka River in very low water in 2023. The Beatles had the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany, to reach their 10,000 hours. Dad and I had the Kopka trip. 

(Dear Reader: By NO means am I suggesting that my father and I are "The Beatles" of canoe tripping. I was simply trying to illustrate that one needs some practice to be competent at a skill. If you took offence at the comment, I'm sure We Can Work It Out. But if you write in to complain, you will receive No Reply.  So, maybe you should just Let It Be. Boy, going off on this tangent is really Something.  I may need Help!) 

I encourage those who engage in lining to do so under the right circumstances and in a controlled manner. I always wear a PFD while doing it, and I don't rush. It often involves an element of rock hopping, and one slip on wet rocks could have disastrous consequences. When you feel in doubt, or it is beyond your abilities, take the portage. 

Here is a look back at Big Pine from the bottom after we were through it.

Ten minutes past Big Pine Rapids, the river veered to the south, and we were upon Double Rapids. There was a nice campsite on the point just north of the rapids that was occupied. We pulled up on the large slab of rock in the middle of the river to inspect the two channels of Double Rapids. 

The last time I was through Five Mile Rapids in 2021, water levels were considerably higher, and Double Rapids then appeared only as a bit of moving water on the surface. In August 2025, I was actually seeing whitewater since the rocks on the bottom broke the surface. 

While out on the rock, I took the opportunity to fire off an upriver photo of our fully-loaded canoe in a typical French River landscape. Canoe porn?

We opted to take the left channel of Double Rapids.  It was a gentle glide down a perfect V. In reality, it required no scouting, but I think I just wanted an excuse to get out of the boat and take a few photos. 

After easing down Double Rapids, the river made another left turn, and we headed east for a moment until we came to Double Rapids Island. Having been there before, I knew that there was a little inlet on the northern side of the island. There, we could park the boat and scramble up a hill across the island to scout Blue Chute Rapids. Even though I was confident that we would be able to run Blue Chute, I just wanted to make sure the water wasn't too low and that there weren't any nasty surprises lurking beneath the waves. 

Traversing the island on a hill, there was a campsite with a nice downriver view of the rapids and the river. 

At the very top of the hill on the north side of the island, there was evidence of a fairly recent fire, however. The trees were charred and bare, and that may detract some from booking the site. 

As I suspected, upon closer look, Blue Chute was easily runnable. 

We made our way back down the hill, returned to the canoe, paddled around the island, and ran Blue Chute. Fun! 

Here's a shot of Blue Chute after we had been ushered swiftly through it. 

We paddled past Owl Point on our right, and within 5 minutes, we were approaching Big Parisien Rapids, where the river narrowed through a mini canyon. This is what is so fun about Five Mile Rapids: the fun runs come at the canoeist in quick succession. 

There was a small group of guys on the left bank with fishing lines in the water, but the portage past these rapids was on the right, so we got out there to take a peek at the run. 

There, we walked along the rocks on the right bank to find our line through the rapids. The run had two sections of whitewater. The top one, where the guys were fishing, was a nice V through the channel, but the bottom part was just slightly more technical, requiring a centre-to-right move at the end to avoid careening into a rock jutting out from the left bank. Here's a shot of the bottom section. 

We returned to the canoe and ran it. Thankfully, at the top of the rapids, the fishermen reeled in their lines to let us pass. It was a fun little run -- the best of the day. Although the picture doesn't do it justice, we paddled through a small hole during the run and took on a bit of water, which required a bit of bailing afterward. 

Here is a shot of the run from below. 

Five minutes past Big Parisien, we came up to Devil's Chute, a swift that is sandwiched between Big Bluff Island and the southern shore. The passage there forms a lovely mini gorge that was interesting to move through. 

There wasn't any whitewater to necessitate calling it a 'chute', but it did get a little swirly in the channel. Here is a shot of it after moving through it. 

About a two-minute paddle past Devil Chute came Little Parisien Rapids. There was slightly more evidence of rapids there, but in reality, it was little more than a swift, and we easily cruised through. 

A short paddle past Little Parisien took us to our booked site for the evening, just east of Deadhog Point. The only issue was that it wasn't even close to evening yet; it was slightly past 1 PM. 

