Discovering French River

Discovering French River

We had often passed the French River Provincial Park on the way to and from the GTA, and we always promised ourselves a visit one day. 

Yesterday, we were able to fulfil that promise as we had two wedding planning meetings - one in Parry Sound, and the other in Garston, near Sudbury, and they were spaced apart enough for us to fit in a visit to the museum at the park as well as a 1.5 km hike to Recollet Falls. 

I always think I'm extremely lucky to meet such wonderful couples at these planning meetings, and yesterday was no exception. Super people - and a joy and pleasure to work with them, and I'm really excited to be meeting them again on their special days. 

We had been to visit family in Ajax, so we left very early so that we could be in Parry Sound for our 11:00 a.m. appointment with the first couple. We actually missed a lot of the rush hour traffic as we took the back roads to Hwy 400 and then we were going in the opposite direction to the commuters. We arrived in Parry Sound a full hour before our meeting, so we spent some time down at the waterfront - another favourite spot of ours.

The 30,000 islands tour boat was just leaving when we parked, and we were able to catch sight of a couple of seaplanes - one taking off, and another landing. I was also hoping to see a train going across the high bridge that spans the Sound. It always fascinates me to see these long, double-decker freight trains crossing a bridge that has very little in the way of walls on either side of the track. 

Meeting #1 accomplished, we left the Sound and headed north towards Sudbury. When we saw that we were ahead of time, we knew we were able to dust off another mini ambition and decided to take in a visit to French River, the first designated Canadian Heritage river, noted for being one of the routes of the Voyageurs at the time when New France was in its heyday.

Starting with a tour of the Visitor Centre (with an entry fee of only $1.00 each) we took in the 'Voices of the River' exhibit with interest. It's always a good thing to see artifacts and hear personal stories about times and events which had only been shared through text books at school. It was very well done, and we also learned about protected species that are in the area - including the Massasauga Rattlesnake, which is peculiar to the Georgian Bay area. 

Taking note of the warning sign at the entrance to the hiking trail, we ventured along the 1.5 km pathway over rocks and gnarled roots to finally reach the Recollet Falls. A returning passerby we met on the way there said she felt they were more like rapids than waterfalls, but I don't think that was a fair assessment. They were not among the most spectacular natural water features we have seen, but beauty is, after all, in the eye of the beholder and, for us, it was well worth the trek.

Another returning passerby told us that he had seen some water snakes at the falls, and we were eager to get some pictures of these non-poisonous reptiles. Unfortunately, there were none to be seen, even though we stayed there a full 15 minutes to take in the scenery. 

One slightly disturbing observation..... the appearance of a newly-dropped red maple leaf on the trail!!  I looked up to see the colours beginning to appear on some of the maples - already at the beginning of August!!!  No, Mother Nature - while I love the colours of the Fall, let us please enjoy a few more weeks of summer before you bless us with your splendour!!

It's good to have a bucket list, no matter how short or long it is. When the intention is there, the opportunities will surely follow. We were able to cross this item off our list in a pocket of time that were given to us in between our two appointments. We're looking forward to other opportunities to come our way - and when they do, we'll be ready.