Views of Lake Ainslie from Highway 395

From Glendale, I drove on to Whycocomagh and then out Highway 395 to Margaree Forks, where, since it was Friday, I was going to stay for the first Southwest Margaree square dance of the season. Highway 395 is a beautiful route (though sadly its upper end is currently in bad need of repair) which passes along the eastern shore of Lake Ainslie. After crossing the bridge over Trout Brook, I stopped at the side of the road and took the first two photos which appear on this page. Photo #1 looks southwest along the eastern shore of Lake Ainslie. Trout Brook Provincial Park is southwest of the bridge and offers picnic “[t]ables under a mixed-wood forest” with the “beautiful white sandy beach on the shores of Lake Ainslie” that extends past the park to the northeast that is seen here. At the left of the leftmost house seen here, MacLean Point sits in the middle ground; the lake narrows to the south of MacLean Point and ends at South Lake Ainslie; popular privately-run campgrounds are located at both MacLean Point and South Lake Ainslie. The far shore to the right of MacLean Point is in West Lake Ainslie.

Photo #2 looks somewhat north of west towards Mason Point, near the centre of the photo. Loch Ban is the bay that occupies the right half of the photo; it lies at the northwest end of Lake Ainslie, to the west of Mason Point on the south and Ainslie Point on the north. In the far distance, Cape Mabou rises well above the surrounding terrain.

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The next three photos are again from the roadside, but this time further north in East Lake Ainslie about 2 km (1¼ mi) south of the eastern end of the Strathlorne-Scotsville Road in Scotsville. Photo #3 looks to the northwest across the northeastern end of Lake Ainslie, which empties into the Southwest Margaree River at Scotsville. Dunbars Point is in the centre of the photo. The highlands beyond are those that separate Inverness from Scotsville, the closest named mountain being Shaws Mountain, which rises at the right of the photo; Dunbar Road in North Ainslie ascends along Dunbar Brook to reach the summit of Shaws Mountain and offers nice views of the lake on the way back down.

Photo #4 looks to the west along the northwestern shore of Lake Ainslie, from Ainslie Point at the left to Dunbars Point at the right. Dominating the entire scene in the far distance is glorious Cape Mabou, the vast majority of which is encompassed in this view. The sloping hill at the far left, considerably lower than Cape Mabou, is behind Mason Point.

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Photo #5 looks further to the north than photo #3 and shows the area north of the neck of Lake Ainslie that funnels into the Southwest Margaree River at Scotsville. The communications tower in the centre left of the photo is on Masons Mountain, to which I drove a few years ago starting at the Kiltarlity [kɪlˈtar.lɪ.tɪ] Road in Upper Margaree, without finding much in the way of views.