Canoe trips for campers 7-11
Camp Hurontario has always been well known for its excellent, progressive canoe tripping program. Our youngest campers will have the opportunity to take Bay trips in the area around the camp for an overnight or several night canoeing and camping adventure. Campers may also enter the nearby Massassauga Wildlands Provincial Park for the small fee of a camping permit per night spent in the park.
Canoe Trips for Campers 11-12
The Hartley Bay Loop
Campers trip for 5-7 days on the Pickerel River, which is north of Parry Sound off Highway 400. The trip encompasses travel both on the river itself and travel on protected areas of the Bay. The Pickerel River trip travels through beautiful scenic areas dotted with old fishing camps. With several arms of the river to travel, the Pickerel River offers excellent, safe tripping. This trip is reached after a boat trip and van ride from the camp.
The French River
Historically famous as part of the trip route which the Courier de Bois paddled, this trip involves both travel on the French and the interesting Little French River. An excellent trip of five to seven days’ length, this trip offers exciting travel on the river itself with few people in its upper reaches. This trip involves a boat and van ride to and from camp.
Canoe Trips for Campers 12-14
The French/Restoule (6 days)
Take a trip back in time and follow this fur-trading route from hundreds of years ago. Starting at Restoule Lake, the trip heads west down the Restoule River, where it empties into the French River. Some of the best campsites in Hurontario’s tripping catalogue are featured on this route, including the incomparable Five Finger Rapids – always a highlight with the campers on this trip. The fishing is also incredible and there are some fun rapids to swim in and camp beside. This trip is an iconic Ontario canoe trip, offering wildlife, good fishing and few people other than trippers. The groups travel by boat, then van, both to arrive at the start and to finish the trip.
The Wanapitei/West Channel (6 days)
Voyaging on this trip is always a big hit, with trippers enjoying a fun two days on the Wanapitei River en route to merging with the West Channel of the French on its way to northern Georgian Bay. An amazing campsite beside a fun set of rapids on the Wanapitei is the first rest stop on this trip that spills onto the fingerboards and one of the best sunset campsites around Whitefish Bay. Dallas Rapids is a fun swim spot, and the islands of the French River Provincial Park are an incredible backdrop for this fantastic canoe trip.
Killarney-Britt Sea Kayak Adventure (8 days)
Beginning in the shadows of the Lacloche Mountains, campers will paddle Hurontario’s fleet of seakayaks through the incredible landscape of Georgian Bay. Highlights include the amazing Fox Islands, cruising the shoreline and exploring the inlets of Philip Edward Island; checking out the incredible Chicken Islands, and paddling through the fingerboards in French River Provincial Park. The campsites are unmatched, as is the scenery. The sunsets over the Bustard Islands offer one-of-a-kind photo ops and fishing will no doubt bring some delicious dinners. The trippers eventually head south along the shoreline of Georgina Bay, past Britt and into Naiscoot Inlet, where this unbelievable trip finishes up.
The Magnetewan River (9 days)
Several years ago, the Government declared the Magnetewan River Basin a wildlife preserve. As a result, it is ideal for canoe trips. The trip on the Mag offers river and lake travel combined. There are several routes with varying degrees of difficulty. The scenery is spectacular, and the fishing is very good. The trippers paddle home through the 30,000 islands and enter the camp bay with beaming faces as they paddle with synchronized vigour to the centre of camp bay! In order to reach the Mag, a boat and van ride from the camp are required.
Canoe Trips for Campers 13-14
The North Camp (11 Days, approx.)
Over 40 years ago, Hurontario purchased a fishing camp on Lake Windemere in the Chapleau Game Preserve. From this northern outpost, senior campers experience an amazing tripping adventure on lakes filled with wildlife, great fishing and still untouched by the outside world. The campers travel by boat, then van to Chapleau and finally by train to Lake Windemere – a trip that takes a full day and in itself is an adventure! At the North camp, there are many routes from which to choose. The campers and staff discuss their route choices thoroughly before leaving main camp. Senior campers who have taken these trips say this highlights their stay at Camp Hurontario!
We are able to send four trips each month to the North Camp, which is decided by the equipment needs of these trips plus the space available at the North Camp. We will do our best to assure all 14-year-olds a trip out of the North Camp.
White Water Canoe Trips
For campers who are 15 or 16 years old, Hurontario offers the opportunity to experience the incredible fun of white water tripping. This program involves an excellent training course in the spring and then a choice of five AMAZING river trips, which vary from 10 to 21 days in length. These trips are very popular with senior campers and the numbers are limited. In the spring, senior campers will have the opportunity to choose one of these river trips or our senior northern outpost.
Dumoine River (11 days, approx.)
The Dumoine, remote and deep within the wilds of rural Quebec, is a canoe tripper’s paradise, offering one of the finest stretches of canoeable whitewater in all of North America. Known for its consistent levels for whitewater throughout the summer, the river is predominantly class II with a few class III’s thrown in to keep your attention, and some lakes and calm stretches to relax.
The Dumoine is gentle for the first several days, with quick water and easy rapids and several portages around waterfalls, but then the rapids build, as with our own confidence. In all, our trippers encounter thirty-five rapids and eight portages on the descent to the Ottawa River.
Coulonge River (15 days, approx.)
The Coulonge River flows through the historic Upper Ottawa Valley and into the Ottawa River. Trippers paddle upstream on the Kipawa River and into the headwaters of the Coulonge River before heading downstream for some amazing rapids and incredible campsites, including Rapides Enrages and Chute a l’Ours.
This is an exciting river and lake trip on the Coulonge River from south of Lavaille Park in northern Quebec finishing at historic Fort Coulonge. Starting just north of North Bay and heading to the East, our trippers will pick up the headwaters of the Coulonge on approximately their 5th day and then spend the next 7 days navigating the exciting and beautiful white water of the Coulonge.
To conclude this spectacular trip, campers spend a day with Canada’s number one rafting team, Esprit rafting, on the Ottawa River.
Missinaibi River (19 days, approx.)
The Missinaibi River is an epic journey beginning just north of Lake Superior and finishing up in Moosonee on the shores of James Bay. Covering a distance of almost 800 kilometres, the trippers paddle, portage, and shoot tons of amazing rapids on their journey down this historic fur-trading route. Thunderhouse and Conjuring House Falls are the highlight of the trip, featuring a cliff-side campsite and incredible photo opportunities.
The trip concludes with a journey on the Polar Bear Express from Moosonee to Cochrane where the trippers are picked up and brought back to camp in fine style.
This trip is available to July campers only.
Kesagami River (19 days, approx.)
Paddle to James Bay! Travel along this amazing remote river, which is an untouched gem among Northern Ontario’s wilderness rivers. From north of the town of Cochrane by van, campers set their canoes into the swift waters of this river known for its magnificent scenery and challenging whitewater. The group then paddles some 200 km down the river’s navigable rapids to the shores of James Bay and up the mighty Moose River to Moosonee and Moose Factory, once a Hudson’s Bay Company trading post.
This trip is available to August campers only.
The Hood River – 3 week trip
With its entire length located north of the Arctic Circle, Nunavut’s Hood River offers trippers a unique look at one of Canada’s most remote regions, the Barrenlands. Campers canoe through treeless vistas populated by caribou, muskoxen, grizzly bear, wolves and a huge variety of birds, including the majestic peregrine falcon. Add to this some amazing whitewater, the incomparable Wilberforce Falls, and some of the best fishing the country has to offer, and you’ve got a recipe for the trip of a lifetime.
See more information on this year’s (2024) Hood River trip.
