Views in St-Joseph-du-Moine

The remainder of this essay is given over to photos taken on the Tuesday after the end of the festival on a trip I made around much of the Cabot Trail. The day started off cloudy, but the further north I drove, the brighter the skies got, turning into a fine day at Pleasant Bay. The autumn colours likewise improved along with the sun and I stopped frequently along the way. The photos on this page are from St-Joseph-du-Moine, where I stopped for photos of the adjacent Highlands.

Photo #1 looks at the Cape Breton Highlands from the Cabot Trail across from l’Université Ste-Anne in St-Joseph-du-Moine, with the distinctive profile of Squirrel Mountain running across the right two-thirds of the photo. Much of the lower forest is evergreen, but deciduous trees are found along the middle elevations and up into the upper reaches as well. The sun, unfortunately, was not yet out to brighten them up further, but more colour was still evident here than I saw on Cape Mabou this year.

Photo #2 overlaps with photo #1 on the left and looks further to the right at the Highlands here, where again the spread of colours in the deciduous forest is widespread and distinctly noticeable. The green fields below the Highlands always add interest to the scenery and make the associated farm buildings stand out.

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Photo #3 looks still further to the right than photo #2, with which there is no overlap. With a somewhat longer focal length, it brings into better relief the trees on the hillside. Most of the trees in the upper reaches of the hillside are bare, but those lower down appear to be at or close to their peak. There is a real rainbow of colours here, from reds to yellows and oranges and still with a leavening of unchanged greens; sadly, the sun was still hidden by the clouds looming over the Highlands.