Taken 2006 October 11 in Sunrise from the Cabot Trail
about 3.2 km (2 mi) from its junction with the Bay St Lawrence Road in Cape North Village
GPS 46°52.252'N 60°32.823'W
About 3.2 km (2 mi) west of Cape North Village in a locality known as Sunrise, there is an unofficial look-off on the shoulder of the Cabot Trail from which one can take in this magnificent panorama. The utility wires are poorly placed, but it is possible with a bit of dexterity to position oneself below them so that they do not become part of the photo.
The mountain range running from the left through the middle of the photo is the prolongation of North Mountain, which ends in Cape North on the west side of the range (not visible here). The pyramid-shaped mountain is Sugarloaf Mountain (The Nova Scotia Atlas identifies it as Wilkie Sugar Loaf Mountain, but local signs just read Sugarloaf, also the name of the locality at the foot of the mountain). Just to the left of Sugarloaf Mountain is Sams Mountain. The Nova Scotia Atlas does not give names for the remaining prominences.
The blue water one sees in the middle ground extending out to the sand beach seen at the right of the photograph is North Harbour, the outflow of the North Aspy River; Aspy Bay lies offshore. The island to the right of the Cape North massif beyond Aspy Bay is St Paul Island, which lies in the Cabot Strait separating Cape Breton from Newfoundland, some 24 km (15 mi) off the Cape Breton coast, not far from where the Gulf of St Lawrence merges with the Atlantic Ocean.
The darker hues of the fall colours here stem from the greater prevelance of conifers, a significant number of denuded deciduous trees, and a declining afternoon sun; it is otherwise a fairly faithful representation of the colours I remember that day, which were not brilliant.