Restoule Provincial Park: Stormy Lake to French River Loop (5 days / 72 km)
The Restoule Loop offers an excellent opportunity for the beginner or early intermediate backcountry canoe adventurer to experience the rustic beauty of the Upper French River area, for the first time. During the whole 5-day trip, we only saw one other canoe group, but with the cottages and cabins that sparsely dot the shoreline throughout the trip, the route did not feel overly secluded. Other than a few very small swifts, this is a flatwater paddler’s dream. The route takes you through a combination of Provincial Park and Enhanced Management Area lands.
Trip Completed: July 2024
Trip Summary
Location: Restoule, Ontario Canada
Traditional Territory: This route is part of the traditional canoe routes of the Dokis Ojibwa People.
Maps & Resources
Map: Geolocated PDF map
Interactive Map: Click here to view and modify this route in the interactive Route Planner
Permits & Reservations
Campsite Reservations: Campsites on this route are Restole and French River provincial parks, and on Crown Land. For the campsites in Restole PP and French River PP, reservations are required by site. All this can be booked through the Ontario Parks reservation portal. No reservation is needed for the last campsite, which is on Crown Land.
Permits: As of 2020, Ontario Parks allows you to print permits at home.
Know Before You Go
Season: The best time of season to go is summer or fall.
Cell Reception: Limited cell reception was available in the area of the campsites at the mouth of the French River near Frank’s Point.
Water: Water is very accessible throughout the trip, but should be treated or filtered.
Wildlife: This is black bear territory. Make sure you manage your food using best practices in the backcountry. There is a very large chance of seeing moose and beaver as well.
Waste: There are thunderboxes at most of the campsites I visited on this trip
Outfitters & Shuttles
Outfitter: We rented one canoe from Swift Outdoor Centre – South River.
Shuttle: No shuttle was needed for this route. Parking is available at the access point for a fee of $12.25 per day at time of this trip.
Trip Report
Day 1: Stormy Lake Access Point to Site 21
After stopping at Swift Outdoor Centre in South River, to pick up a 3-person Swift canoe, we reached Restoule Provincial Park at approximately 11 am. Stopping at the park office to get our parking permit, we made the quick drive to the Stormy Lake Access Point. The access point has two large docks, outhouse-style washrooms, and lots of close parking. Getting on the water was painless and we were off.
Right away, Stormy Lake gave us views of a fire tower that overlooks the lake to the right and the left. We passed several 50-foot-high granite cliffs. Our party was made up of two seasoned adult canoeists and 3 kids, one of whom was on his first canoe trip ever. We made our way down Stormy Lake to Scott’s Dam, over a distance of 6.8 km. The 270 m portage is right at the very end of Stormy Lake and goes around Scott’s Dam and there is a picnic table at the takeout.
Portage around Scott’s Dam (270 m): The portage is relatively flat and well-graded. There are two paths leading from the canoe takeout point, take the path to the left that leads directly to the dam. Back on the water, we made our way down the narrow Lennon Lake to site #21 and our campsite for the night. We reached the campsite at approximately 2 pm.
Editor’s Note: The portage is marked as 270m on the Park’s map, but appears to be longer on the satellite map.
Campsite: #21. The campsite is good, with a northwest exposure. The tent and food prep area are 30 feet from the water, and the trees obstruct the lake’s views. There was enough room to accommodate our 2 tents and a hammock easily. The fire ring has no seating. This campsite was equipped with its very own thunderbox. There were two locations where canoes could be offloaded, and canoes pulled up for the night. The access to the water is slightly steep from the tent and food prep area, but not dangerous by any means.
Daily Portage Summary
| Distance | From | To | Notes |
| 270 | Stormy Lake | Lennon Lake | Gradual incline, Well maintained. |
Day 1 Summary
| Total Distance | 10 km |
| Portaging Distance | 270 m |
| Number of Portages | 1 |
| Campsite Reservation | Reservation by Site: #21 |
Day 2: Lennon Lake to Sand Bay (French River)
After a morning feed of campfire pancakes, we were back on the water at 11 am and made short work of the 4.7 km to MacArthur Rapids.
Portage around MacArthur Rapids (270 m): The 270 m portage around MacArthur Rapids was well-graded and easy.
