Views from the Sunrise Look-Off

From the second highest look-off on North Mountain, I drove down the rest of the mountain to Big Intervale and thence on up “Sunrise Mountain” to the wide shoulder at the side of the Cabot Trail that marks the unofficial look-off at Sunrise (although it is shown on the excellent map of northern Cape Breton in the Parks Canada Cape Breton Highlands National Park brochure). The views from there are as great as any along the Cabot Trail, but, alas, they are marred by utility wires and obstructing trees that are very hard, and often totally impossible, to avoid getting into the photos. It is unfortunate that the wires weren’t placed on the other side of the road, where they would not obstruct the views (or anything else), and that the low-lying trees below the shoulder haven’t been trimmed. The stunning beauty of its views merits no less.

Photo #1 shows the northeastern portion of the wide views available at the Sunrise Look-Off. St Paul Island lies off in the Cabot Strait at the right of this photo; Aspy Bay is the nearer water in between the coast and the Cabot Strait. Blue Point, on the Cape North Massif (locally known as Money Point Mountain) is in the centre; behind it, the massif continues beyond to Money Point at the top end of the island. The long descending slope covered with evergreens is Willkie Sugar Loaf, whose summit lies to the far left and outside this photo’s scope. Sams Mountain is the slope at the far left. Spanning much of the photo nearer at hand is North Harbour, the estuary of the North Aspy River. The Bay St Lawrence Road seen in the lower left corner is not far from the bridge over the North Aspy River; once it crosses the bridge, it follows the far shore of the harbour before turning towards Sugarloaf. I do not know what the cause of the smoke is near the centre of the photo, but as I drove by I could tell it was a wood fire of some sort. The clouds scraping the top of the massif were an omen I ignored while here enjoying the fine sunlit views.

Photo #2 looks to the left of photo #1 at the massif; in this view, Willkie Sugar Loaf, from this vantage point looking somewhat like a Meso-American pyramid with its trapezoidal shape (from most vantage points, it appears triangular) is at the left behind Sams Mountain. The mountains further south are unnamed, but belong to the general structure known as North Mountain, itself a part of the Cape Breton Highlands Plateau. The white blob in the trees bordering the harbour just right of centre is the steeple of the Aspy Bay United Church, whose grey roof can also be made out with some squinting. Some long shoots of new growth were determined to get in this photo willy nilly (I already cropped it to remove the utility lines)!

Photo #3 looks yet further to the left from the Sunrise Look-Off, bringing into view the slopes of North Mountain that were cloaked in their own fine fall colours and bathed in the rich glow of the mid-afternoon sun. Given their colours here, I would take them to be very close to their peak; those at the far left are especially colourful, considering the distance, with all colours present, including unchanged greens, and a few trees that are bare.

Photo #4 looks at the mountains to the south of Sams Mountain, unnamed on the topographical map, all edges of North Mountain and therefore of the Cape Breton Highlands Plateau. The indentation right of centre is named French Gulch for reasons I have been unable to ascertain; Google Earth shows it as a fine natural amphitheatre, hidden from this vantage point. The mantle of beautiful fall colours extends to the south beyond Tenerife Mountain, to the far left and well outside the scope of this photo.

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Photo #5 looks again further to the left from photo #4 at the mountain that occupies the centre of the photo, unnamed on the topographical map but identified as The Peak in the Hike the Highlands Festival description of its Tenerife Mountain hike. Johns Brook, which does appear on the topographical map, is apparently responsible for having carved the valley between The Peak and Tenerife Mountain at the far left; the initial part of the aforementioned Tenerife Mountain trail, which I have not hiked, meets Johns Brook, but then ascends Tenerife Mountain rather than The Peak; I do not know of any trail up The Peak, but the views would surely be fine if one could reach the upper part of the rock face, which is still open, though they would likely be little different than those from Tenerife Mountain, which “offers a magnificent view of North Harbour and area including St. Paul Island.” Most of the vegetation here is at its peak of colours; the sun was still strong enough to cast shadows, but was beginning to suffer considerable interference from the clouds, making this photo a bit less brilliant than it appeared to my eyes. And notice that lovely darker red tree sticking out at the left of the photo; others of its ilk, though much less prominent, are there to keep it company.

Photo #6 is a photo of St Paul Island, courtesy of Big Bertha at full strength. Some one of these years I’m going to catch it on a perfectly hazeless day, though there was little haze elsewhere this day, so maybe this is the clearest one can expect from afar. Although the island looks deceptively close, it is actually a long ways off: it is 45.4 km (28.2 mi) by a straight line from the Sunrise Look-Off to Southwest Point at the far right, while it is 50.2 km (31.2 mi) to Northeast Point at the far left. The white dot on Northeast Point is the lighthouse; it is separated from the main part of the island by a narrow channel called The Tickle. Another white dot, harder to see in this reduced version, appears on West Point about a fifth of the way in from the right in what appears to be a field, but is actually an open area strewn with rock and rubble; this is the current solar-powered navigation beacon, which replaced the lighthouse once on Southwest Point. The topographical map names the prominence at the left as Martin Rowers Mountain; Norwegian Mountain is on the east side of the island beyond a narrow spit of land separating it from Martin Rowers Mountain; Crogan Mountain is the prominence at the right end of the island. For much more information and close-up photographs of features on the island, including excellent views of the lighthouses, pay a visit to this fine web site.

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Aspy Bay is known for its many lengthy sand beaches which border it from Sugarloaf to South Harbour. In photo #7, the upper portion of what the topographical map calls North Harbour Beach (it is also known by other local names) is visible in the right half of the photo. Sheep Island is right of centre nearest the beach.

Photo #8 looks to the right of photo #7 at another segment of the same beach. Surprisingly, many of the trees seen here are entirely bare, while others appear to be just starting to change.

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Photo #9 looks further to the right at the southern portion of the northern end of North Harbour Beach; the entrance to North Harbour is seen at the break in the beach at the right of the photo. North Harbour Beach still runs on an equal distance to the south of the entrance to the harbour seen here, finally ending at the entrance to Dingwall Harbour. This is indeed one impressive beach! The view further to the right is blocked by “Sunrise Mountain” seen in the foreground.