The Kennedy River flows south from Sutton Pass to Kennedy Lake and west to Clayoquot Sound. A recreational panning reserve is located on the lower river, from the river mouth to a small lake north of Boulder Creek.

The area is underlain by Karmutsen Formation volcanics of the Upper Triassic Vancouver Group. These have been intruded by the Early to Middle Jurassic Island Intrusions consisting of granodiorite to quartz diorite. The Karmutsen rocks consist of andesitic to basaltic flows, tuffs and volcaniclastics. West-northwest– trending Tertiary fault/shear zones cut the rocks.

Placer gold is reported along the Kennedy River and its tributaries, from Cats Ear Creek in the north to the river mouth on Kennedy Lake. The gold is likely related to known gold-quartz vein occurrences located along the Kennedy River, such as the Tommy K (MINFILE 092F  033) occurrence.

It appears that most of the gold was derived from bars or in crevices in the bedrock of the river bed, or from benches along the side of the creek.

In 1982, W. Guppy reports visible gold from panning on the lower end of a canyon section on Cats Ears Creek (Assessment Report 10574).