Night Falls on Meat Cove

I arrived in Meat Cove late in the afternoon; I hadn’t planned on spending the night there, as the lodge is normally occupied by hunters in the fall, but, as my good luck would have it, a room was available for two nights, so I leaped at the chance. Night falls fast in Meat Cove in the fall, as the sun sets much further to the west behind the Highlands west of the village, blocking more of the waning light. The photos on this page were taken between 17h26 and 17h52, with the sun dipping behind the Highlands at 17h35 on this evening.

Little Grassy and Blackrock Point from the Hines Oceanview Lodge
[#1] Photo 52 of 479: Little Grassy and Blackrock Point from the Hines Oceanview Lodge
ISO 250   35 mm   ƒ⁄5   1⁄100 sec
Taken 2014 October 6 in Meat Cove from off the Meat Cove Road at the Hines Oceanview Lodge
GPS 47°01.425′N 60°33.327′W

Photo #1 was taken nine minutes before the sun dipped below the Highlands. As one can see, a pale pink was all that made it to the northwest, behind Little Grassy and Blackrock Point; the village itself is hidden behind and below the trees in the foreground. The trail up to the summit of Little Grassy is the second easiest of the trails in the area (the easiest runs from the Meat Cove Restaurant to the beach along the Meat Cove Brook). Notice the large number of dead spruce, victims of the spruce bark beetle, below the summit of Little Grassy and continuing out onto Blackrock Point.

Photo #2 shows the scene directly to the west of the lodge, with Little Grassy and Blackrock Point (hidden here) at the right of the photo and the unnamed prominence rising above the village at the right of the photo. Some lingering light brings out the yellow/green mixture in the trees in the foreground.

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The northern Highlands west of Meat Cove village
[#2] Photo 53 of 479: The northern Highlands west of Meat Cove village
ISO 400   18 mm   ƒ⁄5   1⁄100 sec
Taken 2014 October 6 in Meat Cove from off the Meat Cove Road at the Hines Oceanview Lodge
GPS 47°01.425′N 60°33.327′W
St Paul Island in the evening twilight
[#3] Photo 54 of 479: St Paul Island in the evening twilight
ISO 320   105 mm   ƒ⁄5.6   1⁄125 sec
Taken 2014 October 6 in Meat Cove from off the Meat Cove Road at the Hines Oceanview Lodge
GPS 47°01.425′N 60°33.327′W

Photo #3 looks to the northeast at St Paul Island sitting far offshore in the Cabot Strait, bathed in the pinkish/purplish light of the fast-declining light of the distant sun. This is a good omen for the next day’s photography weather, as the island is often hidden by fog banks and invisible from Meat Cove. But, even in the last light of this evening, it is relatively clear, as one can even make out the cliffs that gird the island all around looming above the water.

Photo #4, taken a minute before the sun set behind the Highlands, is a view to the south along the valley of the Meat Cove Brook. Meat Cove Mountain is the prominence at the left whose bare rock face dominates the village of Meat Cove; the other Highlands have no names that I am aware of. Some fall colours can be seen in the foreground in the dim light and, if one looks carefully at the lower slopes of the Highlands, one can see that there are changed colours there as well.

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The Meat Cove Brook Valley at twilight
[#4] Photo 55 of 479: The Meat Cove Brook Valley at twilight
ISO 400   52 mm   ƒ⁄5   1⁄80 sec
Taken 2014 October 6 in Meat Cove from off the Meat Cove Road at the Hines Oceanview Lodge
GPS 47°01.425′N 60°33.327′W
Little Grassy summit in the setting sun
[#5] Photo 56 of 479: Little Grassy summit in the setting sun
ISO 400   105 mm   ƒ⁄5.6   1⁄80 sec
Taken 2014 October 6 in Meat Cove from off the Meat Cove Road at the Hines Oceanview Lodge
GPS 47°01.425′N 60°33.327′W

Photo #5 shows the summit of Little Grassy against the now pinker sky reflecting the setting sun. There is barely enough light to make out the ghostly forms of the dead spruce trees that are found below the summit.

Photo #6 looks down at the village below from the upper deck of the lodge; doubling the light (ISO 800) into the camera and slowing the shutter speed allows one to capture the scene reasonably clearly in the low light. There is still one RV at the campground, where several red-painted picnic tables are available to campers. A few stray fall colours are also visible in this scene.

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The northern end of Meat Cove Village and the Meat Cove Campground
[#6] Photo 57 of 479: The northern end of Meat Cove Village and the Meat Cove Campground
ISO 800   58 mm   ƒ⁄5   1⁄30 sec
Taken 2014 October 6 in Meat Cove from off the Meat Cove Road at the Hines Oceanview Lodge
GPS 47°01.425′N 60°33.327′W
A partially changed orange tree near Edwards Brook
[#7] Photo 58 of 479: A partially changed orange tree near Edwards Brook
ISO 1100   105 mm   ƒ⁄5.6   1⁄30 sec
Taken 2014 October 6 in Meat Cove from off the Meat Cove Road at the Hines Oceanview Lodge
GPS 47°01.425′N 60°33.327′W

Photo #7 looks at a changing tree near Edwards Brook to the south of the lodge. Some of its immediate neighbours are evergreens, one of which seems to have joined with a birch (I think) to lock the maple in their embrace, so more of it is changed than appears at first glance, but unchanged green leaves are still found at the bottom of the tree. As best as I can determine, the bright red splotch near the top of the tree is from a distinct maple, small in size, that is on higher ground than the base of the orange tree and has shot up through its canopy to reach the sunlight.

The lodge provides an outdoor fire place and a picnic table for those so inclined, as seen in photo #8. Two of my fellow guests at the lodge decided to sit out there and cook their supper and later roast some marshmallows; I found it rather too chilly once the sun went down to join them. Note the changed colours in the tree behind the picnic table.

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Campfire at the lodge
[#8] Photo 59 of 479: Campfire at the lodge
ISO 800   105 mm   ƒ⁄5.6   1⁄40 sec
Taken 2014 October 6 in Meat Cove from off the Meat Cove Road at the Hines Oceanview Lodge
GPS 47°01.425′N 60°33.327′W
The northern Highlands west of Meat Cove village at dusk
[#9] Photo 60 of 479: The northern Highlands west of Meat Cove village at dusk
ISO 250   18 mm   ƒ⁄3.5   1⁄30 sec
Taken 2014 October 6 in Meat Cove from off the Meat Cove Road at the Hines Oceanview Lodge
GPS 47°01.425′N 60°33.327′W

Photo #9 is the same view as in photo #2, but taken 26 minutes later. Two house lights can be made out at the left of the photo, but otherwise, the distant scene is dark. The pink light persisted another few minutes and it was still possible to see at the lodge, but that was it for the evening’s photo shoot.