French River is both a small Ontario municipality and, more importantly for travellers, a historic waterway running from Lake Nipissing toward Georgian Bay. The river cuts through Canadian Shield country: dark water, granite, pines, rapids, marshy channels, and quiet backcountry campsites.
This was an Indigenous travel route long before French explorers, missionaries, fur traders, and surveyors wrote their own accounts of it. Today it is a Canadian Heritage River and the spine of French River Provincial Park, best known for canoeing, kayaking, fishing, and backcountry camping.
You can still get a good one-day taste without loading a canoe. The French River Visitor Centre, nearby gorge views, Recollet Falls trail, and Grundy Lake Provincial Park make this more than a place to buy gas on the road between Parry Sound and Sudbury.