Conway Sandhills, ABC Islands & Gains Creek, PEI

 

This paddle location is great when you feel like visiting multiple habitats in one outing. In one day trip, you can explore the mainland’s shoreline, the sandhill shorelines (inside and gulf side), the marsh ABC islands, and a wetland creek. On October 4th, I started my paddle from Fitzgerald Road. Fitzgerald is the closest launch point to the ABC islands and Gains Creek. There are two other access points that are excellent for visiting this part of the Conway Narrows – Pete Con Road and Mickie Allan Shore Road. 

Track, 12km, Conway Narrows & Gains Creek

Since I started the paddle late in the morning, I headed straight to the sandhills for some exploring and lunch. Then, on the way back (after lunch), I did an excursion up Gains Creek to check for Bald Eagles, etc. On this trip, I had no time to go ashore on the ABC islands.
Note: With an earlier start (e.g. 9 am), it would be better to explore Gains Creek first, the ABC islands next, and then to the sandhills for lunch/walks. 

Conway's B Island

At my first stop before lunch, I did have time to explore a small spruce and bayberry grove on the sandhills. Usually, I find Savannah Sparrows in this kind of habitat, but today, it was a White-throated Sparrow hanging out in the stunted spruce trees. 

Spruce grove on sandhill

Bird sightings were pretty good on this trip. It included two species of Sparrows (White-throated and Song), a Sanderling shorebird (VU),  and a young Bald Eagle along the shore of Gains Creek. Other nature sightings were posted to iNaturalist – Click HERE.

I would like to try this paddle in the spring to see if there would be a greater abundance of wildlife (e.g. birds, ducks, frogs, etc).

White-throated Sparrow	Song Sparrow
Sanderling (VU in PEI)	Bald Eagle

Upper Percival River salt-water marshes, PEI

The Percival River is probably the last major river in PEI, with extensive undisturbed salt-water marshes. Luckily, the PEI government owns a fair amount of land along the river, and private land conservation organizations (INT & NCC) have been able to acquire some critical properties. Over the last decade or so, oyster aquaculture farms have invaded the lower Percival River. There are no oyster farms above Black Point on the river. Hopefully, it will stay that way for the foreseeable future. 

Upper Percival public lands (i.e. gov. owned)

For a short description of the Percival River salt marshes, check this NCC article.

Track, 10.5km, upper Percival

Estuary and marsh, upper Percival

The best launch point for the upper Percival is McKies Shore at the end of Mill Road. Planning the outing around high tides is essential when exploring a tidal river, especially side creeks/marshes. So, on Oct 1st, I was launching my 12ft Wood Duck kayak from McKies Shore an hour before high tide – hoping to have peak tides once I got into the creek. It worked out perfectly. I was able to paddle the upper Percival’s west creek all the way to the end. Going further would have required getting out of the kayak and scrambling over a dam and some vegetation – that’s not easy to do in a kayak! 

Upper Percival salt marsh (west)

Beautiful scenery, west marsh

Blocked (beaver dam)

Close to the dam, I went ashore on the north side of the creek to explore the marsh and adjacent forest. A walk in the lush cordgrass always feels special, and I like the yellowish colours in the fall. Being the month of October, the damp spruce forest had mushrooms galore. I photographed several species for posting to iNaturalist.

Dragonfly mating in the cordgrass

Golden Spindles fungus/mushroom

On the paddle back to McKies Shore, I crossed the river to explore another salt marsh on the east shore. This east marsh creek is navigable up to Bay Road. The narrow stream continues to a set of beaver ponds (1 km). The narrow stream is not passable due to overgrown vegetation, etc. Here, it should be possible to go ashore and hike on Bay/Gillis Roads to check out the upper beaver dams and ponds.

These upper Percival salt marshes are one of my favourite PEI habitats to explore, and I will definitely be back!

For the iNaturalist postings of the day (Oct 1st, 2023), click HERE.