Frasers Mountain from the West Big Intervale Road

From the Marsh Brook Road, I continued north along the West Big Intervale Road for 710 m (⅖ mi), where it meets the Crowdis Crossing Road (currently closed), and there kept going for another 930 m (⅗ mi) to a spot where the road begins to rise on the northeastern side of Hogsback Hill above the valley below, affording fine views of Frasers Mountain. Those this day were crisper than any other views from this vantage spot in my photo collection. The colours were getting brighter as I progressed north, as you can see from the views here and on the next page, taken from the same spot.

Photo #1 is a wide-angled view of Frasers Mountain looking a hair south of east across the Margaree Valley from the West Big Intervale Road. From this vantage point, the Northeast Margaree River is about 700 m (⅖ mi) away; the Fish Hatchery complex is not visible from here, but is on a line with the shaded indentation on Frasers Mountain just right of centre. The trees are very colourful directly below, a lovely early fall portrait in the Margarees.

The next seven photos form a connected panorama of Frasers Mountain from left to right, as seen from the West Big Intervale Road; all are at the same telephoto focal length, except for the last which is about half that length.

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Photo #2 looks at the north end of Frasers Mountain, which reaches north of the locality of Rivulet on the East Big Intervale Road. Frasers Mountain is, of course, just the edge of the Cape Breton Highlands Plateau, which stretches east from here to St Anns Bay and north to the top of the Island. This portion of the Plateau is not part of the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, which begins well to the north of here.

Photo #3 looks to the right of photo #2, with which it overlaps considerably. A number of brooks, unnamed on the topographical map, descend from the Plateau, likely accounting for the various folds one sees on the slopes. A fair amount of colour can be seen along the northern sides of the valley right of centre, where bright yellow trees stand out against the greens and oranges. The oranges clearly have it in the area next to the road, though, with even one bright red tree left of centre in the foreground.

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Photo #4 looks yet further to the right of photo #3. The colours on the slopes in this view are coming along very nicely; this Mountain will be ablaze in another week or so. .

Photo #5 looks again further to the right. The spot of light green at the bottom left of centre in the foreground is the roof of a house nestled in the trees. One can almost, but not quite, see the Northeast Margaree River on the far side of that house.

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Photo #6 continues still further to the right. The ridge on this part of the Mountain is quite flat, though there’s a precipitous drop at the right of the photo.

Photo #7 continues the panorama, this time focussing on the area on either flank of the shaded indentation in the side of Frasers Mountain, carved by Bens Brook, which descends sharply downwards. The side of the Mountain to the south of the brook is full of colours at the lower elevations. Notice too the bright red trees scattered along the river valley in the foreground of the photo, echoes of those at the base of the photo.

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Photo #8 completes the panorama, though at a considerably reduced focal length, showing the southwest end of Frasers Mountain. Fielding Road climbs up to the summit of Frasers Mountain, leaving from Margaree Valley and ascending on the far side of the the slope seen at the far right of this photo; it is in excellent shape and is the first leg of a journey to Cape Clear.