Views from the Portree Look-Off

I continued north to the look-off south of Portree (actually just a wide spot in the road by the guardrails). It sits directly above the Northeast Margaree River and has become one of my very favourite spots on Cape Breton Island, always worth a stop in any season and especially so on a fine fall day. When I got there, alas, a huge grey-black cloud, which had arrived at Marsh Brook as I was leaving there, darkened the views. I took photos in spite of the shadowed terrain but, when I had finished, it became apparent that the sun would come out if I just patiently waited a few more minutes. I did and it did, so I reshot all of the views, giving me great photos of these five-star views in nearly full sun!

Photo #1, a wide-angled view, shows the magnificent scene from the Portree Look-Off. It is quite similar to the views from Marsh Brook, but from a bit higher up and somewhat closer to Portree. In the valley below, it is still mostly greens that are showing, though there are scattered exceptions, some quite striking. The Highlands at the left of the photo, however, show plenty of colour, as do parts of Sugarloaf Mountain at the right (the dark shadows on Sugarloaf Mountain are cast by the remaining vestiges of the ugly grey cloud, which seemed to have mostly moved to the eastern side of the valley or else altogether broken up at this point). The gorgeous maple in the foreground at the left is always brilliant red in the fall and always brings great joy to my heart. What a fantastic spot this is! If this were a Michelin travel guide, it would easily merit a vaut le voyage (worth the trip) accolade, their highest possible rating.

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Photo #2 is the first of a group of four photos that pan across the scene from left to right; the group is not a true panorama because photo #4 is not at the same telephoto scale in order to fit all of Sugarloaf Mountain into the view. Here, the view is at the left of photo #1, looking at the nearer Highlands above the Aspy Fault, where a blush of colour covers most of the nearer slopes. As at Marsh Brook, numerous stripped trees are found under magnification at the summits of the highlands, though they are in the company of many others which are still leafed. The remnants of clouds at the far right are also residue from the now mostly dissipated great ugly grey cloud I found here when I first arrived.

Photo #3 looks to the right of photo #2 at the gap between the Highlands at the west and Sugarloaf Mountain. Through the gap, one can see the Highlands north of Big Intervale heading off towards Forest Glen. Significant colours can be seen along the slope of Sugarloaf Mountain that descends towards Portree. Some very nice colours are also seen in the trees in the valley, including some brilliant reds. This is still quite early days for the colours, but oh how beautiful they already are!

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Photo #4, which is at a reduced scale, shows Sugarloaf Mountain as it appears from the Portree Look-Off. Except for the centre area of its triangular face, where the majority are unchanged greens, changed colours are found all over the slopes seen here. As well, there are lovely colours in the trees in the valley in the middle ground, again quite early, but with some vibrant reds. Although it doesn’t look anywhere near as nasty as it did, the remains of the ugly grey cloud can be seen here and in photo #5.

Photo #5, which is at the same scale as photos #2 and #3, looks to the east of Sugarloaf Mountain at the Highlands beyond. The view is to the east of northeast, with a bit of Frasers Mountain at the far right; Rivulet is to the east and outside the scope of this photo. How glorious the trees in the foreground are under this lovely sun! And this is but the beginning of the show! Think what one will see in another week!

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Photo #6 looks at a beautiful maple below the look-off at the river’s edge. Just about every shade of red through red-orange is found on its leaves! Behind it, the river banks are lined with big barrier stones to prevent erosion as the river makes a sharp turn to the east and northeast below the look-off (before turning back to the southeast and south). The water below is shallow enough that small rocks are dry on top, though the darker and deeper waters are not far away in the upper left corner of the photo.

Photo #7 looks full-on at the lovely red maple seen at the left of photo #1. Alas, the dead trunk of a spruce tree still insists on interposing itself in front of the tree, but it still cannot spoil the glory of that fantastic red canopy! What a magnificent tree!

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Photo #8 is a final look from the look-off, this time from a slightly different vantage point from that in photo #1 that brings more of the river into view. The rocky/gravel beach is wide and dry now, but this has been a very dry year and the river is low. Note the alternating “rapids” and deeper pools that so characterize this stretch of the river (and many others as well). What an amazing place on a lovely, lovely day!