Taken 2012 August 22 from the waters 355 m (⅕ mi) west southwest of “Fox Den Point”
GPS 47°01.917'N 60°37.167'W
Photo #1 is a fairly wide-angled view from just below “Fox Den Point” looking at the Fox Den just centre right of the photo, which was seen in detail on the two preceding pages of this essay. From this perspective, the point looks rather lower to the water than it appears from further away, as in photo #2. Photo #1 also reveals that the distinctive “bump” in its profile is a huge reddish coloured boulder sitting astride a sloping rock cliff.
Photo #2 is a telephoto view of “Fox Den Point”, taken from just a hair north of Tittle Point at the entrance to Lowland Cove. While the coastal plain above has given up a little of its height above the point, and will give up more as it proceeds south, the shore below is now resolutely rocky, with reddish-hued cliffs lining the coast to Tittle Point. If my experience is any guide, most hikers on the way south from Cape St Lawrence, especially the first time, will be so captivated by the magnificent scenery to the south that they ignore the shore between the Fox Den and Tittle Point, but it certainly is attractive in its own way, though often hard to discern from the heights above unless, as here, “rock fingers” protrude far enough into the water to be easily visible from the edge of the coastal plain.
[continued below]
Taken 2012 August 22 from the waters 870 m (½ mi) southwest of “Fox Den Point”
GPS 47°01.651'N 60°37.403'W
Taken 2012 August 22 from the waters 870 m (½ mi) southwest of “Fox Den Point”
GPS 47°01.649'N 60°37.404'W
Photo #3 and the remaining photos on this and the next page form a connected panorama from north to south of the coast between “Fox Den Point” and Tittle Point, all telephoto views. Anyone who has hiked the coastal plain south of the Fox Den will surely recall the many rocks and small boulders strewn with apparent abandon throughout the grass of the plain; some are not well balanced and stepping on one of those can cause surprise—carry a walking stick! Many of the larger of those stones can be seen above the cliffs in this view. The line of evergreens seen here mark the Fox Den gorge as it proceeds inland.
Photo #4 shows the summit of the hill above “Fox Den Point” on the back side of which the interior bypass around the Fox Den passes. That hill descends more sharply towards the Fox Den and rather less sharply towards Tittle Point. When I have hiked it, the coastal plain has been generally quite dry on the south side of the Fox Den, though both photos #3 and #4 show spots where run-off is surely responsible for the indentations in the rock cliffs leading down to the water.
[continued below]
Taken 2012 August 22 from the waters 870 m (½ mi) southwest of “Fox Den Point”
GPS 47°01.647'N 60°37.406'W
Taken 2012 August 22 from the waters 870 m (½ mi) southwest of “Fox Den Point”
GPS 47°01.645'N 60°37.407'W
Photo #5 continues the panorama to the south. The forest is actually a good bit further off than it appears here; it appears generally healthy, but the dead grey hulks in the centre testify that it has not been immune to the spruce bark beetle, which has wreaked such damage in the past few years all over the western side of Cape Breton Island. The cliffs here are distinctly lower now than they were at the Fox Den and will continue at this hight until they descend once again at Tittle Point. Along this part of the coast, the 20 m (66 ft) contour line is not far inland on the topographical map, so these are hardly smallish cliffs.