The summit itself looked like a little rock submarine emerging from the ground: a little sliver of bedrock with a small concrete marker on it's highest point. A few metres off to the northeast was a fallen red-and-white striped tower. There was no guidebook, but upon closer inspection of the summit rock and marker, there was a nice clear survey mark. That it was the summit was no longer in doubt!
White Hill Lake from summit
We were truly in a wild place. In all directions for as far as the eye could stretched the endless barrens of the Cape Breton Highlands, occasionally punctuated by a small lake or two. Way, way off to the northeast, we could see a tiny sliver of ocean. There was no indication of human habitation or activity anywhere in our view.
After a good snack, we prepared ourselves mentally for the very long journey back. This trip was on track to become the longest day-hike that I had ever done. And although the terrain was not super-difficult, it was still going to be a long and tiring day. We were making good time, though, and I was pretty sure we'd be back well before dark.
As we stood on the summit, thinking about the dense thicket and horrible mudhole on the last leg of our climb up, I thought that perhaps it might be more efficient and less troublesome to bushwack down the other side of the hill, angling for a spot that intercepted a fire road not far from the junction we had encountered on the way up. This would potentially be shorter and hopefully would avoid the nasty bushwacking and mudhole sections. After a bit more thought, I called Jenn over and we decided to go for it.
It was a good call. There was only open barrenlands on this side of the peak down to where a regular bit of more open forest started, and from there, we encountered a decent wildlife herdpath that led us back to a fire road. Faster, less hassle, and more enjoyable. From the fire road, we quickly hiked back to the junction, completing an irregular loop of the mountain. I'd say this way up to White Hill from the fire road junction should be considered as an alternative to anyone climbing the Nova Scotia highpoint.
With all of the mysteries and uncertainties now out of the way, it was simply a matter of retracing our steps and following our GPS tracklog back. The day's weather continued to be beautiful, with a nice breeze now cooling us off and keeping the annoying horseflies at bay. We had a slightly better time staying on the old fire road back near the start where we had lost it in the morning, but there was still one stretch were the road just was not followable, and we again had a short stretch of bushwhacking before we regained the road again. Overall, I'd say that this first section of hard-to-follow road is the hardest (orienteering-wise) part of the entire hike.
With much gratefulness, we reached the end of the fire road and intersected the maintained Freney Mountain Trail. Although we could have taken the shortest-route 2km back to the car, I managed to convince Jenn to hike over to the Freney Mountain Lookout, which involved an extra km or so of hiking. I was hungry for a nice lookout view, though, something that the hike to White Hill did not provide. Jenn was nice enough to accommodate, even though she had already hiked over 33 km so far this day.
Reaching the end of the Barrens
The hike over to the Freney Mountain Lookout was an easy jaunt, made only difficult by our fatigue. The Freney Mountain Lookout indeed give us a superb late-day sunlit view of the Clyburn Valley and the ocean and headlands near Ingonish. It was nice to see some vertical relief after a full day of nearly flat terrain!
From the lookout, we hiked down the other side of the Freney Mountain Loop, finally reaching the car at the lower trailhead at about 8:10pm. Just under 15 hours to cover almost 38 km of terrain. Definitely my longest day hike ever. Even though Jenn was up for it, I didn't feel like camping, so we checked into a quaint seaside cottage in Ingonish, had much-needed showers, a burger and fries at a local pub, and then crashed on a nice, comfy bed. The satisfying end to a challenging day!
Interactive Trackmap and Photo Points - White Hill Climb - Double-click map to expand
Hike Data - Our White Hill Climb
Start Time:
5:16a.m.
End Time:
8:12p.m.
Duration:
14h55m
Distance:
37.66 km
(23.4 mi)
Average Speed:
2.5 km/hr
(1.6 mph)
Start Elevation:
287ft
(87m)
*
Max Elevation:
1774ft
(541m)
*
Min Elevation:
273ft
(83m)
*
End Elevation:
329ft
(100m)
*
* : +/- 75 feet
Total Elevation Gain:
2825ft
(861m)
*
Total Elevation Loss:
2765ft
(843m)
*
* : +/- 75 feet
Elevation Graph
Elevation Graph Over Distance
Elevation Graph Over Time
