Chéticamp River Mouth

This east-facing view is from the hill which separates the mouth of the Chéticamp River from L’Étang-à-Johnny-à-Eusèbe at the end of le Chemin Bourgeois (Bourgeois Road). La Grande Falaise (The Great Cliff) is the most salient feature of this photo, although it is partially obscured by Le Buttereau, which rises diagonally across its face in this view. The mouth of the Chéticamp River is immediately adjacent to Le Buttereau at the far end of the sand/gravel bar. The peak of Jerome Mountain, further north along the coast above Presqu’Île, is just high enough to be seen about two thirds of the way up the diagonal slope leading from the far left of the photo to above La Grande Falaise. The Cabot Trail runs between Le Buttereau and La Grande Falaise; it can be seen at the left of the photo where it ascends to the look-off from which the first photo in this essay was taken. Le Chemin du Buttereau runs along the ridge well below the summit of Le Buttereau that one sees here across the middle and to the right of the photo. Passing ruins of former dwellings, this hiking trail through the forest follows an old cart trail that once connected Cap Rouge to Chéticamp; it is a fairly easy hike whose north end offers fine views of this area.

There is a very small dot in the sky at the far right of the photo just above the mountains. After verifying that it was not just a speck of dirt on my display, I looked at the original of this photo and discovered it to be an eagle circling above Le Buttereau. I remember seeing (and hearing!) a couple of eagles flying above the river while I was hiking this day, but didn’t realize I had gotten a photo of one of them.

The dark blues in the river are caused by the reflection of La Grande Falaise in the water; elsewhere, they match the blues in the Gulf. Days with such pure hazeless blue skies are a rarity in this part of the world and I was very lucky indeed to have been here on such a day. The colours are simply magnificent!