After leaving Black Point, I continued on south under leaden skies; it was getting late in the day and I had a good ways to go, so I didn’t stop for photos, even after the sun reäppeared weakly north of Ingonish. But I simply couldn’t resist a quick stop at South Ingonish Harbour, just past the bridge over the Ingonish River, to take a few photos of the Highlands and the grasses in the marshy areas at the far end of the Harbour. Unlike the photos of the Meat Cove foliage, these don’t “blaze” in the same way—the sun wasn’t all that coöperative—but they do convey the state of the foliage there.
ISO 200 18 mm ƒ⁄5.6 1⁄200 sec
Taken 2013 October 22 in South Ingonish Harbour from the Cabot Trail
100 m (330 ft) east of the bridge over the Ingonish River
GPS 46°37.634'N 60°25.944'W
Photo #1 looks across the Ingonish River at the Cape Breton Highlands on the north side of the Ingonish River valley. This is a lovely area any time of the year, but I don’t ever remember seeing it so colourful as it was this day, even without much sun to help.
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ISO 200 58 mm ƒ⁄5 1⁄200 sec
Taken 2013 October 22 in South Ingonish Harbour from the Cabot Trail
100 m (330 ft) east of the bridge over the Ingonish River
GPS 46°37.634'N 60°25.943'W
Photos #2 and #3 form a connected panorama that brings into sharper focus the hillsides seen in photo #1. From photo #2, it is clear that these colours are still pre-peak, given the large amount of chlorophyll seen in many of the trees. The lovely yellows and limes at the centre and further up the hill stand out; indeed, their overall shape is not unlike that of a map of Cape Breton, though it does bulge rather further in the lower left than the Island does.
Photo #3 is to the right of photo #2, with which there is some overlap. Here, the same yellows and lime greens are seen again, this time in a quite different form; stands of the limes again occur up the hillside. One wonders what is responsible for these prolific distinctive stands amidst the other, more normally, coloured trees. The bare trees along the harbour stand in stark contrast to those on the hillside, which, overall, tend to orangish red hues.
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ISO 200 58 mm ƒ⁄5 1⁄160 sec
Taken 2013 October 22 in South Ingonish Harbour from the Cabot Trail
100 m (330 ft) east of the bridge over the Ingonish River
GPS 46°37.634'N 60°25.943'W
ISO 200 85 mm ƒ⁄5.6 1⁄125 sec
Taken 2013 October 22 in South Ingonish Harbour from the Cabot Trail
100 m (330 ft) east of the bridge over the Ingonish River
GPS 46°37.635'N 60°25.944'W
Photo #4 looks up at a lovely red/gold tree, still with plenty of chlorophyll in its leaves, above the side of the Cabot Trail where I had stopped. What better way to end a fall foliage review than with this lovely tree? I hope you have enjoyed the photos here as much as I did taking them and savouring them again as I wrote this essay.