The Huntley River is the west branch of the upper Kildare River. A great location to launch a kayak to explore the Huntley River (or the upper Kildare River) is at the end of Sou-West Road (north from Alberton off Route 12). At the junction where the Huntley River flows into the Kildare, another Kildare River branch goes north – the Montrose River. For the upper Montrose River, I noticed a great launch & parking lot at the Route 152 bridge in Montrose, PEI.
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| Track, Huntley River, 8 km |
After launching my 12ft Wood Duck kayak, I headed up the river following the south shore. It’s only 2 km to Route 152 and Gordon’s Pond. If you were to portage around Gordon’s Pond dam, there could be another kilometre of navigable waterway.
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| Gordon's Pond dam |
The Huntley River had American Eel traps, as many other rivers do on the north side. One eel fisher told me the price was $3.50 per pound in 2023. The current buyer is from New Brunswick (once a week), and the markets are Japan and some European countries.
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| Eel trap |
On the return paddle, I checked up on a few side creeks – including one on the east side of the Kildare River. There was no traffic on the Huntley or Kildare rivers while I was there. Nature sightings were pretty good. On this outing, I got a great photo of a Kingfisher. Kingfishers are usually hard to photograph since they are always on the move or get spooked easily from their perch. I also got a photograph of a Spotted Sandpiper on the river – rare in PEI (S2S3B).
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See my iNaturalist postings for the day – HERE.
The next outing in this area will be the Montrose River from the ramp at the Route 152 bridge.
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| Great Blue Heron |
