Cape North Massif from Cabots Landing Provincial Park

Cabots Landing Provincial Park is yet another “old friend”, to whom I pay a visit each time I am in the area. Its location on Aspy Bay below Wilkie Sugar Loaf offers gorgeous views of Aspy Bay, the coast in both directions and as far as White Point, and the mountainous spine seen in the previous photos of this essay; in addition, the sandy beach, which runs south for as far as my eyes can see, is suitable for swimming on warm days and for beach-walking and exploring on cooler days (but keep the tides in mind if you venture to the north as you may find your route back cut off!). Sea birds often rest and cavort on the beach after fishing in the waters offshore.

Photo #1 is a view to the north from the park of the Cape North Massif, which terminates in two different headlands, Cape North and Money Point,¹ neither of which is visible in this photo. So far as I am aware, none of the distinct prominences seen here are named. Note the lovely waterfall which falls over dark grey cliffs into Aspy Bay about two fifths of the way in from the left edge (it does not stand out, but is readily visible if one looks for it); no matter how dry the weather when I’ve been there, the waterfall is always flowing.

Photo #2 is a close-up of the end of the massif, roughly the right third of the photo above. An arduous hiking trail runs from the end of Money Point Road outside of Bay St Lawrence across the massif and down to the Money Point headland, which had a lighthouse, built in 1980 as a replacement for the previous lighthouse and automated in 1987 according to this web site (which calls it the Cape North lighthouse — every other source and the locals call it the Money Point Light). A photo taken 2010 September 19 during the Hike the Highlands Festival hike to Money Point Light, posted on the festival’s blog here, shows its current sad state “left by government officials & contractors who removed the light .. and left everything behind”. See the Nova Scotia Lighthouse Preservation Society web site for information regarding recent Canadian government actions which have rendered nearly all of Nova Scotia’s lighthouses “surplus”, leading to outrages such as this one, doubtless only one of many to come.

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¹ I reserve Money Point for the headland; the locals use this name for both the headland and the massif itself.↩

Wilkie Sugar Loaf, usually just Sugarloaf, rises directly behind the Cabots Landing Provincial Park, as seen in photo #3. In years past, a flag has flown from its peak in the summer months, but none is visible there this day. A hiking trail, said to involve a tough hike both up and down (I haven’t yet been on this trail), ascends briskly from the Bay St Lawrence Road (46°57.197'N 60°27.659'W) up the ridge seen at the right; more information on this hike is available on this web page and on this one. As can easily be imagined, the views from the top are spectacular (see those here, for example); on a clear day such as this one, Newfoundland can even be seen across the Cabot Strait.

Photo #4 is of Sams Mountain in the foreground and the mountainous spine seen on the previous page of this essay, though this time looking along the Aspy Fault to the southwest.

Cabots Landing Provincial Park contains a small historic monument to commemorate the visit of Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) to this part of Cape Breton Island in 1497, the first of the Renaissance European explorers to have done so; according to this Wikipedia article, “historians are unclear as to whether Cabot first visited Newfoundland or Cape Breton Island.” Whichever, this is a beautiful place that deserves to be far better known. Take a picnic lunch and, even if you don’t have a swim, enjoy the lovely views in all directions! I wish you a day as beautiful as this one and plenty of time in which to enjoy all that this lovely park has to offer.