The one issue with pre-booking sites is that one is bound to the decision made at the time of booking. I planned this trip at the last minute and was trying to find available sites at points on the route that I believed to be after a day's paddle. Well, we cruised through the Five Mile Rapids fairly speedily and arrived at our destination much faster than expected. I guess, at the time of booking, I had expected us to take more time through that section. As it turned out, it ended up being a blessing in disguise because the wind would come up in a big way shortly after we arrived at the site. 

We booked site 422. The new booking system for the French River has photos of the sites. This is great to see what the firepit and site front looks like when choosing sites. I booked site 422 because it was just after the fun rapids, and it had a fantastic deep-water entry off some rocks. The site was high off the water, which I thought would lend to nice views of the river. What the photos on the Ontario Parks booking site don't show is whether there are surrounding cottages near the site. Unfortunately, site 422 had a private cottage situated directly across the river from it. Luckily for us, this was in a wider section of the river, and no one appeared to be at the cottage that day. That afforded us more privacy.

It was a bit of a chore getting up to the site. There was a steep sloping rock on which we had to haul everything up, including the canoe. Once we were up on the site, we were quite pleased, however. Indeed, the views of the river were fantastic.  

We got our shelters in place and made lunch. While Dad was putting his tent up, he broke his glasses by mistake. Without his cheaters on, he has much difficulty seeing up close. The only solution to allow him to see anything within arm's length for the rest of the trip would be that wonderful cure-all for equipment mishaps in the backcountry -- duct tape. We got his glasses "repaired" so that he could at least have something to see for the remainder of the trip

Now, some people might say that a poop-ton of duct tape on the bridge of a pair of glasses might not be aesthetically pleasing. I wholeheartedly beg to differ. I believe that look is quintessentially Canadian. There is one film from the 1970s that Canadians of a certain age are enamoured with. This film nails them right in their minds. Prior to watching this film, many Canadians will put on the foil in preparation to watch the film. What this gem of a movie has taught us is that when our national anthem is playing, and others are talking, we yell, "I'm listening to the #$%@ing song!"  to silence them. And if a Canadian knows a guy called Dave, well, they would say, "Dave's a killer!"

Let's just say that I feel honoured to be related to the fourth Hanson brother, even if his scenes were cut out of the movie.

There was a bit of tree cover on the site, but not much. It was fine when we first arrived at the site because it was quite an overcast day, but the weather changed mid-afternoon. After we made lunch, the winds came up, blew away the clouds, and the sun had free rein. We were grateful at first, but there wasn't much shade up on that rock. I did another weather check on my ZOLEO and now saw that 30mm of rain was supposed to be coming late in the afternoon. Wow, what a quick change in the forecast! At the moment, it was nothing but blue skies and sun, but the wind was blowing hard. We got a tarp up to give us both respite from the sun's rays and protection from the predicted deluge. Dad threw a tarp over his tent, as well.  

We relaxed for the rest of the afternoon at the site. The weather was very hot but also very windy. The best aspect of the site was swimming off the rocks. The river was very deep there, and the high granite banks made for excellent jumping rocks. We basically hung out in our bathing suits all afternoon, jumping into the river every half hour or so to stay cool in the hot sun. What made the swimming extra special was that at the base of the jumping rock, there was a little underwater shelf that was perfect for sitting on. We could sit chest-deep in the waves with our feet dangling in the river to stay cool in the hot sun. It was like having a nice, cool jacuzzi built into our campsite. 

It ended up being a lovely, relaxing day and by 6 PM, no sign of any clouds or rain. Quite often, on canoe trips, the urge to push on and cover distance is strong. This mentality doesn't afford a lot of room for relaxation and simply sitting and enjoying the environment. It's nice to sit back, soak in the views, and read a book at the campsite. On Day 3 of our French River trip, we were able to do that. The wind kept the deer flies away for the most part, which only added to the enjoyment. 

True to the weather report, albeit later than forecasted, it began clouding over again at sunset. We were hoping to have a nice one with expansive western views of the French River from our lofty rock, but it was not meant to be; the clouds had something to say about that. It should be noted, however, that Lord Paddlesworth, the god of canoe tripping, did grant us a sliver of pink at sunset to entice us and keep us coming back for more in the future.