I arose at 8h10 to a muggy day, mild (+21 (70)) and with good cooling breeze. The tire pressure in the problem tire was just above 25 psi, so I pumped it up again, but decided not to risk driving further on it, as changing the tire on the way to Meat Cove could be problematic with the narrow to non-existent shoulders on most of the roads there. So, I put the spare tire back on its place and left for Meat Cove a few minutes after 10h.
Shane MacDougall correctly answered that it should say North, not East: while the Margaree Harbour end of Highway 219
is indeed east of the Dunvegan end, it’s more than twice as far north as it is east. The sign should say North
as that’s the predominant direction of travel. In fact, at this specific point,
one is heading a hair west of north, definitely not east!
It was +20 (68) and very grey in Chéticamp, with fog down below the summit of French Mountain and below the ridge along which the Skyline Trail so spectacularly runs, so I didn’t stopped just once for photos along the way. I did stop for orange juice, berries, tomatoes, cucumbers, and potato chips at the Country Market in Cape North Village, where the sun was out making for a very pleasant +24 (75), and arrived in Meat Cove at 13h10, where I found a hazy day under cloudy skies, with St Paul Island coming into view and then fading out again.
the “Western Wall” above Meat Cove Brook is at the right.
My host came up with his wife to clean and I got a chance for a brief chat with him before he went in to help her. I then left for the Visitors’ Centre and chatted outside with friends cooking the lobsters for the lobster dinner, the Seawall Trail fundraiser for which I journeyed to Meat Cove. Once the lobsters were done, I went inside and ate dinner, lobster with potato salad, pasta salad, cole slaw, a roll, a quarter of a normal slice of lemon meringue pie (I’m not supposed to have any at all, so this was an additional treat), and tea, all delicious. David Rasmussen, a well-known naturalist and avid hiker living in the area, and his wife, along with a couple from Philadelphia and another from Toronto were my table mates and we had a good chat as we dined. I asked David about the “Kauzmann Trail”, which has been in the press and on Facebook of late, and learned that Mr Kauzmann was a chemistry professor at Rutgers who did build a trail to the ridge above the Money Point Gulch, but that trail is not the current one, to which his name has been misapplied: his trail took a completely different route, traversing a wet, marshy area plagued with bugs that resulted in a not very pleasant hike. David built the current trail and he maintains it; he was also responsible for introducing it to the Hike the Highlands Festival where it is properly referred to as the Money Point Gulch Trail. In August of 2016, I hiked this fine trail and can highly recommend it; see my description of it here.
After dinner, I drove to the end of the Meat Cove Road and then returned to the Lodge, where I read and relaxed, enjoying the fabulous scenery, and worked some more on last Saturday’s account. I then went back down to the village for a visit with a friend and we had a great chat in his home. Back at the Lodge, I completed and posted Saturday’s report. Some fireworks from a brief passing storm out in the Gulf illuminated the dusk skies—though I tried, I was unsuccessful at getting any shots of the lightning streaking down. I did get some photos of the sunset, not spectacular but quite pretty all the same, as it became dark. The skies overhead had cleared considerably after the storm passed and the night skies were clear and full of stars; I tried capturing them, but was again completely unsuccessful. Once dark, heat lightening flashes were visible to the northwest and north. After a late night snack, I headed off to bed, very happy indeed to spend another night in Meat Cove.
above the valley of the Meat Cove Brook at the right at dusk.
