“Delaneys Mountain”

Photo #1, a wide angled view from off Lower Delaneys Brook, shows the northern portion of the mountain I have named “Delaneys Mountain”; it is so large, running from Upper Delaneys Brook to not far north of Delaneys Point, that I do not have a single photo that shows it all at once with sufficient detail. “Delaneys Mountain” is, of course, like the other “mountains” along this coast, simply an extrusion of the Cape Breton Highlands Plateau that reaches out to the coast. For the first time in quite a while, a coastal plain again sits below the mountain; here, it is fairly narrow, but it will widen out as it goes further south. Stony beaches below high sand/gravel cliffs, straddle both sides of the mouth of Upper Delaneys Brook, just left of centre, along this shore, making for a significant contrast with the High Capes area further north.

Photos #2, #3, and #4 are all wide-angled views that form a connected panorama of the mountain from north to south. They were taken from further south than photo #1, from well south of the mouth of Upper Delaneys Brook.

Photo #2 is another view of the northern end of “Delaneys Mountain”, though the distinct peak left of centre in photo #1 doesn’t stand out very well here. The ridge at the far left of both photos is that of “Between-the-Delaneys Mountain”, above Upper Delaneys Brook, seen on the previous pages. The lighting in photo #1, taken on the return trip, reduces the impact of the cliff faces that stand out much more clearly in photo #2. Great bands of sand/gravel do line the middle flanks of the northern end, with bands of trees separating them.

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Photo #3, which overlaps on the left with a good part of photo #2, continues the view of “Delaneys Mountain” to the south. Although bands of sand/gravel do continue towards the right, they are fewer and the forest is doing much better there than further north. The high banks of sand seen above the beaches just south of Upper Delaneys Brook now show actual rock faces as well as sand/gravel. Some fairly serious erosion is seen above the beaches, particularly at the centre and right of the photo, most likely caused by run-off whose channels can be seen etched into the sides of the ridge right of centre.

Photo #4, which again overlaps on the left with photo #3, shows the remainder of “Delaneys Mountain”, as its high ridge descends towards Delaneys Point. Here, the forest is mostly triumphant, having nearly covered the mountain’s southern flanks. The cave-like structure about two-thirds of the way up the ridge and about a third of the way in from the right of the photo is not a cave; magnification shows the dark spot to actually be a stand of trees growing in a rocky cliff which has apparently been broken by some process. Except where it was interrupted by the stony outcropping at the far left, the beach is quite wide; trees have even established a foothold below the plain above the beach just left of centre, which is fortunate as without them, the cliff would look much more like the badly eroded section just right of centre.

As we were passing by this shore, sharp-eyed Hector spotted a moose which I was totally unable to see at the time, though I have since located it. Even in this compressed version, it is still more than a small dot, though very hard to see unless you know exactly where to look. If you find it without looking at the next page, you too have very sharp eyes!

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Photos #5 and #6 were taken on the return trip in better light from further south and farther offshore with a slightly longer focal length than the three preceding photos; they show the mountain in two parts instead of three.

Photo #5 better brings out the rocky nature of the coastal cliffs than the previous sequence and also emphasizes the sheerness of the cliffs below the upper ridge, whose height the topographical map puts at 340 m (1115 ft); the mountain continues to rise beyond the edge visible here to over 420 m (1380 ft) further inland where the three ponds that are the source of Upper Delaneys Brook are found.

Photo #6 shows how the coastal plain widens out considerably below the southern part of “Delaneys Mountain”. The sand/gravel bands of the northern half are here very rare and, when present, very narrow. In spite of the grass cover, noticeable erosion is visible in the right half of the photo along the tops of the cliffs, doubtless again from run-off coming down in quantify and with force from the ridge above.