Views at St Georges Channel

After the Sounds and Supper by the Sea event had finished, I needed to get to Glendale for the evening concert and had plenty of time to spare. I left in good sun and drove back to St Peter’s and turned there onto Pepperell Street, which, just outside of St Peter’s, becomes West Bay Road and the West Bay Highway (Google Maps shows both names for the road), though I believe it is usually referred to locally as the latter. This is normally a beautiful drive, part of the Bras d’Or Lake Scenic Drive, which circles much of the Bras d’Or Lakes system. Alas, as I left St Peter’s, I noticed a humongous ugly black cloud stretching from St Peter’s to Iona; it darkened the views of both the lake and the fall colours, which were good along the West Bay Highway. I was lucky enough to briefly run into a setting sun at St Georges Channel, where I pulled into the parking area beside the St Georges Channel Community Hall, renowned for its breakfasts, where I stopped to capture the views seen on this page.

Photo #1 looks west of north at McInnes Point (so spelt on the topographical map) where one sees a riot of lovely fall colours, animated by the setting sun, especially vivid against the black of the shores along the Bras d’Or Lake and the greys of the skies. This scene presented me with another instance close to what I call the “flaming forest”, a simply stunning view where the light danced on the colours, making them come alive, an effect no mere photo can capture. What a privilege it was to be there!

Just back of the Community Hall, a part of which is seen at the lower left, photo #2 looks at a lovely red maple, flanked on the left by a green tree just beginning to change and on the right by a green/yellow tree that is partially changed, glowing in the evening sun.

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Photo #3 looks at some more red maples shining in the sun. These are at the right of photo #1 and well outside its scope, a bit below the parking area on the side of a hill; the perspective is a bit weird here, since the trees at the left of the photo are much lower than those at the centre and right.

Photo #4 shows the hillside to the east of the parking area. Here, the colours are less vivid than those on McInnes Point and a large number of greens remain. Still, there is no way this could be a summer scene, with all the lovely oranges and limes.