Portage to Restoule Bay (800 m): Another 6.1 km of paddling brought us to the 800 m portage that would take us from the Restoule River into Restoule Bay. Beware, there is poison ivy on this portage. The portage itself is well maintained, but the last 100 m runs along a 50-foot drop and the final 50 m that descend to Restoule Bay and the put-in are technical, and steep in places with a step down of over 2 feet. Carrying a canoe on this final section of the portage should be done with caution.
The next 3.1 km are in a little bit bigger water and cottages dot the shoreline. A quick 55 m portage and we were back in the canoes, heading northeast with the wind at our backs.
Portage Channel (600 m): Paddling another 1.4 km through Portage Channel took us to the final portage of the day, 600 m in length. The takeout is steep, but once you get past that, the portage’s incline is gradual. Around the corner and staying to the shoreline on the right, we were on the big water of Sandy Bay.
Three more kilometers of paddling and we were at our target campsites on Wright Island. We stopped at campsite 126 and it did not suit our needs. It was mostly bare rock with no real place to hang a hammock, so we moved onto #125. At #125, there was another canoe group that had already taken the site and were set up. From the water, this site looked very nice. We continued out into the middle of the main channel to campsite #123, where we stayed for the night.
Campsite: #123. The campsite was ok; there was one great tent location, one flattish tent location, and one hammock spot that we made work. There was very little topsoil on the bedrocks to put in tent pegs, so we had to scrounge up some rocks to guy out the tents and hammock tarp. The location is fine for free-standing tents, but one of our tents was a trekking pole tent, so setting up was difficult, but not impossible. The fire pit area was on bare rock and gave a great view of Sand Bay. There was no thunderbox that we found.
Between the campfire and the water, there was a dead tree with hogweed growing around it; the hogweed was not hard to avoid once we had identified it. Access to get water was good. We had no problems finding a location to offload and pull the canoes up for the night. One big bonus was that the island was full of ripe wild blueberries.
Daily Portage Summary
| Distance | From | To | Notes |
| 270 | Lennon Lake | Restoule River | Undulating, Well-maintained. |
| 800 | Restoule River | Restoule Bay | Steady Hill and then a Steep downhill along a cliff Well Maintained. |
| 55 | Restoule Bay | Portage Channel | Reasonably Flat and Well-maintained. |
| 600 | Portage Channel | French River (Sand Bay) | Gradual Uphill with a steep take-out. Well Maintained. |
Day 2 Summary
| Total Distance | 20.1 km |
| Portaging Distance | 1725 m |
| Number of Portages | 4 |
| Campsite Reservation | Reservation by Site: #123 |
Day 3: Sand Bay to Franks Point
The wind had changed direction to out of the north but was still calm in the morning. With camp mostly broken down, just as we were finishing up breakfast, the rain started. The rain continued for most of the day. We left the campsite at about 9:30 to a light headwind and steady rain in our faces.
We followed the east shoreline for the morning and then crossed the channel to the west side near Norris and Bagdon islands and continued north, staying as close to shore as possible. This is big water and care should be taken when paddling on it. We made our way to a cluster of campsites across from Franks Point, 100, 101, and 102. In passing, we talked to a cottager who said that 101 was the best site of the three. When we got to camp, it stopped raining long enough to set up.
With only 15.8 km of paddling and no portages for the day, we were in camp early, but the light headwind had tired us all out. About 3 pm, it started raining again, and fairly heavily, so we all made for our shelters, where I enjoyed the sound of the rain beating on the tarp as I drifted in and out of sleep.
Campsite: #101. The campsite was open to the sky and had great views from the fire pit area that looked out onto Lake Nipissing and across into Frank’s Bay. Again, the site was on bedrock and required rocks to peg down our tents. There was a large pine tree that provided some relief from the rain when it started. There were two good tent spots and a spot that worked for the hammock. It was probably from the amount of rain that the area had this year, but this site had a lot of slugs. This site had benches around the fire pit area and a thunderbox. Overall, I would rate this site as good. The site had very good access to the water for collecting water and for swimming.
Daily Portage Summary: no portages
Day 3 summary:
| Total Distance | 15.8 km |
| Portaging Distance | 0 m |
| Number of Portages | 0 |
| Campsite Reservation | Reservation by Site: #101 |
Day 4: Franks Point to Bass Lake
The wind blew hard most of the night, but by the morning it had died down enough for us to safely attempt the paddle across to Franks Bay. Leaving camp about 9:30, we made our way into Shoal Creek. In 3.3 km, we reached our first portage of the day, a short 90 m portage. Shoal Creek snakes its way, back and forth to Shoal Lake. With two more very short portages of 55 m and 45 m and 10 beaver dams to lift over, it took us through the 10.4 km into Shoal Lake.
