Vacations to Sand Beach Lodge
French River, Ontario Canada
1954 & 1955
Bill with his Big Catfish
We returned to the Sand Beach Lodge in 1954 and continued our exploration of this wonderful area. I have also included a few Black & White photos from 1955 I had taken with my Brownie Hawkeye, as I could find no color slides from that year.
The Sand Beach Lodge closed a few years ago after being sold to a private owner, and at the time it looked much the same as it did way back then. I had long desired to return and spend a week there but now I'll never get that chance, with only fond memories of the times we had. Here's the link from the Wayback Machine:
Color photos are scans from 35mm slides using a Nikon Coolscan V scanner. Most of the Black and white photos were taken by my old Brownie Hawkeye camera. They're not the best quality, but it's what I've got. I scanned them in from 3X3 prints on a flatbed scanner at 1200 DPI resolution. There are also a few B & W 35mm photos (rectangular shape) which were scanned from actual photos.
The descriptions under the photo thumbnails in the album sometimes contain links to maps or additional information. These are identified by "Blue” text for links. I've also inserted links to Google Maps to show where certain photos in the album were taken or to locate features shown in the photos. Click on the link, close the sidebar, then you can then zoom in and out using the mouse wheel or drag the map by clicking and holding.
-Cascade Bill Mooseker
Album by Cascade Bill. 1 - 39 of 39 Total. 510 Visits.
enlarge 354KB, 1024x702 1 pics 1
To enlarge photos, click on the thumbnail - the photo will pop up enlarged to 1024 pixels max (height or width). To view at Original size (best for maps, etc.), Ctrl-Click on the Photo, and finally a 3rd click to enlarge to the original resolution. Click again to reduce back to fit the screen again.
If you want to save photos to your computer, click the box under the thumbnails of all the photos you want to download (or check the "select all" box at the bottom of the album). Then click the "Download" button at the top of the album. Pick the size you'd like to download (Original is best)and the photos will be downloaded as a zip file to the folder of your choice.
enlarge 169KB, 1024x700 2 s-54-0711 Approaching Sand Beach Lodge Resort from the water. The boathouse is on the left.
enlarge 227KB, 1024x735 3 s-54-0712 Dad with a nice Northern Pike - this is the hill next to the resort
enlarge 163KB, 1024x695 4 s-54-0690
Bill with his big catfish - we were fishing deep and it was a struggle to bring him up.
enlarge 205KB, 1024x696 5 10-02-23-1954-014
During the week, the lodge hosted a Square Dance with a live band. Elaine with another girl staying at the lodge. I had a big crush on her!
enlarge 184KB, 1024x702 6 s-54-0710 Stony Rapids
This was one of our early fishing holes. It is located HERE. It is a relatively short distance from the SBL and is one of the two connecting inlets from the North Channel of the French River flowing into Dry Pine Bay (the other is at Meshaw Falls).
There was a variety of fish here - big suckers (literally), big northern pike poking out from the weeds (you never could get them to bite though), and bass.
enlarge 165KB, 1024x685 7 10-02-23-1954-012
Dad and Bill coming into our "Picnic Beach", which we discovered the previous year. (Photo Album locateded HERE).
enlarge 155KB, 1024x696 8 10-02-23-1954-013 Dad
enlarge 154KB, 1024x693 9 10-02-23-1954-011 Dad - preparing to embark.
We had an upgrade to a 5hp Johnson outboard, which was much more reliable than the old Elgin we had in 1953.
enlarge 229KB, 1024x768 10 s-54-0610a Mark Our red and white SBL boat
enlarge 173KB, 1024x1001 11 1954-bill.006 Mark, Elaine, Mom, and Dad
enlarge 168KB, 1024x1001 12 1954-bill.007 Mark on the rock outcrop at our "Picnic Beach"
enlarge 189KB, 1024x695 13 s-54-0611 Elaine and Bill
enlarge 248KB, 1024x695 14 s-54-0630 Mark on the beach
enlarge 280KB, 1024x696 15 s-54-0631 Mom enjoying a book at the shaded picnic nook up from the beach
enlarge 212KB, 1022x1024 16 1954-bill.015
My old Brownie Hawkeye photo of the "Picnic Beach". Note the odd mushroom shaped log at the center of the photo.
