The upper Percival River

 

In 2025, I had two great visits to the upper Percival River. Both trips were by kayak (SW14) and departed from the end of Mill Road (McKies Shore). The paddle distance to the narrow upper Percival creek is about 4 km. If Bay Road were drivable, it would be possible to put in at the Bay Road bridge corner and access the upper Percival via the Bay Rd Creek (2 km less to the upper Percival than Mill Rd).

My tracks to the upper Percival from Mill Rd

On July 12, my destination was the new INT property that lies between the east shore of the Percival River and Bay Road. The new INT lot covers 53 hectares and includes extensive pristine wetlands and mixed forests. The only stop I made on my way upriver was at the NCC Inverness property for some wetland/creek monitoring and to check for the Seaside Dragonlet dragonfly. It didn’t take long to spot multiple Seaside Dragonlets, and that would be repeated at the other three locations that I went ashore on the upper Percival River on that day. 

Seaside Dragonlet

Seaside Dragonlets mating

At the INT property, I went ashore for a walk at both the NW and SW corners. Most of the upper Percival is a large wetland area, with creeks, channels, and scattered pools (pannes or vernal pools). Some care needs to be taken to navigate around these and avoid dead ends, etc. On this trip, I stayed in the marsh area and did not venture into the forest – maybe next year. Also, on a high-water day, I would like to see how far you can paddle up the north branch of Percival Creek – Portage Lake (Hwy 2) would be the end destination!

On October 20th, I paddled to the upper Percival with INT staff (Lance and Cassandra) to check out a lot for possible acquisition (Lot 797944). This lot is on the west side of the Percival main branch and was reached via the west creek. We went ashore within 200m of the first beaver dam. On the upper west creek, there are at least a dozen more beaver dams/ponds. It’s much easier to hop over beaver dams with a canoe, so I’ll have to think of bringing the Hiawatha canoe to the upper Percival someday… 

Marsh eyed Brown