The Fox Den seen from the sea

Seen not quite dead on from much closer than the previous photos, photo #1 presents a medium-angled view of the northern side of the Fox Den; just inland of the exposed slanted rock faces, the land rises above a height of 60 m (200 ft) according to the topographical map.

Photo #2 shows the south side of the Fox Den in a slightly wider-angled view than photo #1. The summit of the hill at the right of the photo rises above 120 m (390 ft). The gorge Haynes mentions will be seen in much better form in the following photos, but its cleft at the far left continues well inland, lined by evergreens on both sides. If this gorge were not there, the coastal route from Cape St Lawrence to Lowland Cove would stay at the coast; its presence, however, forces an inland detour around it. Haynes’ trail description continues: “The trail [to the south] turns sharply left [east] and navigates around this obstacle by heading into the thick white spruce behind the cliffs. There are a few metal markers and flagging tape, but it is easy to lose the trail in the dense vegetation. Fortunately, this interior bypass is barely 300 m/yd long before you emerge once again onto a grass and rock-covered hillside.”¹ [loc. cit.] That hillside is the one seen in this photo, where the herd path climbing back up the hill, right of centre, can be seen, though that path does require a bit of a bushwhack occasionally towards the top.

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¹ I had no problems with losing the trail on either of my hikes, simply by following the herd path; perhaps I was just lucky (or perhaps I wasn’t even on the trail). In 2006 I saw neither flagging tape nor metal markers; I did find one red metal stake on the ‘interior bypass” on the 2009 hike. Since Haynes’ hike was in 2011, additional trail markings must have been added in the meantime. If you make this hike (in either direction), you will save time by ascending to the summit as soon as the herd path turns inland, but the trek along the coast out to the Fox Den is not that much further and is interesting enough to be worth the extra time and effort. One can then climb up parallel to the gorge until one reconnects with the herd path again (easier on the north side of the gorge than on the south).↩

Photos #3, #4, and #5 form a connected panorama of the Fox Den shot with a telephoto setting. Photo #3 shows the cliff face on the north seen in photo #1 in a wider-angled view. As always, if you do hike out to the Fox Den, don’t get too close to the edge as you will be unable to tell whether the land under your feet has been eroded underneath—it would be a long fall with a hard landing!

Photo #4 shows the gorge, currently dry as a bone, but just as clearly carved by running water, which apparently has had enough force to create a narrow beach at the bottom. The topographical map shows no stream entering the Gulf at the Fox Den, but the “interior bypass” is often wet in spots, so water does definitely drain downwards from the top of the hill. The southern side of the gorge is covered with trees and brush while green grasses or moss or both are growing at several spots along its cliff face.

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Photo #5 looks at the cliffs and the beach below on the south side of the gorge, seen in photo #2 in a wider-angled view. Enough brush and rocky rubble is in the way at the top of these cliffs (as well as a less dramatic second channel for the run-off) that I judged it completely impractical to get any closer to the edge of the gorge than the end of the coastal plain at the centre of photo #2.