enlarge 200KB, 1024x699 17 s-54-0640 Dad and Bill in for a swim We found the mushroom shaped log made a great raft
enlarge 194KB, 1024x699 18 s-54-0641 Dad & Bill
enlarge 201KB, 1024x699 19 s-54-0650 Bill on the raft
enlarge 184KB, 1024x694 20 s-54-0651 Dad and Bill
enlarge 261KB, 1024x699 21 s-54-0660 Elaine
enlarge 187KB, 1024x992 22 1954-bill.009 Mark and Dad with a stringer of fish for dinner, including a few bass and Walleye.
enlarge 179KB, 1024x1001 23 1954-bill.008 Mark on the outcrop
enlarge 157KB, 1024x694 24 s-54-0661 Cruising along the French River
enlarge 158KB, 1024x694 25 s-54-0670 So many bays, coves, and channels to explore
enlarge 189KB, 1024x701 26 s-54-0671 I loved the blue water, the stark granite headlands and the trees
enlarge 188KB, 1024x701 27 s-54-0680 French River scene
This intrigues me because if you enlarge the photo to original size, you can see what seem to be whitecaps of a rapids in the dark area at the center. I can't find any comparable rapids on Google Maps. The slide was also not taken on the same day as the next ones, which show a series of rapids.
Dad was always an adventurer, and the French River had plenty to explore. One day we went as far upriver as we could. Although it is a river, it appears to be a lake in most respects until you come to these rapids. Suddenly, the water tilts upwards full of boils and eddies. Of course, Dad guns his little 5hp motor and heads up the channel. Going uphill in a boat is a weird experience, believe me!.
HERE is a video of a much bigger and powerful boat coming down the Crooked Rapids. Crooked Rapids is located HERE.
enlarge 183KB, 1024x702 29 s-54-0700 Big Parisien Rapids
We continued upriver until we came to a rapids that even Dad felt was too big for us to handle. I'm pretty confident that this is Big Parisien Rapids by comparing the photo to the Google Satellite view as well as footage from the video, "Five Mile Rapids", which documents a canoe trip from Little Pine Rapids at Wolsey Bay down to Crooked Rapids as shown in the previous photo.
Note: On Google Maps Big and Little Parisien Rapids are reversed from what is shown on the topo maps. A cue to this is that on Google maps, what is called "Big Parisien" is dry.
enlarge 184KB, 1024x702 30 s-54-0701 Looking upriver through Big Parisien Rapids
These rapids are located HERE. If you zoom out from there until "Dry Pine Bay" becomes visible, you can see that this was quite a trip upriver. I'm amazed that we were able to find our way back due to the number of side channels and dead end bays along the route. But thanks to the little map they give out at the lodge, Dad was able to find the way. It was a very memorable day for eleven year old me.
enlarge 146KB, 1024x701 31 s-54-0681 Looking across Dry Pine Bay at twilight from near the SBL
enlarge 304KB, 1024x698 32 54-94b-016 A beaver we happened upon
enlarge 232KB, 1018x1024 33 1955-bill.001 From 1955: Dad and the Lodge resident dog.
enlarge 178KB, 1024x859 34 1955-bill.002 Another photo of the dog (I forget his name)
In 1953, the lodge had a wiener and marshmallow roast on one evening. The next morning I walked by the table where they had the roast and saw a box of hotdogs. The lodge dog was by the table so I gave him one of the hotdogs. I looked up and saw the the wife of the manager looking at me from her window. I felt so guilty but the dog was really happy.
enlarge 169KB, 1024x1018 35 1955-bill.003 View from the sand beach at the Sand Beach Lodge
enlarge 213KB, 1005x1024 36 1955-bill.004 Dad with a nice smallmouth bass
enlarge 211KB, 1005x1024 37 1955-bill.005 Another view
enlarge 176KB, 1017x1024 38 1955-bill.006 Another bass on the line
enlarge 221KB, 1017x1024 39 1955-bill.007 One of the other kids staying at the lodge while we were there
