The French River Canadian Canoe Adventure

Follow the Paddles and Portages of Natives, Explorers and Voyageurs
on the Original Canadian Heritage River

If you’ve always wanted to undertake the quintessential Canadian Canoe trip, look no further…

Your Guides on The French River:

Ray Goodwin

Ray Goodwin is the UK’s best known and (many would go so far as to say) foremost canoe coach. For more than 30 years Ray has been introducing people to, and developing people’s skills in, the great outdoors.

He is an expert paddler and author of ‘Canoeing’. He also wrote two chapters of the BCU Canoe and Kayak Handbook as well as sections of the standard UK textbook on White Water Safety and Rescue.

A British Canoe Union Level 5 Coach in Canoe, Inland Kayak, and Sea, Ray was the first coach to be assessed to Level 5 in three disciplines.

Ray’s experience extends far and wide, with his paddling career having taken him to four continents. Closer to home, his ground-breaking British canoe journeys include the first circumnavigation of Wales and the first unsupported canoe crossing of the Irish Sea.

Paul Kirtley

Paul Kirtley is Founder and owner of Frontier Bushcraft, one of Europe’s premier providers of wilderness skills training.

Paul has taught bushcraft for many years, previously being chief instructor at Ray Mears’s bushcraft school.

He was voted the UK’s top bushcraft instructor in the 2012 Best In Bushcraft Awards.

Paul is a respected authority in his field, writing the UK’s top-ranked bushcraft blog in addition to having contributed to various outdoor manuals and magazines.

On the French River expedition Paul introduces you to a world of useful resources on the shoreline and forests of the Canadian Shield. He also shares a range of useful and highly practical bushcraft and campcraft skills and techniques which really enhance any multi-day canoe journey in wild country.

A True Canadian Adventure…

The Frontier Bushcraft French River canoe expedition is an accessible, enjoyable and enabling Canadian canoe adventure trip.

The French River is one of the most important waterways in the history of Canada. A travel route of the Ojibwa Indians, the French River later became a key link in the fur trade. For this alone the French River would be remarkable. However, not only does the French River have an exceptional cultural history, it also possesses a rich natural diversity along with complex topography.

Located in south-central Ontario, the 110 km corridor of the French River drains the region of the Canadian Shield between Lake Nipissing in the east and Georgian Bay in the west. The French River flows through a landscape that remains largely as it was when the first Europeans explored it over three hundred years ago. The area provides great opportunities for employing canoe and bushcraft skills. Indeed, in this environment, they fit together perfectly.

Here you can hone and integrate your canoe-camping skills in a superb area of wild Ontario with a an unparalleled canoe heritage, all under the guidance of experts in their field – Ray Goodwin and Paul Kirtley.

For more information, dates and prices click on the button below:

What Our Clients Say

“Frontier Bushcraft offer an epic trip on the French River where you will really feel that you are making a journey and utilising your skills. No need for scenarios, this trip is the real deal. Paul Kirtley and Ray Goodwin provide expert guidance whilst letting you loose in the environment. A trip of a lifetime for me.

I learnt many new skills including how to portage (actually doing it), lining and tracking, working as part of a tandem pair in the canoe.

Thanks Frontier for the chance to make such an unforgettable journey in this amazing environment.”
Stuart Wittke.

“The Frontier website gave a fair outline of that we would be doing on the trip but it was much more than the sum its of parts. It is one of those trips that you just have to experience for yourself.

The highlight of the trip was staying with Norm Dokis on the Dokis Native Reserve. He was most welcoming and very knowledgeable about his environment.

Also Paul and Ray’s obvious enthusiasm and passion for this way of life was infectious.

For those of you who have attended organised courses or trips in the past and are looking for the next step, this is it.”
Hamish Morton.