On the MacEachen Trail

All of the trails in the Cape Mabou Trail Club (CMTC) system were officially closed in 2009 due to extensive dead spruce killed by the spruce bark beetle and the resultant twin dangers of falling trees and fire. In 2011, a few trails were reöpened as the CMTC undertook the arduous task of clearing the deadfalls and, in one case, relocating a significant portion of a trail to avoid a now impenetrable area. Additional trails were reöpened in subsequent years. In 2013, it was the turn of the eastern half of the MacEachen Trail, where a slightly diverted trail with a new footbridge again leads across the bog. With a friend, I had hiked the eastern half of the trail in 2012 starting from an alternate access point; although the trail was passable with some bushwhacking, I found it very tiring (and tiresome). When I learned of its reöpening, I was overjoyed, as the MacEachen Trail is the easiest (though not the shortest) way to the summit of Beinn Bhiorach at the centre of the CMTC system, on which I had last stood in 2008. The photos on this page were taken from the MacEachen Trail on this very special return hike to Beinn Bhiorach.

In 2013, the parking area for the Cape Mabou Trail Head was not well demarcated as a result of the widening and significant improving of the Cape Mabou Road (and the Glenora Falls Road as well) to accommodate a new wind turbine placed down the road from the parking area. You will find the parking area at 46°09.008′N 61°22.958′W, 2.7 km (1⅔ mi) north of the junction of the Glenora Falls and Cape Mabou Roads. From the parking area, you descend on the trail by the parking area to the bog below and cross the footbridge to the other side of the bog. Photo #1 shows the Trail Head sign standing there as it appeared this day.

Photo #2 looks back across the new footbridge at the trail towards the parking lot, which passes through the trees on the other side of the bog. It replaces the old bridge wantonly destroyed in 2009, making the bog effectively impassible because it is full of very sticky, sucking muck that tries to pull the boots off one’s feet. The slight diversion of the trail to this spot makes for a shorter and easier crossing than the previous site and it looks to be a bit drier as well.

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Photo #3 is a look at the MacEachen Trail where it turns west along the old cart track which, once upon a time, extended out to the Community Pastures, as is still seen on maps of the area. Here, it is wider than the trail through the forest from the parking lot.

Photo #4 shows one of the three fire breaks that the Department of Natural Resources cleared across the MacEachen Trail at the height of the fire danger following the great kill-off caused by the spruce bark beetle. Dead trees are still coming down, requiring clearing by the hard-working and dedicated trail volunteers.

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Photo #5 is an example of the fine signage along the MacEachen Trail; this is at the junction of the MacEachen and Trap à Mhathain (Bear Trap) Trails. Notice the orange disk in the upper centre of the photo: because ferns and grass grow fast in late spring and early summer, the footpaths can easily become hidden or hard to see; in all such locations, the orange discs at fairly short intervals on the trees are very useful in following the trails.

Photo #6 marks the end of the maintained trail in 2013; in 2014, it was cleared further along towards Sight Point, but in 2013, it was still officially closed, though relatively easily passable with some bushwhacking around deadfalls. The route to Beinn Bhiorach branches off the MacEachen Trail at its junction with the Highland Link Trail, a short connector to the MacArthur Trail and the Highland Forest Trails, the end of the latter being at the summit of Beinn Bhiorach. It is not without some climbing on the end, but this route has the least amount of climbing of any of the several other routes to the summit of Beinn Bhiorach.