The Happy Camper: Maps By Jeff Releases New Killarney & French River Maps
Great news! The renowned Ontario based map maker Jeff McMurtry has just released three new/updated maps to his series for paddlers.
Maps by Jeff updated a map of Killarney Provincial Park and the West French River Provincial Park, including a brand-new map of East French River Provincial Park. They have the same look and feel to his adored Algonquin map series he released in 2024, and they have already been labelled by canoeists and kayakers as the most detailed maps of these parks ever created.
All three maps include countless tidbits—more than the old style maps—of information such as locations of favourite beach sites for swimming, remnants of old ranger cabins, logging camp ruins and fire towers, spectacular lookouts, spring water areas, pictographs, hiking trails, fish species found in each lake and stream and the regular campsite and portage locations.
There are also even more additions in all the maps. Sport Fishing (including trout, bass, walleye, pike and muskie), cliffs, Recent Forest Fire Sites and Notable Painting Spots.
There are also what Jeff calls “Portage Elevation Profiles”—basically a diagram beside each portage showing the side view of the elevation changes. He created it using hundreds of GPS tracks from fellow paddlers. It highlights where the hills are, how steep they are, how long they are and, in Jeff’s opinion, how tough they are (labelled as Steep, Very Steep and Crazy Steep).
There’s a colour code for route difficulties. Yellow marks a typical route. Orange marks a challenging route. Red marks a very difficult route. A real added bonus is the “adventure routes” Jeff has highlighted—old, forgotten routes no one has travelled in decades or even centuries. Bushwhacking is definitely required for these. And he’s added a 2.5-metre contour interval that shows the terrain in extreme detail, emphasizing the flat spots and valleys.
Each route shown has a calculated distance and duration for the average canoeist to travel. It isn’t a bad idea for novice trippers to investigate, who think they can take on more than their skill set. It considers how twisty a river is, the hills on portages, obstructions like dense alder and the condition of each portage.
Beyond the updates of the Killarney and Western French River Provincial Park maps is a brand-new map of Eastern French River Provincial Park that covers everything from Highway 69 to Lake Nipissing, including the Restoule River and Shoal Creek. This is an amazing hidden gem that few paddlers knew about.
I real bonus is how Jeff has made alterations to the maps scale from 1:62,500 to 1:42,500 to allow for even more details. Each copy of the map comes with five different digital versions
(Avenza, Garmin custom map, high resolution .jpg, a Google Earth file and a GeoTIFF). And if you buy both French River maps, Jeff will send you digital copies that cover the entire French River.
It’s also a great deal—$25. When you buy a map, you get a waterproof, tear-resistant copy. The only negative review that could be mustered from some paddlers is that maybe Jeff has added too much detail. Many traditional canoe trippers grew up discovering the elevation of a portage when they got to the portage. They also believe that some “adventure routes” should only be located by trippers who do the leg work to find them, not have a new age map pinpoint their exact location—a mini oasis discovered on your own.
