Down the Cape St Lawrence Trail—Part 2

The west side of Bear Hill sits along the Bear Hill Fault Line (so named on an old map, the second one seen here). Between Bear Hill and Grey mountain to the southwest, the col where the look-off is located sits at the top of a seriously steep escarpment littered with small stones pushed there by water running down the trail, making the footing tricky, at least for an old codger. Although the trail actually runs to the southwest along the slopes of Grey Mountain, not Bear Hill itself, this section is usually referred to as the Bear Hill Escarpment. Once past this descent, the rest of the trail descends much more gently, with an occasional short uphill stretch, until it comes out of the forest at the coastal plains. The photos on this page are from this lower part of the trail.

Photo #1 shows the trail along the upper part of the escarpment, about a third of the way down, looking back up the trail. It was taken on one of my many stops on the return trip, looking uphill from a relatively level spot where I was able to place my three-legged stool to sit and recover my breath. Notice the deep gouge in the left side of the trail and the many loose stones in it; here, the right side is in much better shape.

The backwards view in photo #2 shows the summit of Grey Mountain along whose slopes the trail descends. Judging by their greens, the leaves on the deciduous trees are very new, especially on the upper mountainside, where many are just coming out. The nature of the trail can be seen in the foreground, with plenty of rocks and dislodged stones to navigate.

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Photo #3 is taken near the bottom of the escarpment, again looking backwards (uphill). The light was very tricky here in the forest and my amateur status as a photographer shows up in these photos, with overexposure and underexposure side by side. But, at least, the details of the trail itself are clear.

From the bottom of the escarpment, the trail turns from its southwesterly course to sharply north and then northeast, levelling out somewhat as it returns to the flanks of Bear Hill. Photo #4 shows the trail just before it bends again to the northwest.

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Photo #5 looks along the trail on the slopes of Bear Hill to the east of and well above French Brook. The trail from the bottom of the escarpment is in much better shape than along the escarpment, with grass and needles making an appearance.

Photo #6 captures two free-range horses coming down the trail not long after I started back. I had met them in the morning when we both were going in the opposite direction, but wasn’t quick enough with the camera to get their photograph then. Both times, the three of us stopped and I stepped aside off the trail; the tawny-coloured one was wary, but bold enough to pass by me, while the black one was downright skittish as it waited nervously and then bolted past me to catch up with the tawny one. I don’t recognize either one from the four I saw in 2009 at Lowland Cove, pictured here: the black one in that photo has a white spot in its forehead that is missing here and the tawny one’s face markings are different.

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Photo #7 shows the trail just before the end as it comes out of the forest and reaches the coastal plains at Cape St Lawrence. The tread is now primarily grassy, with tree roots extruding above ground. The automated light is not visible here; it’s still another 285 m (⅙ mi) across the coastal plains to it.

Photo #8 shows a red stake that has been placed into the ground to mark the start/end of the trail, so there is no question as to which tracks to follow to return to Meat Cove. I know of two other stakes like this one, one marking the start/end of the Lowland Cove Trail at Lowland Cove and the second behind Tittle Hill marking the trail there where it goes inland behind the hill to avoid the Fox Den and the canyon leading to it. None of these were there on my first trip in 2006 and I experienced great anxiety at Lowland Cove in choosing the return path to follow there, where there were many more choices than at Cape St Lawrence, as recounted here and here.