WATERFALLS OF NOVA SCOTIA

WHITESIDE FALLS
Whiteside, Richmond County
N 45° 36.487 W 061° 11.180
UTM: 20T E641424 N5052108

(fourth and fifth whiteside falls)

RIVER: Fall Brook

CLASS: multiple stage steep cascades
SIZE: 5, 10, 14, 20 and 30ft
PITCH: 70 deg

RATING: excellent (*****)

PK: 45 N 36.221  61 W 10.531
TRAIL: ATV-trail, bushwhack and downstream hike, some scrambling
DISTANCE: 1.4km
HIKING TIME: 1.5 hours
CONDITIONS: challenging spots 

Geocache: none

NS Atlas Page: 34/W2

NS topo map: 011F10 (St. Peter's)

(upper plunge abt 5ft high)

DRIVING DIRECTIONS: from the roundabout at the Canso Causeway in Port Hastings, drive SE along HWY4 thru the towns of Port Hastings and Port Hawkesbury, turning left at the end of the road, past the WalMart and Atlantic Superstore, and then turn right at the exit for HWY104 towards Isle Madame and St. Peter's. Drive along this highway 7.7km then turn right onto Evanston Road. This road curves to the left shortly thereafter and becomes Whiteside Road. Follow Whiteside Road 3.7km and turn left onto MacDonald Lane. You can park to the side of the road vt the war memorial about 50m along.

(second and third whiteside falls)

TRAIL DESCRIPTION: this hike starts out by following the visible old cart track across the road from the war memorial. It is fairly easy hiking, not too wet, and only a gradual uphill climb of approx 700m length. As you approach the height of land, the traffic noises from HWY104 become a bit of a distraction to the peace and quiet. When you reach the brook as it intersects the cart path, start heading downstream. I found it easier to follow the left side of the brook for most of the bushwhacking portion. The same can be said for descent near the falls, the easiest routes I found were generally on the left hand side of the falls as you faced downstream.

(second whiteside falls)

When you arrive at the top fall in this group of falls, you will be able to see the one that comes after it, and so on and so forth until you reach the largest lower falls which are about thirty feet high. The falls immediately preceding the lower falls are also visible from the base of the these, making for a spectacular sized fall in one of the places you might least expect it.

The return to the trail is easiest by continuing downstream a few hundred meters and picking a less elevated wall on your left side to climb to reach the canyon verge. I made the mistake of quickly scaling this, thinking I could make a quick straight bushwhack overland back to the trail I came in on and save myself some time, but faced a maze of small and densely packed evergreens that required a lot of repositioning oneself with the GPS receiver to finally break out on the trail again. Of course, Im the crazy one who actually ENJOYS that sort of terrain, so.....

(fourth whiteside falls, so wide and such a short distance to the the fifth falls below me, I had to use panorama mode on the camera to capture the whole fall)