The South Summit of Meat Cove Mountain
and the East Side of the Meat Cove Brook Valley
from the North Summit

The fantastic views from the north summit of Meat Cove Mountain continue on this page with views of the south summit of Meat Cove Mountain and views of the eastern side of the Meat Cove Brook Valley, concluding with one on the western side of the valley.

Photo #1 is a telephoto view of the south summit of Meat Cove Mountain, as seen from the north summit. As this photo vividly demonstrates, the south summit is a good bit higher than the north summit. The south summit is actually the edge of the Cape Breton Highlands Plateau and is lined here with sharp rocky outcroppings, some of which descend a good ways down the mountainside; loose rocks and gravel are plenteous, but grass, brush, and even a few evergreens have nevertheless gained a foothold. Three hikers (one is superimposed on the other) have just reached the south summit and are seen at the left of the photo on top of the ridge; they were off to fill their containers with blueberries for their supper. Their height is a good gauge of the relative size of objects in this photo.

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Photo #2 is a somewhat wider-angled view of the south summit of Meat Cove Mountain, as seen from the north summit; it is at the same scale and overlaps somewhat with the last photo two pages back (here) and, with the remaining photos on this page, forms a connected panorama. The trail up to the summit can be seen in the left foreground and again ascending towards it at the upper left.

Photo #3 continues the view to the south (right), where the mixed forest that lines the upper valley above the Meat Cove Brook now can be seen. The colours on the deciduous trees here can be seen to be at their early stages.

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Photo #4 looks further to the right, where the edge of the plateau continues to rise, reaching 417 m (1545 ft) at its highest point further south; for comparison, the highest point of the south summit is 322 m (1056 ft) and that of the north summit is 290 m (951 ft) (the figures are from Google Earth). So far as I am aware, there is no trail that leads along the edge of the plateau.

Photo #5 looks still further south, where the courses carved by several brooks, none shown on the topographical map, that descend from the plateau can be seen at the right; under magnification, they appear to be gravel/rock strewn paths that are bone dry on this day. The forest remains very mixed, with evergreens predominant along the edge, but also descending well down the slopes, where deciduous trees are predominant. Given the distance, the fall colours appear very pastel here, but were the mostly orange/green mixes seen elsewhere this day.

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Photo #6 marks the limit of the east side of the Meat Cove Brook valley that is visible from the north summit of Meat Cove Mountain. The valley does continue to the south and west beyond the slope that takes up the right half of the middle ground, but only the upper portion of the ridge right of centre can be seen here. The highest point is on the east side of the valley just left of centre; because it is closer, the slope on the west side of the valley looks almost as high, but, again according to Google Earth, is some 30 m (98 ft) lower.

Photo #7 looks at the west side of the Meat Cove Brook valley, where the vegetation is overwhelmingly deciduous, except along the top of the ridge and for occasional stands seen mid-slope. The long gash in the right middle ground is the course of Pine Brook as it descends to join the Meat Cove Brook.