Taken 2009 March 26 in Jersey Cove from Highway 312 across from the gift store on “The Spit”
GPS 46°18.218'N 60°32.732'W
This photograph is copyright © 2009 by James D. Steele,
remains the sole property of the photographer,
and has been used here with explicit permission.
This photo, again from the winter of 2008-2009, shows the pack ice over St Anns Bay as far as the eye can see. Taken across from the gift store on “The Spit” at Jersey Cove near the ferry landing, it looks northwards along the western coast of St Anns Bay. The shore with the lowered profile seen across the left half of the photo is Red Island, which also figured prominently in the previous sunrise photo; above that profile rises the edge of the plateau forming the Cape Breton Highlands. The point at the middle right of the photo is Bentinck Point, just south of Little River. The profile of Cape Smokey can be seen in the middle left of the photo rising high above the plateau. Those are clouds in the sky above the plateau at the far left of the photo.
I have only recently become aware of the Red Island hiking trail, which was included in the 2008 and 2009 editions of the Hike the Highlands Festival (hike number 14 on the page); some of the history of its recent development can be found here (under item #3). The trail head begins beside the St Ann’s United Church parking lot and runs roughly 4 km (2.5 mi) along the route shown here; a Picasa slide show of views from the trail can be found here. I have hiked the St Anns Bay Trail at the base of Kellys Mountain that runs out north of the Englishtown Ferry to and beyond Little Grappling Beach, from which there are stupendous views on a clear day of the western shore of St Anns Bay reaching down to Cape Smokey, so I will be very eager to hike the Red Island Trail to see the eastern shore under the same conditions.
The cobblestones protruding through the snow cover in the foreground are seen along many of the shores of St Anns Bay. I have often crossed over them here on The Spit to get close to the water or to find just the right angle for a photo; it is no easy task for me to walk any great distance on them! But to imagine them juxtaposed with the pack ice in this beautiful wintry scene is something I would never have done without this gorgeous photo!
[2012] Since this essay was written, I have hiked the Red Island Trail; it doesn’t involve much climbing and provides fine views of the Barachois River, of the northern end of the Great Bras d’Or massif, and of St Anns Bay; you are very likely to see a number of kinds of birds on this hike. Kudos to the trail developers and maintainers for adding another fine trail to Cape Breton’s amazing cornucopia.