Enough photos are now present on this site that even I am having trouble finding specific ones that I know are there; I can only imagine how difficult it must be for a visitor to this site to locate a photo that lodged in the mind on a previous visit. During the winter of 2014, I devoted significant effort to automating the production of a catalogue of the Cape Breton photos on this site from the data already assembled to create the photo essays and hiking trail descriptions themselves, thereby making it easier for both the visitor and myself to quickly get to a remembered photo. The catalogue in this section of my web site is the result of these efforts.

With some exceptions, the photos in the photo essays are from all over Cape Breton Island and those on a given page of one essay may be related to those on a different page of a different essay. It would be nice to see all of those related photos together on the same page. Another way of saying this is to observe that this catalogue may have more than one use.

I had initially considered organizing it by county and, within county, alphabetically by locality, but this approach has two problems:

• many visitors to this site are not familiar with county boundaries
• given the transformation of counties into municipalities, the boundaries between localities, particularly rural ones, are no longer very precise

After considerable thought, I have decided to instead organize the catalogue by road/trail and within a road/trail, by GPS location, depending on the overall direction of the road/trail. In order to make finding a given road easy, I have used its name, if it has one, and its provincial highway number otherwise. Scenic routes such as the Cèilidh Trail also have an entry, which leads to the roads of which it is comprised. Since many, perhaps most, of Cape Breton’s road names incorporate locality names (e.g., the Meat Cove Road, the Louisbourg Highway, the Grand Mira North Road, the St Peters Fourchu Road, the Whycocomagh Port Hood Road, the East Margaree Road, and the Strathlorne Scotsville Road), those who know the island well will infer its general location in Cape Breton from the road’s name; the visitor who is unfamiliar with the localities in these road names would not be helped by the county/locality organization in any case. Other roads, such as the Coady Road, the two Salmon River Roads, the Duggan Mountain Road, and the Bourinot Road, will not help much in determining the general location unless one is already familiar with those roads. I have provided short descriptions on each page that should fill that gap and you can also use Google Maps to quickly locate any of the roads listed here–just type in one set of the GPS coördinates given in the search box on the referenced Google Maps page. (You can also type in a road name in the search box, but that does not always work.¹)

The major problem with this organization is that it does not scale well for long roads: the Cabot Trail, the Cèilidh Trail, and the Trans-Canada Highway, among others, are long and very picturesque highways and their pages would therefore be impossibly long were something not done to subdivide them. In these cases, I have done considerable splitting, as you will discover when you visit the catalogue pages for any of these roads.

A second, less difficult, problem is that some photos in the photo essays were taken from the water and not from any road or hiking trail; such photos are catalogued under the body of water from which they were taken.

For some time, I have thought about providing brief descriptions of Cape Breton’s roads, many of which are off the beaten track and generally unknown, but still very worthy of exploration. This catalogue organization gives me a chance to do this. Moreover, the photos in the catalogue will generally give you a very good feel for the road and why, if you do not already know it, you might want to travel it.

So, let me invite you to explore the catalogue as well as using it as a way of locating a remembered scene. Click on one of the road names in the subordinate topics list at the top of the page and visit the road/trail described there. I will be very interested in your feedback and comments.

As of this writing, this catalogue is inchoate: it contains entries only for the photos in the first two photo essays, as a proof of concept, and the initial photos from the last photo essay. Over time and as other commitments allow, I hope to complete the cataloguing of the last photo essay and eventually to add in the photos from the remaining photo essays and those in the hiking trail descriptions.

¹ Both local usage and the signage sometimes differ from the names Google Maps uses; moreover, Google Maps does not name some roads/trails and some it does not show at all. On each catalogue page for a road, I have given Google Maps’ name where it exists.↩

As indicated above, this catalogue is organized principally by road/trail. At the beginning of each page, you will find a brief road/trail description containing the following headings and associated values:

