Views from the Red River Road

While I was working on the previous essay during the first half of 2013, I discovered that I lacked GPS coördinates for several points along the Red River Road, apparently having forgotten to collect them while I was there on previous trips. Accordingly, I had added their acquisition to my “to-do” list and, as it had been a few years since I had travelled to the north end of the Red River Road, I decided to do that task this day. I found far better views of this spectacular coast from the Red River Road than I had remembered from before; I wasn’t sure why that should be, as the road was unchanged, but a search through my library shows that it’s my memory that’s faulty, as the views are indeed there, though on none of the other trips was the weather and lighting as good as on this day. The views on this page show a goodly portion of the coast covered in great detail in the previous essay, but from a very different perspective and from a much greater distance; they were taken at various points along the Red River Road.

Photo #1 is an overview photo showing as much of the northwestern Inverness County coast as is visible from any point along the Red River Road (more of it can be seen from the MacKenzies Mountain look-offs, as in this fine winter view). The furthest feature visible on this coast I have named “The Knuckles” for its shape; more views of it are here and here. The sunlit cliff face left of centre marks Forth Cove and the descending point seen at the right with a coastal plain on the cliffs across from it marks Polletts Cove. Some patches of light colour mark the areas where deciduous trees have gained a toehold along this coast, though most of the forested areas are evergreens, better able to tolerate the cold winds and salt spray off the Gulf of St Lawrence. Along the Red River Road, the tress are again mostly evergreen, but a few fall colours are visible in the brush and grasses at the side of the road.

Photos #2, #3, #4, #5, and #6 form a connected panorama, all at the same scale (focal length); photos #7 and #8 continue the panorama, but are at a reduced scale necessary to include the entire scene, and photo #9 completes the panorama at a further reduced scale for the same reason.

Photo #2 initiates the panorama, starting with “The Knuckles” at the left. Delaneys Point is left of centre and what I have dubbed “Delaneys Mountain” is at the far right. In the centre are two cliff faces that here look very much as if they were a single one, but there is enough detail to make out the separation between them. The taller and more distant one is the great crest on what I have named “Big Head Mountain” (the geographical feature the topographical map labels as Big Head is further inland and outside the scope of this photo (but seen here)). Directly below the great crest is Lower Delaneys Brook, which has carved a valley between it and the lower prominence I have dubbed “Between-the-Delaneys Mountain”, seen here, as its nearer side is above the Upper Delaneys Brook.

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Photo #3 continues the panorama to the right, with the bulk of “Delaneys Mountain” spanning much of the photo. The mouth of Malcolms Brook is about a third of the way in from the left , where a slope can be seen descending above exposed rock faces down to the edge of the water. What I have dubbed “Malcolms Brook Mountain” arises from that slope until it fills the right side of the photo; the cliff face a third of the way in from the right marks the start of Foot Cove, a small bay of water between the cliff face and the far right of the photo. The run-off channel just right of centre is as dry this day as it was on the boat trip, but it must have been carved by some pretty strong running water.

Photo #4 picks up with Fort Cove at the left and shows “Malcolms Brook Mountain” spanning much of the photo; from its light colour, a deciduous forest has colonized the glen above Wreck Brook, whose mouth is at the centre left, though the distance is too great to judge the state of its foliage.

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Photo #5 shows the coast below what I have dubbed “Wreck Brook Mountain”, an area where rock pillars and strange shapes caused by erosion are found along the shore (the one I call “the muppet” is at the far left). The light colours again attest to a deciduous forest nestled at the base of the mountain. The shadow cast by the rock at the centre can be taken in more than one way: I first saw it as a guitar-like instrument with a somewhat bent neck and then as the head of a dog and others will doubtless have other interpretations.

Photo #6 (with a reduced focal length so as to include both summit and shore) is dominated by “Wreck Brook Mountain” across most of the photo. The much smaller northern foothill of Polletts Cove Mountain occupies the right of the photo; much of the coastal plain below the foothill is hidden in this view by the distinctive point with its ramp that marks the southern end of Polletts Cove. The upper reaches of Wreck Brook Mountain are mostly grass-covered, though bare sand/gravel/rubble lies on the sides of the steeper cliffs where the evergreens have made a partially successful attempt at colonization. Again, it is too far away to tell with any exactitude what the state of the foliage is, but the trees right of centre display orange and red hues that are likely not too far from their peak, while many others are already bare or mostly so.

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Photo #7 continues the view in photo #6 to the right. “Wreck Brook Mountain occupies the left half of the photo and Polletts Cove Mountain the right half. An unnamed brook separates the two and empties into the Gulf at the far left, outside the scope of this photo. The point in the foreground and its ascending slope lie on the near side of the valley the Blair and Polletts Cove Rivers (they join very close to their mutual ends) have carved between it and Polletts Cove Mountain and its foothills on the far side.

Photo #8 looks down the coast towards Polletts Cove Mountain from the Red River Road; it has much the same shape as Beinn Bhiorach in the Cape Mabou Highlands—doubtless both were produced by the same geological forces. Black Brook Mountain is at the far right and outside the scope of this photo. The severe foreshortening of distances produced by the telephoto lens makes it look as if it were but a short distance from the camera to Polletts Cove; however, the road runs for another 1.9 km (1.2 mi) before reaching its end at the trail head at Archies Brook and it is another 7.5 km (4.7 mi) from the trail head to Polletts Cove. At the centre of the photo, one of the points there (I’m not sure exactly which one) hides the mouth of Otter Brook, roughly half way along the trail to Polletts Cove; there is no bridge over the brook—it has to be waded. By all accounts, the trail is one of the most arduous in Cape Breton (I’ve hiked up Heartbreak Hill and got about ⅕ of the way there, but have not completed the whole trip); this view of the terrain it crosses certainly does not belie that! Haynes’ Hiking Trails of Cape Breton, 2nd edition, pp. 96-99 has a fine detailed description of the trail that you should definitely consult before setting out.