Morning Light on the Western Highlands
above Meat Cove Brook

When I awoke the next morning, I found a gorgeous sunny blue sky day, surprisingly warm after last night’s chill. St Paul Island was even clearer in the morning light than it was yesterday, auguring well for the day’s activities. This is the first time I have ever overnighted in Meat Cove in the fall (I’ve made day trips there in the fall, but never hiked) and I was looking forward to being out on the trails in this beautiful weather, even if the colours were only just beginning to show. The six photos on this page form a connected panorama showing the state of the western Highlands above Meat Cove Brook as I saw them from the lodge in the morning light; except for Little Grassy, none of these prominences have names, so far as I am aware.

Photo #1 looks as far to the south above Meat Cove Brook as it is possible to see from the lodge. There was rather more colour than I saw yesterday, but not enough to convince me to try for the summit of Grey Mountain (on the far side of these Highlands), in spite of the occasional dash of red in the foliage.

Photo #2 looks to the north of photo #1, with which it overlaps on the left at the next portion of the Highlands above Meat Cove Brook. There are far fewer colours here than further south, but some splotches can be made out hiding amongst the greens. The Meat Cove Look-Off Trail (off the Lowland Cove Trail) leads one up to the area at the V at the left of the photo; for some of the fine views from there, see this page.

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Photo #3 looks to the north of photo #2, where the path of the Lowland Cove Trail can be seen climbing up to the ridge behind these Highlands. The Meat Cove Look-Off Trail forks off from the Lowland Cove Trail part way up. The Fraser homestead, settled in the 1850’s, is behind the prominence at the right of the photo, marked these days only by a corral where horses that roam the Highlands are are commonly seen. There is more fall colour in this glen, carved by an unnamed brook which comes down beside the trail to empty into Meat Cove (the water) between the southern edge of Blackrock Point and the Meat Cove Campground—when there is good flow in the brook, it creates a waterfall cascading into the waters below.

Photo #4 looks to the north of photo #3 at the great bulk of the Highland directly above Meat Cove. Since it is closer to the coast, it has a large, perhaps majority, population of evergreens in its forest. The deciduous trees can be seen changing, but they have not yet attained the brilliant colours that they will at their peak.

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Photo #5 looks to the north of photo #4 where the Highland inflects towards Little Grassy, whose summit is seen at the right. The ashen grey trunks are dead spruce. Much of the forest is evergreen, though patches of colour show deciduous trees scattered in stands among them.

Photo #6 completes the panorama, looking at Little Grassy and Blackrock Point with the Gulf of St Lawrence beyond. Very few deciduous trees are visible here, but there are a few betrayed by their orange colours. The Highlands in this panorama are fantastic to look at any time, but never more so than at the peak of colours in the fall; no mere photo can really do them justice.