French Lake

French Lake is a small lake, beloved of moose,¹ whose northern end is close to the Cabot Trail at the top of French Mountain. In previous years, the pull-off there at the side of the Cabot Trail has not offered good views of the lake and it was necessary to take a short hike to the edge of the water to obtain any views at all. This fall, some clearing of deadfalls had been done, affording a much better view of the lake. Alas, the clouds kept out much of the light needed to make the views crisp, but the photos here nevertheless convey a fairly good idea of this highland lake, whose outlet is Corney Brook.

¹ Be very careful as you reach the top of French Mountain and from there past French Lake, as moose are commonly found crossing the road or along it. Over the years, I have had three scary near misses in this short stretch; I was saved in all three cases by slow speed and good brakes.↩

Photo #1 is a wide-angled view of French Lake as seen from the pull-off. The lake has a northwest-to-southeast orientation, with the northwest end at the far right and outside the scope of the photo. The sun did break through the clouds here, as can be seen by the light on the water at the centre of the photo and the splotch of lighted terrain at the centre beyond the water, but it was not really enough to show the surrounding terrain as well as I had hoped.

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Photo #2 is a telephoto view of the southeastern end of French Lake, where one can see some deciduous trees just beginning to change along the water’s edge.

Photo #3 is another telephoto view, this time of the southwestern part of the lake, where the outflow into Corney Brook begins at the far right of the photo. Corney Brook, of course, makes the beautiful falls on the Corney Brook Trail as it falls off French Mountain on its way into the Gulf beside the Corney Brook campground.

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Photo #4 looks across the northwestern arm of French Lake in the foreground at the terrain on the far side and the highland hills in the distance. The bright reddish/brown at the right of the photo looks similar to my eyes to blueberry fields I have seen elsewhere, but might be some other kind of bush. There aren’t many deciduous trees in the middle ground and the few that there are are mostly unchanged, but on the far hillsides the splotches of colour are stands of deciduous trees, some orange in colour and others of hues between yellow and orange and still others unchanged greens.

Photo #5 looks further to the west than photo #4, with which it overlaps partially. The forest here is mostly evergreen, though spots of colour like those in photo #4 are visible here and there across the hillside. What a wild and pristine landscape!