Through the thickest of spruce
Evening on Caribou Barren, we settle in for the night
Lunch break, day two, Fred and Ken.. leave nothing but footprints
Moments before I fell into the River
Remote Cabin, Oil on board. Tipover Lake, Cape Breton Higlands National ParkSome of the paintings I have done over the years have had to be sought after. Some come through long road trips, others by hiking through dense forests or canoeing wide lakes. There is one though that caused me the most grief than all the others but it was a trip I will remember for a long time. Two friends and myself decided we were going to hike across the Cape Breton Highland National Park from one side of the 1400ft plateau to the other (around 60-70km). When we presented ourselves to the visitors office at the park entrance we did get some strange looks, but after a meeting with the Warden, he seemed quite happy to let us go on our way.
There were three of us, Ken Hetherington a 62 year old miracle man who ran marathons for fun and my good friend and high school teacher Fred Mackenzie. Our start point was a public trail on top of French Mountain, from here we would leave the trail to begin our 3 days of exploration into one of Nova Scotia’s most remote places. The first few hours we managed about 10km and as evening was drawing to a close we camped down for the night. This was very memorable, high up on Caribou Plain we experienced a silence and a freedom that is certainly hard to find in many places, the stars were the brightest I had ever seen, the insects were insane and the company of two, just perfect!
Over the next couple of days we backpacked through mud, waist deep water, the thickest of spruce forests and the largest of bogs using mostly compass work. Eventually we reached Tipover Lake, near the highest point in Nova Scotia which is aptly named Whitehill. Tipover Lake had a small wardens cabin near it and this is where the painting above comes from.
It wasn’t long after seeing the cabin that I slipped into a river and smashed my Olympus camera to pieces. This was in the digital era and I was lucky enough to be able to salvage the memory card, my knee didn’t fare out as well, but we made it back safe and sound a few hours later. I have posted some other photos to give you an idea of the wonderful experience we had that summer.
There were three of us, Ken Hetherington a 62 year old miracle man who ran marathons for fun and my good friend and high school teacher Fred Mackenzie. Our start point was a public trail on top of French Mountain, from here we would leave the trail to begin our 3 days of exploration into one of Nova Scotia’s most remote places. The first few hours we managed about 10km and as evening was drawing to a close we camped down for the night. This was very memorable, high up on Caribou Plain we experienced a silence and a freedom that is certainly hard to find in many places, the stars were the brightest I had ever seen, the insects were insane and the company of two, just perfect!
Over the next couple of days we backpacked through mud, waist deep water, the thickest of spruce forests and the largest of bogs using mostly compass work. Eventually we reached Tipover Lake, near the highest point in Nova Scotia which is aptly named Whitehill. Tipover Lake had a small wardens cabin near it and this is where the painting above comes from.
It wasn’t long after seeing the cabin that I slipped into a river and smashed my Olympus camera to pieces. This was in the digital era and I was lucky enough to be able to salvage the memory card, my knee didn’t fare out as well, but we made it back safe and sound a few hours later. I have posted some other photos to give you an idea of the wonderful experience we had that summer.
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