Taken 2009 October 15 in Marsh Brook from the Marsh Brook Road
about 1.9 km (1.2 mi) northwest of its junction with the West Big Intervale Road
GPS 46°22.314'N 61°00.065'W
I made a U-turn at the Crowdis Bridge and continued towards Margaree Centre after turning left onto the West Big Intervale Road. Earlier this year in August, I spent the better part of a day in the Margaree Valley, exploring as far north as Forest Glen, north of Big Intervale and Kingross, and, on my way back from that trip, drove out the Marsh Brook Road, the first time I had done so. I discovered then how fine the views were at Marsh Brook—one can look down the entire western edge of the Margaree Valley along the Aspy Fault to and beyond Sugarloaf Mountain: except that there is no view of the river at one’s feet and that one is a bit further away, the views are much the same and nearly as good as those at the unofficial look-off. Given the sun’s continued, though mostly unsuccessful, attempts to break through, I decided I’d have a second look.
The Marsh Brook Road intersects the West Big Intervale Road at GPS 46°21.707'N 60°59.059'W, 800 m (0.5 mi) south of the Crowdis Cross Road. About 2¼ km (1.4 mi) later, one arrives at the hamlet of Marsh Brook, just before which this photo to the northwest was taken from the Marsh Brook Road. It shows the mountains that border the western edge of the Margaree Valley and was taken during a short burst of sunlight, which, as it had earlier this morning at the mini look-off, bathed the whole area in its golden glow.
There appears to be an active farm in Marsh Brook and the fields seen here are pasture land. This day, it was the sole province of two horses grazing, the mare seen here and her mate to the left outside the scope of this photo. The colours here, like those at the unofficial look-off, are at or close to their peak. And, as there, there is evidence on the hillsides of trees stripped bare of their leaves; although, as I discovered while driving here this summer, many dead spruce exist in this area (as all over Cape Breton Island), looking at the originals of these photos at high magnification levels does not reveal many here—the bare trees in this photo are nearly all deciduous, not dead spruce. Immediately beside the road, however, an apple tree bearing bright red fruit still had all of its mostly green leaves—only a few were showing tinges of yellow; I suspect that the horses, who would soon amble over towards it, near where I was standing, were more fond of its fruit than curious about the interloper who was photographing them, as both studiously ignored me while I stood six feet away.
There are several snowmobile trails listed on the snowmobile map that I have made a note to explore on foot when next I have some time in this area. They appear to go up into these hills, so one can hope that there might be some fine views along them.