We stopped for lunch at a point near campsite #33. The sun was hot, and we crowded into the little bit of shade we could find. The canoe group that we had seen two days earlier was just ahead of us and had decided to occupy site 33 for the night. That group had told us that site 42 was the best site on Bass Lake, so that was where we decided to head.
Sand Creek Portage (810 m): Another 2.7 km brought us to an 810 m portage. This portage was slightly overgrown and a bit hard to find your way in places. The deer flies were also horrendous. When I finally put the canoe down at the end of the portage, probably 30 deer flies flew out from under the canoe with me. We quickly loaded up the canoe and we were away again. After 1.9 km, we reached campsite 42.
Campsite: #42. This site was totally tree-covered but open under the canopy. There were lots of great tent locations and spots to hang hammocks. There was a fire pit close to the water, with limited seating. Someone had built a big food prep table and had brought a section of countertop (This I was not a fan of). The water access was great. The rocks were very slimy and slippery, which made accessing the water for swimming treacherous. There was a thunderbox. There were no real views from the campsite. Loading, unloading, and canoe storage were simple and easy.
Daily Portage Summary
| Distance | From | To | Notes |
| 90 | Shoal Creek | Shoal Creek | Easy. |
| 55 | Shoal Creek | Shoal Creek | Easy. |
| 45 | Shoal Creek | Shoal Creek | Easy. |
| 810 | Sand Creek | Bass Lake | Overgrown in places and the trail was hard to follow at times. Grade was flat. |
Day 4 Summary
| Total Distance | 19.3 km |
| Portaging Distance | 1000 m |
| Number of Portages | 4 |
| Campsite Reservation | No Reservation Needed |
Day 5: Bass Lake to Stormy Lake Access
We woke to another beautiful morning and after an easy breakfast of oatmeal, we packed up camp for the last time and hit the water. 0.9 km to the 900 m portage. This portage was both easy and hard to find. There were probably 15 boats stored on the shore, in various states of repair and disrepair. Once we realized that this boat graveyard marked the start of the portage, we were onto it.
The portage is shared by both canoeists and ATVs, and unfortunately, the ATVs have torn it up in places. The portage seems to branch in places where the ATVs have created new paths to get around big mud holes. The portage crosses a small road at two locations; stay on the trail. After a bit of frustration over the condition of the portage, we managed to get to the end and into Clear Lake.
Staying to the shoreline on the left, we found that small channel that took us from Clear Lake into Storm Lake and to the access point. The final leg of the paddle was 5.8 km from the last portage to the access point.
Daily Portage Summary
| Distance | From | To | Notes |
| 900 | Bass Lake | Clear Lake | This portage was in poor condition as a result of the ATV traffic that shares the trail. |
Day 5 summary
| Total Distance | 7.6 km |
| Portaging Distance | 900 m |
| Number of Portages | 1 |
| Campsite Reservation | N/A |
Reflections
Except for the final portage, I enjoyed this route. I was amazed not to see more paddlers out enjoying this area. The daily distance that we chose to paddle gave us a great off-the-water balance for the week and allowed us to really enjoy our camp time. I think this is a great route for a newer backcountry paddler who has a few trips under their belt.
Author Bio
Chris is semi-retired and finds himself in the position where he has the desire, the means, and the time to go adventuring in the backcountry. His backcountry time is spread between canoeing and hiking. During the summer of 2022, he hiked part of the Great Divide Trail from the US border, at Waterton National Park, up to Maligne Lake in Jasper, in 33 days, covering just under 800 km. In September of 2023, Chris returned to Jasper and completed the remaining 350 km of the GDT.
Over the years, he has done some amazing canoe trips with his dad and his two boys, including the East and West Branches of the Spanish River, several trips into Algonquin, and paddling around Phillip Edward Island. Chris has lots of great memories of his dad and his boys out in the wilderness, pushing their limits and enjoying life. Those memories were the catalyst for this trip and many more to come.
Instagram: @havanamild
YouTube: @lostwithoutyou