North Mountain and the Cape North Massif from Sunrise

After descending North Mountain, the Cabot Trail follows the course of the North Aspy River into Cape North village, passing through Big Intervale and Sunrise. At this latter locality, 4 km (2.5 mi) southwest of Cape North village, there is an unofficial look-off at the side of the road which offers this superb view of the prolongation of North Mountain that culminates in the Cape North massif (locally known as Money Point). Unfortunately, very poorly sited utility lines greatly impair the views from this look-off, unless one descends somewhat below the road’s surface to avoid them, as I did here; the bank is steep and with tricky footing, however, and if one gets too far down, the trees seen in the foreground of this photo get in the way of the view. But, as this photo demonstrates, it’s definitely worth the effort to find the sweet spot that avoids both Scylla and Charybdis.

What a gorgeous scene this is! The Aspy Fault parallels the mountainous spine seen in photo #1 running to the northeast, continuing out into the Cabot Strait beyond Cape North. The coastal plain below the mountains runs on top of the fault and out to Aspy Bay at the far right of the photo, into which the North Aspy River flows (its course is not visible in this photo). Of the prominences visible here, only three are named:¹ Tenerife Mountain is the massive block closest to the camera in this view; Wilkie Sugar Loaf (this spelling is that of The Nova Scotia Atlas — it is usually just called Sugarloaf) is the pyramid-shaped mountain way down the chain just before the Cape North massif; and Sams Mountain is the mountain just before Wilkie Sugar Loaf.

In photo #2, a telephoto shot to the north captures Tenerife Mountain looming at the middle and right of the photo. The ridge from the middle to the left of the photo is not far from McEvoys Barren, from near which this gorgeous wintry scene was taken looking towards White Point. Grays Hollow Brook flows below this ridge and past Tenerife Mountain to enter the North Aspy River very near the bridge over that river outside Cape North village on the Bay St Lawrence road (its mouth is visible from that bridge).

None of the area seen in photo #1 is inside the Cape Breton Highlands National Park: except for a narrow strip along Grays Hollow Brook at the foot of Tenerife Mountain, the coastal plain, a chunk of Sams Mountain, Wilkie Sugar Loaf, and the Cape North massif, the mountainous spine and the areas to its west are part of the provincial Polletts Cove Aspy Fault Wilderness Area.

¹ The Nova Scotia Atlas does not name Tenerife Mountain, but that is the name by which it is locally known. So far as I have been able to determine through local inquiries, none of the other prominences are named. All of them, of course, are simply the edges of the Cape Breton Highlands Plateau, which extends inland to the west.↩