Thanks to all who replied and sent PMs with advice.  The bugs turned out to be a non-issue - even though the people at Hartley Bay even said it would be bad.  We also had no real trouble finding hammock-friendly sites.

Some advice though for anyone thinking about doing the Frnech River anytime soon: check on the water levels before you go.  When we arrived, the park had shut down all traffic through the West Channel/Five Fingers area, as well as the Main Outlet at the Dalles rapids.   We were told we would die even if we tried to portage becuase the portages were all flooded.

We made it through to the Bay at the Bass Lake outlet, but another foot of water level rise, and even that portage would've been a waterfall.

The Georgian Bay was great, though the water level was relatively high there too.

I'd heard the Pickerel River was pretty badly burned over in the 2018 Parry Sound fire, but had heard nothing about Fox Creek - in fact I don't think I've ever read anything about anyone ever taking Fox Creek.  It was a neat paddle back that way.  It was burned pretty much from the southern-most Portage (which has been obliterated by the fire, so you have to make do) to about 3/4 of the way up to Pickerel Bay.  The 200m portage at the north end was a *very* steep climb up and down a granite hill - surprisingly difficult.

The French River is a beautiful place, and I'd like to go back sometime in better water levels.  We only saw one other canoe and two other occupied campsites the whole way.  Although, there was some power boat traffic - mostly in the northern end in the cottagey part.  Fox Creek was completely isolated (aside from the beavers and otters).

If anyone has any questions, feel free to let me know!
 

I plan on being on the French River from about May 25 to May 29.  We will be doing a loop out to Georgian Bay and back.

I normally do summer/fall canoe tripping so I am overly paranoid about being out in peak black fly season, and am looking for advice or reassurance.

I'll be wearing long sleeves and pants (tucked into socks). I have gloves and a bug head net.  I'll have  most of my stuff permetherin-sprayed ahead of time, plus plenty of DEET. 

Does anyone have any idea of bug conditions right now on the French River (Hartley Bay says they are starting to come out).  Am I going to be miserable? 

Also, I normally hammock-camp, but I'm a little concerned about suitable tree locations in the rockier Georgian Bay sites (as well as being concerned about being in the trees during the black fly apocalypse).  Am I better off tenting it on the rocks, or is hammocking fine?

Thanks for any info!

We are coming from the US for our second Algonquin trip in mid-October.  It will be a five-day, four-nighter, and I'm looking for guidance.

We are currently looking at either: 1) a West side, Access#3 Petawawa/Little Trout/Ralph Bice type of route; or 2) a south side, Cache Lake/Bonnechere/Smoke Lake type route.

Our previous Algonquin trip was from Access #2: Tim River/Rosebary/Longbow - which was a fun trip (though I found myself cursing the winding, beavery, Tim at times ).  We've also done many BWCAW, and other American canoe trips - so experience level is about one or two trips a year for about a decade.  Priorities include great scenery, wildlife , and, of course, as few people as possible.  We fish, but aren't very good, so not a huge priority.  We try to keep travel time to 4-5 hours a day, and a layover day is always welcome.

My questions are:

1) Does either of our potential routes clearly outweigh the other (whether scenery, difficulty, wildlife, remoteness)?
2) Is the Petawawa likely to be navigable in October?
3) Is there another type of route we should be looking at ((for travel purposes, on the west or south sides)?

Thanks for any advice - I've enjoyed perusing the site and forum!