My apologies for such a long delay since the previous photo essay: the older I get (I turned 68 this past July), the slower I write. But I had a great time on my 2010 June trip (which extended a couple of days into July) even as it offered the usual mix of perfect days for photography and others which were much less so; I have therefore decided to devote this essay to that trip.

In the ten years I have been going there, I have seen a good deal of Cape Breton Island and have hiked many of its trails. But there are still many places which I have not yet explored and I constantly keep learning of new trails — Cape Breton Island truly offers the hiker an incredible cornucopia of beautiful trails. Moreover, there are other places that I have previously visited, but without exhausting all of the trails there. In this essay, you will see several views with which you will almost certainly be familiar if you have ever visited Cape Breton, though not necessarily from the usual vantage point or precisely as you may remember them, but you will also see others off the beaten track that, I hope, will be new to at least some of you.

I usually schedule my June trip before the traditional music season has gotten into full swing because, when there is live traditional music, I am no more able to resist its strong attraction than a moth can resist a lightbulb. Since much of that music (though by no means all) takes place on the Cèilidh Trail, June week-days provide my primary opportunity to explore other parts of Cape Breton Island. Hence, you will see fewer photos in this essay of Southwestern and Western Cape Breton (though there are some) and more of other areas. On this trip, I did spend three days in Richmond and Cape Breton counties, both of which are as beautiful in their very different ways as Inverness and Victoria counties (in which most of the pictures here were taken), but, alas, I encountered poor weather there and so, to my chagrin, only have only a few photos from this trip in those counties that are fit for sharing.

The photos are presented in time order and so follow me around as I moved about from place to place on this beautiful Island. I hope you will enjoy the photos and that they will lead you to explore the great riches it offers to those who seek out its often quiet but always stunning beauty.

Victor Maurice Faubert
2010 September 28

This revision resulted in very few changes, mostly corrections to wording and typos. It was very pleasant for me to revisit the many different parts of Cape Breton Island I present in this essay. As I am only a few days of leaving for this year’s June trip to Cape Breton, it recalled to mind several places I wish to revisit this year. I hope you enjoy this essay as much as I did rereading it.

Victor Maurice Faubert
2012 June 10

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Note 1: If you are unfamiliar with the place names mentioned in this essay, a list of map resources is given here. Of these, the best computer-readable map of Cape Breton Island that I currently know about is the Cape Breton Travel Map, produced by Destination Cape Breton and, thanks to their express written permission, available as a PDF file here; I strongly urge you to download it. This map scales nicely, allowing you to zoom in on an area of interest, has a very helpful place name index, and provides a level of detail, both of back roads and streams, that is quite good.

Note 2: See the description here for the notation I use for GPS (Global Positioning System) coördinates, which are those I wrote down when I took the photos.

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