Views from the Gairloch Mountain Road, Part 1

The Gairloch Mountain Road had long been on my list of roads to explore. Two days earlier, I was also in this area and had driven it for the first time; that day, I turned up the Indian Brook Road and discovered a fine ridge with views of the Middle River valley, but there was too much haze to get decent photos so I stopped exploring the area. This day was a much better day for photography, and, as you will see on this and the following pages, I got some good photos from the Indian Brook Road and explored the Gairloch Mountain Road on the “Great Central Interior Plateau” for as long as I had time, for this was the week of the four-day event celebrating at St Anns the 40th Anniversary of the Festival of Cape Breton Fiddling and I had commitments that limited my photography time. The photos on this page were taken on the Gairloch Mountain Road between its start on the Middle River West Road and its junction with the Indian Brook Road.

Photo #1 looks upstream at Indian Brook, a tributary of the Middle River which starts on the “Great Central Interior Plateau” north of Gillanders Mountain. Indian Brook is rather elusive: the only other vantage point I am aware of from which it can be seen is the bridge on the Middle River West Road 1.6 km (1 mi) south of the junction with the Gairloch Mountain Road; it enters the Middle River 890 m (⅗ mi) as the crow flies east of south of that bridge (the actual distance is a good bit longer, as the brook meanders considerably through the fields on its way there).

Photo #2 looks downstream at Indian Brook from the other side of the bridge. The water is very clear on either side of the bridge, but rather shallow, noticeably more so on the upstream side. The bulk of its course is through forested land, with the trees pressing close by its banks, making it difficult to see it from other vantage points.

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Photo #3 looks east back along Gairloch Mountain Road at the bridge over Indian Brook from which the two previous photos were taken. As can be seen, the road is in very fine condition this day.

Photo #4 looks to the southwest across a field that has been recently mown at the edge of the “Great Central Interior Plateau”. As can be seen here, the forest in this area is mixed at the lower elevations, but primarily deciduous on the sides of the plateau, making for beautiful fall colours.

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Photo #5, taken on the return trip from Gairloch Mountain, is a look east down Gairloch Mountain Road, which has gained some elevation since its start at the Middle River West Road, at the beautiful Cape Breton Highlands Plateau across the Middle River Valley. The community of Middle River is in the valley at the left of the photo, hidden from view by the trees.

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Photo #6 is a telephoto view showing the left portion of the Cape Breton Highlands Plateau across the Middle River Valley seen in photo #5. The folds are made by brooks; the one centre right is an unnamed tributary of MacDonalds Brook, which flows into the Middle River.

Photo #7 is a telephoto view showing the right portion of the Cape Breton Highlands Plateau across the Middle River Valley seen in photo #5; there is some overlap with photo #6. To the right of the tall tree in the foreground you can make out a logged area on the side of the highlands. A logging road off Highland Road (Crowdis Mountain Road) leads out to this area.

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Photo #8 shows the Gairloch Mountain Road as it approaches the edge of the “Great Central Interior Plateau”, where a gap can be seen in the edge of the plateau. That gap is carved by Black Brook, which rises on the plateau south of Gillanders Mountain and west of Gairloch Mountain. So far as I am aware, neither of these two rounded prominences have names of their own. The Gairloch Mountain Road turns to the right (north) before reaching the prominence on the right and continues on this side of it. It ascends to the plateau on the right side of it (and outside the scope of this photo).

Photo #9, taken from 100 m (330 ft) before photo #8 on the return trip from Gairloch Mountain, is a closer view of the prominence at the right of photo #8 and to the north of the “Black Brook Gap”. Where the mailbox is located, Google Maps shows a road it names as Mill Road leading through the forest to a cleared area along Black Brook, where a house and other buildings are found; when Mill Road reaches Black Brook, it turns to the west: I have added it to my to-do list to explore and, perhaps, get some photos of Black Brook.

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Photo #10, also taken on the return trip from Gairloch Mountain, is a close-up view of the “Black Brook Gap”, taken from further along the road, where an overgrown field allows one to see across the Black Brook valley below the gap. The goldenrod seems to be doing fairly well in this field as it competes with brush for access to the sun.

Photo #11, taken at the same time and place as photo #10, looks to the left of “Black Brook Gap” as the edge of the plateau proceeds to the south (the continuation to the left is hidden by the forest). MacKenzie Brook, which rises on the “Great Central Interior Plateau” east of Gillanders Mountain and empties into Black Brook almost due south of this point, lies on the far side of the trees seen in the foreground.