WATERFALLS OF NOVA SCOTIA

STONEY BROOK CASCADES
near Panuke Road, Hants County
45 N 52.172  64W 06.843
20T E0411997 N4969061

RIVER: Stoney Brook
CLASS: cascades
SIZE: 4-6 '
RATING: excellent (***1 /2)

TRAIL: old road
DISTANCE: 4.7km
HIKING TIME: 3-4 hours
CONDITIONS: moderate

Geocache: none

NS Atlas Page: 57/Y3
NS topo map: 021A16 (windsor)

Driving Directions: from Windsor, take Exit5, west, off HWY101 towards Three Mile Plains. Drive about 1km to the intersection with HWY1, turn left. Drive 2.5km and then turn right onto Panuke Road. Follow this road past where the pavement ends onto an improved dirt road, and follow it to its conclusion (6.9km). Park at the boat launch/beach area.

Trail description. Make your way back up the hill, taking a conspicious trail to your left, and hike down to the small logging road below. Cross the ATV-bridge over Hunter's Brook, and keep to your left at the Y-intersection. (Following the right-hand road takes you towards Hunter's Brook Falls, 250m away) Follow the white gravel road along the lakeshore of Panuke Lake. This nearly 5km hike is along an ATV-worthy road past many summer homes generally reached by boat, scattered along the shoreline. It is fairly clear all along, with some muddy areas. When you reach the last half-kilometer of your hike, at 44N52.306 64W06.159, take the right hand path at the Y-intersection. Much of the old road here has been washed out as you ascend the hill, but gets better later on. You can head down to the brook down a moderate slope when you near them, hiking further up the road and thru a clear-cutting, the road continues down to the brook approximately 500m upstream to the largest cascades on this brook, then you can hike downstream and back up to the road again from the lower cascades.

While these falls are pretty and isolated, they arent huge. What you get here is an incredible hike along the shores of Panuke Lake. Canoeists can also enjoy this small diversion, if launching from the boat launch, there are decent places to beach in the small cove Stoney Brook empties into Panuke Lake at 44N51.882 64W06.262. The hike upstream, with some deadfall to navigate, is about 650m.

(im always seeing "turtle effigies" in the placements of boulders when i go hiking, who is sacred to me thanks to some first nations heritage and spirituality, this old boy stands over the top cascades of Stoney Brook Cascades, which somewhat added to the "sacredness" of this isolated place.)