Views Ascending the North Summit of Meat Cove Mountain

The views on this page were taken on the way up from the col to the north summit of Meat Cove Mountain. They mostly look to the west and northwest, but the final one looks out to the northeast to St Paul Island in the Cabot Strait.

The North Summit of Meat Cove Mountain
[#1] Photo 78 of 479: The North Summit of Meat Cove Mountain
ISO 200   35 mm   ƒ⁄10   1⁄400 sec
Taken 2014 October 7 in Meat Cove from the Meat Cove Mountain Trail
ascending to the north summit of Meat Cove Mountain
GPS 47°00.797′N 60°33.592′W

Photo #1, a fairly wide-angled view, looks towards the north summit of Meat Cove Mountain from the Meat Cove Mountain Trail, which can be seen snaking through the grass in the foreground and centre left in the further distance. In summer, this area is a mass of green, as seen in this photo taken from the south summit. Although a few non-evergreen greens remain, they are a distinct minority. The blueberry bushes here are a darker red than those at the col and darken the tans of the fall grasses.

Photo #2 is a telephoto view of the leftmost portion of photo #1. Even though I was already about halfway up from the col, this photo makes clear that it is more of a climb than one might think. The trees at the far left are on the Highlands on the far (west) side of Meat Cove Brook. The boulder at the left is indeed huge, a rocky outcropping isolated by erosion which has removed the soil in which it was once embedded. The reddish mass at the upper right just to the right of the trail is formed of bushes, partly red and partly green, taking shelter below a small ridge; so far as I can see under magnification, no boulder or other rock structure is present there.

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The south edge of the north summit of Meat Cove Mountain from below
[#2] Photo 79 of 479: The south edge of the north summit of Meat Cove Mountain from below
ISO 200   105 mm   ƒ⁄7.1   1⁄800 sec
Taken 2014 October 7 in Meat Cove from the Meat Cove Mountain Trail
ascending to the north summit of Meat Cove Mountain
GPS 47°00.799′N 60°33.588′W
The north summit of Meat Cove Mountain from below
[#3] Photo 80 of 479: The north summit of Meat Cove Mountain from below
ISO 200   105 mm   ƒ⁄7.1   1⁄800 sec
Taken 2014 October 7 in Meat Cove from the Meat Cove Mountain Trail
ascending to the north summit of Meat Cove Mountain
GPS 47°00.800′N 60°33.588′W

Photo #3 looks at the centre of photo #1 at the summit; it has some overlap on the left with photo #2. A few rocks are scattered along the slope, but this is primarily grassy terrain, with blueberry bushes all over and a few evergreens attempting to eke out an existence in the harsh climate that prevails at the summit. Although I saw none this beautiful day, bear signs are not uncommon here—they enjoy the blueberries as much as the humans do.

Photo #4 looks to the right of photo #1, completing the mini-panorama provided by photos #2, #3, and #4. The two evergreens at the right are larger than most near the summit; however, numerous evergreens of their size and some considerably larger line the trail as it descends to the rock face well below the north summit. Blueberry bushes are again ubiquitous here, apparently well-adapted to the climate at the summit.

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The north edge of the north summit of Meat Cove Mountain from below
[#4] Photo 81 of 479: The north edge of the north summit of Meat Cove Mountain from below
ISO 200   105 mm   ƒ⁄6.3   1⁄640 sec
Taken 2014 October 7 in Meat Cove from the Meat Cove Mountain Trail
ascending to the north summit of Meat Cove Mountain
GPS 47°00.800′N 60°33.588′W
The western Highlands seen across the northern slope of the north summit of Meat Cove Mountain
[#5] Photo 82 of 479: The western Highlands seen across the northern slope
of the north summit of Meat Cove Mountain
ISO 200   105 mm   ƒ⁄6.3   1⁄640 sec
Taken 2014 October 7 in Meat Cove from the Meat Cove Mountain Trail
ascending to the north summit of Meat Cove Mountain
GPS 47°00.807′N 60°33.593′W

Photo #5 was taken from a bit further along the trail up the north summit and looks to the right of photo #4 at the western Highlands on the far side of Meat Cove Brook visible at this point, still below the summit. This slope is at the northern end of those Highlands and descends to Little Grassy below; patches of turned deciduous trees can easily be seen here in spite of the distance. The reddish-orange foliage on the nearer slope is from stunted deciduous trees of a non-maple species, most likely beech.

Photo #6 looks further to the north (right) than photo #5, bringing the summit of Little Grassy into view at the far right. The band of reddish-orange foliage continues down the slope of Meat Cove Mountain in the foreground.

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The western Highlands descend to Little Grassy across the northern slope of the north summit of Meat Cove Mountain
[#6] Photo 83 of 479: The western Highlands descend to Little Grassy across the northern slope
of the north summit of Meat Cove Mountain
ISO 200   105 mm   ƒ⁄7.1   1⁄800 sec
Taken 2014 October 7 in Meat Cove from the Meat Cove Mountain Trail
ascending to the north summit of Meat Cove Mountain
GPS 47°00.807′N 60°33.593′W
Little Grassy seen from across the northern slope of the north summit of Meat Cove Mountain
[#7] Photo 84 of 479: Little Grassy seen from across the northern slope
of the north summit of Meat Cove Mountain
ISO 200   105 mm   ƒ⁄7.1   1⁄800 sec
Taken 2014 October 7 in Meat Cove from the Meat Cove Mountain Trail
ascending to the north summit of Meat Cove Mountain
GPS 47°00.807′N 60°33.594′W

Photo #7 looks across the north slope of the north summit of Meat Cove Mountain at Little Grassy and its descent to Blackrock Point, most of which is concealed here by the bulk of Meat Cove Mountain. The reddish-orange leaves continue along the slope of Meat Cove Mountain, but retain more chlorophyll than those higher up and therefore lose some of their colour. Although they are almost impossible to make out in this compressed version, two people are easily seen at the left of the original on the summit of Little Grassy, one clad in a white jacket and the other in a red one.

Photo #8 looks to the northeast out into the Cabot Strait at St Paul Island. The distance (35.5 km (22.1 mi) to Southwest Point, the southern tip of the island at the far right) and some haze in the air over the water make the island in this photo, which has been cropped out of the original (and therefore appears rather larger than it is in the original), a bit less than perfectly crisp, but certainly clear enough to make out the island’s salient features. If you look at the far left of the photo, you can barely see a dot of white—the lighthouse on Northeast Point, an islet at the north separated from the main island by The Tickle.

St Paul Island from the slope ascending to the north summit of Meat Cove Mountain
[#8] Photo 85 of 479: St Paul Island from the slope ascending to the north summit of Meat Cove Mountain
ISO 200   105 mm   ƒ⁄6.3   1⁄640 sec
Taken 2014 October 7 in Meat Cove from the Meat Cove Mountain Trail
ascending to the north summit of Meat Cove Mountain
GPS 47°00.800′N 60°33.588′W