Views from the Mull River Look-Off

From Skye Glen, Highway 252 continues northwest through the Nevada Valley and into Brook Village, where it makes a big loop around the hill on which the locality of Melrose Hill is situated (and which I therefore call Melrose Hill even though the topographical map gives me no licence to do so) and continues northwest and west on to Hillsborough.

When Highway 252 was resurfaced a few years ago, the brush clearing that accompanied the shoulder work opened up a look-off with a great view of the Mull River and the valley below Mabou Mountain, with views extending to Cape Mabou. This past year, the brush has returned and the look-off is now harder to find. It is one of the few spots in this stretch of road where one can pull the car entirely off the road safely, so that helps in locating it. It is on the right about 1 km (0.6 mi) south of the Melrose Hill Road at the middle of the extremely sharp curve I call “The Widow-maker” and a bit less than 150 m (500 ft) south of Smith Lane; from the south, it is on the left about 2 km northwest of the Old Mull River Road, also known as the Brook Village Road, which leads to Miramichi and Glencoe Mills. Whichever way you travel, it merits a stop on a fine day, though you will now need to bushwhack a few metres/yards through the brush to get closer to the edge of the canyon for the best view of the river below. The photos on this web page were all taken from there.

Photo #1 shows the expansive view from that look-off, with the Mull River (which becomes the Mabou River a bit further downstream at Murrays Bridge or at the steel Railway Trail bridge at Glendyer Station, depending on whom you ask) directly below. Mabou Mountain spans much of the photo from the far left to the middle right, where it ends at Hawleys Hill; beyond it in the far distance is Cape Mabou to the north of Northeast Mabou. The neat white rows left of the barn in the centre right are white plastic-covered round hay bales along Murphys Hill Road (which I can recommend driving for its views of Rankinville and the area near the look-off). The utility poles at the right of the photo mark Highway 252 as it descends from Hillsborough to Glendyer. The fall colours along the river in the canyon below are vivid and bright, not too far from their peak; the oranges seem to be in the majority, but yellows and limes and even some reds are found scattered throughout the valley. A gorgeous view indeed!

Photo #2 is a close-up of the Mull River below the look-off and brings the trees along the river and their colours into sharper focus. A few, where the river turns to the left, are bare, for whatever reason; the others are in their glory.

As is the brilliant red tree near the edge of the canyon seen in photo #3. What a gorgeous blast of colour it bears! It would be well worth a stop even if the look-off weren’t here too.