A French River Sunset

I’m a big fan of Wayne Gretzky’s quote, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” I really apply it to photography along with simply experiencing in general Mother Nature’s little miracles.

I’ve been haunted by a golden sunset reflected perfectly in the still waters of wetland I drove past early in the summer of 2015. I wanted to turn around but decided against it. I thought, at that moment, I could simply come back on another evening and capture the scene.

Well, I felt more and more regret as I drove further and further away from the scene. Would I see it again? Was the world in perfect line just this one evening for this event to happen? The sun sets at a slightly different position each night. The clouds and other weather factors can change that scene every single night.

I’ve actually had some bad dreams about this. In those dreams, I’m struck by an amazing sunset scene with brilliant colours. Yet, I can never grab the camera in time or for some reason, I can’t get the camera to work. The good thing is, I am absolutely sure that I dream in colour!

Two weekends ago, I made my regular journey up to Sudbury, Ontario to pick up my oldest son. He goes to Laurentian University and it was the start reading week. On the way up, the temperature stood still at an incredibly chilly -35 Celsius. The roads were terrible and it was a white knuckle drive for most of the four hours.

The French River is one of my favourite stopping spots along the way. During the warmer months, there is a large parking lot, spacious visitor centre and an excellent trail that takes you down river to Recollet Falls.

On that chilly morning, I was stopped at the highway 69 bridge over the French. There is work underway and the bridge is reduced to one lane. Therefore, you have to wait for oncoming traffic to have their turn before you can go. I looked down at the river and there was this amazing steam rising in columns from the water to the top of the cliffs.

In winter, the parking lot to the visitor centre is barely plowed and the visitor centre is closed. I looked at this amazing scene on the water and decided that it would probably still be that way on the way back down south later on in the day.

It was not. I was so angry with myself on that drive back down from Sudbury that I didn’t stop on the way up and capture the scene. Sure, I would have frozen my hands and maybe caught a bit of frostbite along the way. But, I may never see that scene again. It’s Canada, yes. But, in our part of the country, temperatures of that severity are quite rare. I may have taken the extreme cold to get the steam to form just right.

Move ahead a week. I’m returning my son to his home in Sudbury. We passed the French on the way up but it was nothing spectacular. I was fully prepared to stop but it really wasn’t a big deal.

On the way home, however, the sun was just about to set. I waited for my turn to cross the bridge and pulled off to enter the visitor centre. I was a bit hesitant. My tires are all-season and a bit worn in some edges because I had a suspension problem that went ignored for too long.

The short road in to the visitor centre is a narrow plowed single lane with soft banks on either side. The single lane was indeed plowed but not sanded or salted. That meant the surface on the inclining stretch of road was basically a bumpy, rutty skating rink.

Add to those conditions the fact that not another soul had any desire to venture off the highway. I was alone and on a road that could leave me stuck for hours, if not overnight with one wrong move.

You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. I ventured up the single lane road to the parking lot. The lot closest to the visitor centre was plowed enough for maybe three vehicles to fit. And, it was icy.

I left the car, slightly worried about burglars or vandals but was comforted by the fact that anything I had of value was slung over my shoulder in the camera back. I found a thin beaten trail that led down to the groomed snowmobile trail that crosses the pedestrian bridge over the French. Sound confusing? See the video below for a better look at the area.

The weather had been quite warm for a few days before dropping back down on this day. It was no -35 but a still cool -10. The trail had thawed a bit before refreezing, leaving an unsteady surface of footprints frozen solid. In other words, an ankle breaker if you took a wrong step.

After getting up on the bridge and seeing the beauty in front of me, I was struck by the fact I was on a bridge that wasn’t much wider than a single snowmobile. For a moment, I worried I might get run over but there was not a sound in the air that there was a snow machine anywhere nearby.

So, these are some of the images I took. They’re pretty much raw out of the camera with not a lot of post production. They’re not going to win any awards but it was a majestic view to experience with just the right conditions coming together.

The below video shows this exact area in warmer times. Recollet Falls is about 2km downstream and there is trail that will take you there from the visitor centre.