Views North of Wards Pool

From the Lodge, I turned back north and continued back towards the bridge; in this area, the road runs above the river and the views are usually tree-shrouded. About 850 m (½ mi) from the Lodge, I noticed a spot that looked like it might afford good views of the river, so I stopped. The location, about 360 m (⅕ mi) north of Wards Pool, proved an excellent vantage point, but required me to clamber down the banks to the edge of the river. The photos on this page were taken there.

Photo #1 looks as far to the north as is possible from this vantage point. The Northeast Margaree River makes an excursion to the northeast to the northern tip of Sugarloaf Mountain (at the right and out of the scope of this photo) before veering back to the west side of Big Intervale. An extrusion of South Mountain (unrelated to the South Mountain of Victoria County) spans the right half of this photo; unnamed Highlands are at the left. The course of the River is between them in the gap left of centre in this photo.

Photo #2 overlaps considerably with photo #1 and looks towards South Mountain, with the tip of Sugarloaf Mountain at the very far right. Unfortunately, the prevalence of clouds above tends to diminish the brightness of the foliage in this and the other photos on this page, even when they are in the sun.

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Photo #3 looks across the River to the side of Sugarloaf Mountain, where two tall evergreens serve as backdrop to the red-orange tree just right of centre in the photo. The northern tip of the Mountain is around this point and further north; the River flows directly below it.

Photo #4 looks from the point seen in photo #3 along the side of Sugarloaf Mountain. The trees that have turned along this part of the mountain are mostly orange-hued, with some red-orange and even some reds further up the Mountain. The swift-flowing water looks to be fairly shallow here.

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Photo #5 is a close-up of the River as it flowed past my feet. The rocks are in the current middle of the River and are well out of the water, which flows around or over them, keeping them wet from the froth. I am always attracted to splashes and could easily have spent another couple of hours enjoying the River’s song and beauty. A lovely, active spot, for sure!

Photo #6 looks above the previous view and shows the slopes of Sugarloaf Mountain above the River. It is displaying good colours, mostly red-oranges and oranges with some yellows and residual greens. Unfortunately, the sun was shining elsewhere and did not bring out its colours to the best advantage.

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Photo #7 looks downstream from this vantage point. Two fishermen are trying their luck in the area near Wards Pool. The colours on Sugarloaf Mountain are a bit brighter here, but still not what they’d have been in direct sunlight.

The next three photos were taken after I returned to the car from the river bank below the road. Photo #8 looks at a stand of ferns on the west side of the road. I do not think they had been hit by frost, though it is possible; their yellows and browns are fall colours and they add their hues to many fall scenes on Cape Breton Island, so I thought them worthy of inclusion here.

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Photo #9 looks up at the Highlands above the road, where a considerable amount of colour is showing on the slopes. There are lots of changed trees along the road, too, with a nice bright red one at the left of the photo.

Photo #10 shows the scene looking north along the West Big Intervale Road, where changing trees are ubiquitous and a bright red tree stands out against the greens and oranges of its neighbours.