Views from Mountain Road in Marble Mountain

If you continue towards West Bay from the look-off, you will soon reach the two churches in the centre of the hamlet; Mountain Road is the road seen between them. It is a short gravel road which climbs to the top of North Mountain and effectively ends there; the topographical map shows a trail that descends the other side of North Mountain and ends at Valley Mills, but it is not car-drivable. Turn around and slowly descend back to the churches and you will be rewarded with superb views, some of which are shown on this page.

Photo #1 is a wide-angled view looking northeast along North Mountain, where its northernmost end can be seen descending to the headland and the islands beyond. From the previous page, you will recognize MacDonalds Point, where the house is left of centre on the water. Beyond it is Militia Point and in the far distance is Benacadie Point at the south end of Pipers Cove on the far side of the Bras d’Or Lake; East Bay, the community, is around that point at the upper end of a long arm also known as East Bay. The East Bay Hills are to the right of the photo and span much of its width. Cameron Island is to the left of the house. The Queen Annes lace is a beautiful addition to this glorious far-reaching view.

Photo #2 is a telephoto view of the left part of photo #1, bringing Benacadie Point into somewhat better focus (it is 26.2 km (16.3 mi) away, remarkably clear for such a distance mostly over the water)—even a portion of the cliffs there can be made out.

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Photo #3 looks down at the coastal islands off shore to the east. The rightmost leads out to MacKenzie Point, out of scope at the right of the photo. Further back is Militia Island off Militia Point. I have been unable to determine from the web any information about how these geographical features came by their names.

Photo #4 looks east at Cameron Island, where the four-sided lighthouse can be seen at centre left. So far as I can tell, the island is uninhabited. Directly across the lake is the area around the community of Johnstown.

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Photo #5 looks across West Bay to The Points West Bay area on the far shore; my best guess is that the island is Pringle Island. Beyond the far point, MacLeods Point if the Pringle Island guess be correct, the lake turns down another arm that becomes St Peters Inlet and leads to the canal at St Peters. The East Bay Hills span the entire width of this photo.

Photo #6 looks southeast from Mountain Road at Green Island, sitting offshore, and at South Mountain on the far side of West Bay. Unfortunately, the photo is too directly into the bright sun to allow much detauk to stand out on that shore. Although it is not heavily populated, there are houses at fairly regular intervals all along the West Bay Highway below South Mountain.

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Photo #7 looks just a hair east of south at Rook Island and Calf (at the left) and Cow (at the right) Islands; the community St Georges Channel is along the far shore. Here, it is possible to make out a few fields along West Bay Highway where a few farms remain active.