#2: [19-May-03]

01-Jun-2001 -- This was an ambitious (unsuccessful) attempt at a very remote confluence. The confluence lies just outside the boundary of French River Provincial Park, nearly 20 km from the nearest road. Our proposed route involved about 15 km of kayaking through the French River delta, to the nearest point reachable by water. The second stage was to involve a 4 km hike through the forest to the confluence point.

Our first hint of trouble came to us as we entered Wanapitei Bay (see map). There was a very strong wind from the south-southwest, and we paddled the length of the bay with great difficulty. We eagerly anticipated the next leg of our journey which, according to the map, should have been along a route that was nicely sheltered from the wind. Much to our chagrin, however, we found that as we entered the Western Channel the wind shifted, and was now coming straight from the east.

Having already spent much more time than we had planned crossing Wanapitei Bay, and given our current state of exhaustion, we decided it would be wise to temporarily abandon the quest. We plan to return in the future, with a more suitable means of transportation (ie. motor boat).