• Background: When it is necessary to discuss the way I have treated this road in this catalogue, this introductory section is present to provide the relevant background information, often historical in nature. In many cases, this relates to the various names used to refer to the road; in some, it presents my reasons for splitting one road into two; in yet others, it provides additional information that does not fit under any of the other headings. This section is omitted when it is not relevant.
• Google Maps Name: This heading lists the name with which the road is labelled in Google Maps and Google Earth. Google’s data is usually very good, but anyone who studies Cape Breton’s terrain will find various anomalies (as just one of many examples, Google Maps has the Broad Cove Banks Road extending south as far as the Mabou Post Road Trail Head in MacDonalds Glen, instead of ending, as it does today, at the trail head at Sight Point). When, as in the case of certain trails, Google Maps does not show the route, either by name or by paths, this heading’s associated value is given as “Not Shown”.
• Local Name(s): This heading lists the name(s) used locally to refer to the road, insofar as I have been able to determine them. I know the southwest of Cape Breton Island much better than the northeast, so I may be missing names in local use here and there. As always, if you see anything amiss, please let me know by writing to the address in the footer and I will promptly correct it, crediting you with the information.
• Direction: General direction of the road, e.g., north to south or west to east or a loop. It is purely arbitrary whether one considers a road as running from north to south or from south to north; I have tried to choose the most likely direction of travel or, in some cases, the most scenic.
• Start Point: The GPS coördinates (see this web page for the GPS notation used on this web site) of the road’s starting point. As noted for Direction, this is essentially arbitrary, except in the case of a trail which dead-ends at its destination.
• End Point: The GPS coördinates of the road’s ending point. In certain cases, the road may continue past its end point, but cannot be driven by car past that point or crosses private land or the like, in which case, comments so indicating are present either here or elsewhere in the description.
• Length: Distance in kilometres and miles. In the vast majority of cases, this is measured using Google Maps; in a few, the datum may come from other sources, such as trail signage, Parks Canada web sites, and my own travel notes.
• Classification: Nova Scotia roads maintained by the province are classified as:²
  • Arterial Highways: Also known as 100-series highways, because they have numbers in the (theoretical) range 100-199, these are the province’s primary roads. Some are already twinned (four-lane with dual carriageways), but most are two-lane roads with wide paved shoulders and occasional short three-lane sections, with two of the lanes travelling in the same direction, intended to provide safe passing areas, primarily on hills. Many of the currently untwinned 100-class roads will eventually become twinned. These roads usually have posted speed limits of 100 km/h (62 mph), though twinned highways are often posted for 110 km/h (68 mph). The signage for an arterial road is either a green field containing a white maple leaf with the highway number in green (used for the portions of the Trans-Canada Highway in the province) or a shield with the Nova Scotia flag at the top and the highway number in white on a blue field below the flag.
  • Trunk Highways: Before the advent of the arterial highways, the trunk highways were the province’s primary roads; with numbers in the (theoretical) range 1-99, today, they are secondary roads, but still important. In some urban areas, they may provide two lanes in each direction, but these are nearly always otherwise two-lane roads, usually, though not always, without a paved shoulder. They often have posted speed limits of 80 or 90 km/h (50 or 56 mph). The signage is a scalloped shield with a white face bearing the highway number in black.
  • Collector Highways: These are the province’s secondary roads, with numbers in the (theoretical) range 200-399. These are two lane roads, most without paved shoulders. They usually have a posted speed limit of 80 km/h (50 mph). The signage is a reddish-brown square bearing the number in white.
  • Local Roads: These are provincially-maintained roads, but have no highway numbers, instead bearing names. Some are paved, while many are gravel. The speed limit is as posted or as required for the safe operation of the vehicle when no limit is posted. There is no signage peculiar to such roads; the green directional signs at intersections usually point to localities, but occasionally specify road names.
  In addition to these officially maintained roads, I also use the following terms:
  • Scenic Roads: The province has designated certain routes as scenic roads, usually incorporating the word Trail in their names. On Cape Breton Island, these are the Cabot Trail, the Cèilidh Trail, the Bras d’Or Scenic Drive, the Fleur-de-Lis Trail, and the Marconi Trail. These scenic roads incorporate segments of other provincial highways in their routes and have special signage indicating their status as a scenic road.
  • K-class Roads: 2500 km (1550 mi) of roads are provincially owned, but unmaintained roads. These are old, unpaved roads that have effectively been abandoned (though occasional maintenance is done on some), but which may still be driveable, in part or in whole.
  • SANS Routes: The Snowmobilers Association of Nova Scotia (SANS) has 3500 km (2175 mi) of groomed snowmobile trails in the province, many of which follow K-class roads and occasionally local roads. The club’s members maintain these trails, many of which, in the summer months, are partially driveable by car, at least with care; the remainder are hikeable and take one through some very beautiful back country. Each SANS trail bears a three-digit number; in Cape Breton, designated as Zone 1, the major north-south routes are 104 and 105; other routes bear higher numbers, the first digit of which identifies the local club responsible for trail maintenance. Most of the SANS trail junctions are marked with yellow and green trail signs bearing a unique number/letter combination (e.g., “4J”); if you travel the back roads, you will see them often at the side of the road.
  • Hiking Trails: Cape Breton Island has a wealth of hiking trails; these cannot be driven and, unless signs indicate that a specific trail is multi-use (e.g., the Celtic Shores Coastal Trail, also known as the Railway Trail), motorized access of any kind is prohibited. Those in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park and in the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site of Canada are maintained by Parks Canada; still others are in provincial parks, such as the trail systems at West Mabou Beach Provincial Park, in Whycocomagh Provincial Park, and in Battery Park at St Peter’s; many others, such as the the Celtic Shores Coastal Trail, the Cape Mabou Trail Club system, and the trails at Meat Cove, are maintained either by local volunteer organizations or by the community.
• Surface: Indicates whether the road is paved or gravel or a combination of both, as occurs for some local roads; for trails, gives an indication of the tread (grassy, dirt, etc.).
• Condition: Specifies my evaluation of the road’s general condition, based on the last time I used it. This is, of course, subjective and I don’t apply the same standards to an arterial highway that I do to a local road. Note, too, that the condition of roads, and especially gravel roads, may vary considerably depending on the time of year, the severity of the winter or recent heavy rains, and how recently they have been paved or graded.
• Route Description: Briefly describes the road through my eyes by painting a word picture of its scenery from its start to its end. I attempt to point out those places along the road that merit special attention.
• Vic’s Scenic Rating: A very subjective evaluation of the road’s scenic beauty, expressed as a series of stars: ☆ = interesting; ☆☆ = fine drive/hike; ☆☆☆ = worth a detour; ☆☆☆☆ = not to be missed; ☆☆☆☆☆ = merits a special trip all on its own. A word of warning: I have found Cape Breton beautiful everywhere I have travelled and I love back country roads, which may not appeal as much to others as they do to me; I have awarded the stars accordingly.
• Notes: Conveys any special information about the road you may need to be aware of. This section is omitted when its associated value would otherwise read “None”.
• Comments: Additional information that does not fit under any of the above headings. This section is omitted when its associated value would otherwise read “None”.

² Much of the material on road classifications is drawn from this Wikipedia web page. Information on the K-class roads is partly drawn from this document. Information about the SANS trails can be found here; a map of Cape Breton’s snowmobile trails can be found here.↩