“Between-the-Delaneys Mountain”

Photo #1, a wide-angled view from directly offshore, shows the officially unnamed mountain that sits between the Lower Delaneys Brook on the north (left) and the Upper Delaneys Brook on the south (right). For convenience, I have named it the “Between-the-Delaneys Mountain”. This mountain is another of those which change shape considerably depending on the vantage point from which it is viewed. It has two peaks, a higher one (285 m (935 ft)) inland connected by a 300 m (985 ft) ridge to a lower one (200 m (655 ft)) above the coast.¹ From this aspect, the mountain appears to be primarily great gravel/dirt/rubble patches and bands amongst rocky outcroppings with clumps of vegetation, mostly low brush and stunted trees with an occasional full-grown evergreen, wherever conditions are favourable. The coastal cliffs alternate between reddish-hued and grey rocks.

Photo #2, a moderately wide-angled view, shows the higher inland peak of “Between-the-Delaneys Mountain” from directly offshore. A long diagonal starting at the upper right and descending to the lower left marks the (currently dry) channel apparently used to funnel run-off down the mountain; a corresponding line of vegetation is positioned in order to profit from the available moisture. Some fairly serious erosion is evident at the lower left and in the centre; the large patch of vegetation in the lower right seems to be holding the barren slope above it in place, at least for now.

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¹ These measurements come from Google Earth and are roughly consistent with the data on the topographical map.↩

Photo #3 is a wide-angled view from further south than photo #1, so that the dual peaks now have a different orientation. The long ridge at the far right is above Upper Delaneys Brook and extends to the southeast for some distance, as seen in photo #4.

Photo #4 shows the southern portion of “Between-the-Delaneys Mountain”; the mouth of Upper Delaneys Brook is to the far right of the photo and outside its scope, but the valley it has carved is readily visible here. The great band of gravel/dirt/rubble that extends horizontally across nearly the entire width of the photo is very interesting; given its very fine nature, it has clearly been there a long time, though in the centre one sees some larger boulders that must be considerably more recent. The rock cliffs above have survived more or less intact, though with (under magnification) both horizontal and vertical fracturing, so was there once a cover of sand and gravel like that seen at the far right that has since washed away? Or is there some other explanation for what is there now?

As one moves yet further south, the profile changes still more, with the higher peak rather less dramatically dominating in photo #5 than in photo #1. From this perspective, it is the cliff faces, the three in the upper portion of the photo and the long horizontal one reaching across the left to the centre that catch the eye. The mouth of Upper Delaneys Brook is at the far right of the photo where a waterfall is not far inland. A boulder-strewn rocky beach extends on both sides of the brook’s mouth; on the north, a gash in the gravel/dirt/rubble band appears to be rather recent and has carried away the darker outer layer and exposed the soil below.

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Photo #6 is a telephoto view of the two peaks on “Between-the-Delaneys Mountain”; this lens setting rather significantly foreshortens the length of the ridge between the two. Some full-grown evergreens can be seen at the right of the upper peak and along the ridge at the far right; at the lower right, there are a few others, but they are clearly the exception and not the rule. The view from here must be spectacular, reaching into the valleys of both of the brooks and inland into the Cape Breton Highlands Plateau; it’s certainly plenty spectacular seen from below!

Photo #7 is another telephoto view, this time giving a close-up of the large cliff face to the south of the upper peak below the ridge above Upper Delaneys Brook. Google Earth puts the top of this cliff face at about 300 m (985 ft), so it is even higher than the upper peak. The dry run-off channel just to the left of the cliff face leads down the mountainside through a tree-lined path into Upper Delaneys Brook, as seen in photo #5.