WATERFALLS OF NOVA SCOTIA

MacCUISH'S BROOK FALLS
Salem Road, Cape Breton Regional Municipality
N 45° 49.153 W 060° 34.640
UTM: 20T E688201 N5076816

RIVER: MacCuishs Brook

CLASS: steep cascades
SIZE: 45ft
PITCH: 70 deg

RATING: excellent (*****)

PK: 45 N 48.581  60 W 34.482
TRAIL: logging trail, bushwhacking
DISTANCE: 750m
HIKING TIME: 1 hour
CONDITIONS: challenging spots 

Geocache: GC3K3NR

NS Atlas Page: 23/Z4

NS topo map: 011F15 (Grand Narrows)

DRIVING DIRECTIONS: from St. Peter's, follow HWY4 eastwards (towards Big Pond/Sydney) for 19.9km and turn right onto Hay Cove Road (signed for Loch Lomond). Follow this road a further 15.7km, watching for an overgrown lane on your left hand side next to an open field. High clearance vehicles can continue down this road a further hundred or so meters to where the logging clearances start. 

TRAIL DESCRIPTION: follow the skidder road up the hill to the power lines. Cross along this oftentimes soggy path to the other side of the power lines and then, turning right, follow the game trail alongside the woods to the base of the prominent stream valley ahead of you. When you reach MacCuishs Brook, begin hiking upstream. There are a few spots in which a stream crossing will be necessary, and a few spots where you will need to climb up and over an outcropping that juts out into the stream. A small chute-like cascade, about a hundred meters before the falls features a wonderfully split boulder the size of a house at its side that one can sit between and enjoy the sussuration of the water.

The main falls are truly magnificent, they thunder over a short plunge and then a high steep cascade, smashing off the exposed bedrock wall at their base before turning 90 degrees and flowing downstream. Worth the hike in.