Magic Cove / Sight Point

It was only in my earlier twenties that I became much more interested in hiking in the areas up Route 19 (Inverness, Mabou, and such). By this time, I felt like I had done everything in the National Park ten times over and it was time to start moving south. By this time, the problem with Mabou was the spruce bark beetle, which devastated the woods along many of these trails, closing popular spots like Beinn Bhiorach, among others. Now that these trails are reopened, I'd like to spend more time up there. 

It you're interested in doing a few treks, a map of the Cape Mabou hiking trails system can be purchased at the Information Bureau in town and a few other places (the Bear Paw gift shop is one) for five dollars in the 2013 season. It was a toonie the last time I got one, but I wanted another in case anything had changed since the closings and reopenings of the trails that I needed to know about. I wanted to keep to the shore, so I did the MacKinnon's Brook trail today. I wasn't disappointed with all the cool spots I found, especially Magic Cove, which I had heard of being used for a picnic spot but had never seen.

So, we started from the Sight Point end by car. That is, at the southern end of the town of Inverness, turn left at the Tommy Cat Bistro and start climbing. Drive up a few kilometers to where the pave turns to gravel. HERE you may want to consider your driving strategy. Brave and with 4-wheel drive? No problem. Not so brave and driving your Civic? Meh. I wasn't worried about my car clearing the road itself. The problem is that the road eventually becomes a one-laner, and you just have to hope that any rigs meeting you will be able to take the ditch if your car can't. We met four vehicles, and Russell was driving. He had the courage to pull a lot closer to the sheer drop-off edge than I would have, and the vehicles we meet took the ditch with ease.

Magic Cove is a short detour from the MacKinnon's Brook Trail using the co-ords from the last geocache listed here. It's a very cool spot and not one to be missed.

Geocaches in area:

"Up the Sight Point Look-Off (#1 of Series)" N 46° 12.345 W 061° 21.523 Status: Good (2013-08-11) GCQDZJ

"CMHHT - MacKinnon's Brook Trail" N 46° 10.697 W 061° 25.678 Status: Unsure (2013-08-11) GC162KG

"Magic Cove 'Do you believe in Magic?'" N 46° 11.549 W 061° 24.732 Status: Wet (2013-08-11) GCXMCV