AUGUST 2017
French RiverProvincial Park
Eighteen Mile Island Loop

Participants
Bill Yacovissi
Hans Krohn
Mike Reilly
Bob Alspaugh
Greg Grego


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We drove from Wellsboro to French River.  Camped overnight at Loon Landing.

 

We consulted with a local expert before we started across the lake.  The good news is that we did not take his advice.

I borrowed this picture from our last trip to French River.

Hans and Bob are underway for the trip.

The start of the Eighteen Mile Island route takes you through a series of lakes with cabins.  After a few miles you get to the North Channel of the French River.  Several trip journals warned about the swift under this bridge.

Both canoes made it ok althought Greg and Mike looked to have a frantic moment.  I got past the bridge in the kayak but was swept backward and had to jump out and pull the boat upstream.

After the rousing fight up the swift we stopped for lunch.

I got in the water which for some strange reason I started doing on our trips when we stop for our first day's lunch.

After lunch Greg continued in the Kayak.

Our first night's camp was on Crown Land along the North Channel.

Our first impresion of the camp site was negative but it turned out to not be a bad site and typical of sites on this trip.

As you can see you have to set up on the rock and its just not level.

The next morning it began raining and rained hard for a few hours.  Fortunately it stopped before we got to the next rapid and portage.

 

Greg was able to pull the kayak up the rocks to the right and then launched above the falls.

 

The canoes had to portage around the rapids.

 

 The trip was sponsored by the American Gout Association.

Never let a badly swollen foot and ankle keep you from wilderness canoeing not to mention carrying a 40 pound pack on a particularly difficult 400 meter portage.

It was perhaps foolish of me to go on this trip but I made out ok and didn't really use the crutch.

It was good that we didn't get the canoes up the first falls as Greg did with the kayak. It turned out the rapids continued and there was no way to get off the river if you bypassed the portage.

Greg made out ok lining the kayak up the rapids.

Our camp the second night was on Worsley Bay.  Once again we had to set up on rock.

The weather cleared so we had a beatiful afternoon and evening.

The clearing skies produced a very colorful sunset.

After dinner we had a nice fire and enjoyed good conversation until bedtime.

 
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