DRYERS BROOK FALLS
Glengarry, Inverness County
46° N 02.502 061° W 28.010
UTM:  20T  E 618627 N 5099823

 

RIVER: Dryers Brook 
WATERSHED: Southwest Mabou River
CLASS:  cascades
SIZE: 4', 8'
RATING: average (***) 

TRAIL: bushwhacking
DISTANCE: 400m
HIKING TIME: 20 minutes
CONDITIONS: moderate, off-trail

GEOCACHE: none

NS Atlas Page: 12/V5
NS topo map: 011K03 (Lake Ainslie)

DRIVING DIRECTIONS: from Port Hastings, at the Canso Causeway, follow the roundbout onto HWY19 (the Ceilidh Trail). Follow this road northwest for 49km and turn left onto Hunters Road, a few kilometers past the village of Port Hood. Continue up this dirt road for 2.6km, where there is a nice pull-out spot on the left side of the road (the upstream side of the road). Park here. Google Maps estimates this to be a 46 minute trip.

TRAIL DESCRIPTION: an old trail, recognized on my GPS topo map as an 'abandoned railline' makes a more or less undergrowth and snaggle free hike for the first 250m. There are several spots along the low-lying portion of this brook that you have to jump over the stream, but it isn't a very wide watercourse. 

The first tributary into this brook, joining into North Branch Campbell Brook from the left is Dryers Brook. turn up into the low, open valley this brook occupies. The brook turns to the left with a small 4foot cascade which leads to the larger fall, approximately 8feet high, a short distance upstream.

Named for Ann Dryer, the land grantee. I wasnt able to find much information regarding this individual, although an Ann Dryer, born abt. 1821 in Cape Breton was recorded to be living in Essex, Massachusetts during the 1865 census. Early land grant petitions in this area recorded William Dryer Jr seeking the lot adjoining his fathers (William Dryer Sr.) in this area during 1807, but had "removed to Mabou"  unable to make a living on these lands. Loyalist grants were granted in 1785 and 1790 to two separate individuals bearing the name William Dryer in Guysborough County, so it is possible they arrived to this area along the same narrative as John Hammond, their neighbour and fellow Loyalist, whose story is told on the page for Hammond Brook Falls.