Slaughenwhite Cascades
Top 5 HRM Falls – Part 2
The Mission Continued..
After having such a good experience with Pockwock Falls, number 5 on the list of “Top 5 waterfalls of HRM” I was eager to see the others. The next three on the list required very little hiking so to make it a full adventure I decided to see the next three all in one day. Little did I know the first stop would be a memorable adventure all on its own, to say the least. I recruited my Co-worker and friend Mike as my companion for this one (which he probably regrets).
Getting There
Our first stop was to Slaughenwhite Cascades in Tantallon. Described as a series of small cascades I was skeptical that it would surpass the beauty of Pockwock falls. After studying the location from nswaterfalls.blogspot We followed the GPS coordinates to the destination. It led us down Peggy’s Cove Road, we turned in at the second entrance to Old School Road and parked about 150 meters down. Once again there is no trailhead or any indication there were falls nearby. We got out and covered ourselves in bug spray before descending into the woods. We did not see any defined path so we just slid down the least steep area on the sloping ridge.
The Big Reveal… Sort of
Once we were down the slope we came immediately upon the cascading river. The water level was really low, yet something about it felt magical. The water was not falling any great height in the slightest but the mossy covered rocks that surrounded it made the scene quite unique. The way the sunlight pierced through the trees made the moss glitter. What this tiny cascade lacked in height was compensated by pure atmospheric perfection, it was holding its own against Pockwock falls just fine. Seeing it in person I could now understand how someone might rate a small cascading river higher then the moderately sized waterfall. This was indeed a hidden gem, I was quite glad I had given it a chance despite my initial doubts, and we had only seen the one cascade. The description of the falls seemed to indicate there were multiple separate cascades.
The Irresistible Climbing Tree
After searching a bit we saw what resembled some sort of trail so we followed it up the river. We came upon a big curvy tree that was demanding our attention. It was too irresistible not to climb. There were perfectly molded foot holds temping me to insert my little feet in them. It’s solid smooth trunk curved gently toward the sky. We had our fun taking turns climbing the now dubbed “irresistible climbing tree”. This tree alone would have been enough to make this worth a visit. But the fun definitely did not end there.
The BEES!!!?
We tried to continue on the trail but deadfall made it too tough to continue the way we were. We decided to continue up the river by jumping from rock to rock as the river flow was almost non existent here and the rocks were not too slippery. I hopped along keeping a good pace. I was quite a few meters ahead of Mike and I could see the river starting to open up again. We had to get off the river soon if we didn’t want wet feet. So, I headed toward the right bank where a saw a flat outcropping. I hopped on to it and continued along the river bank. I could hear Mike behind me jump up to the outcropping. “Oof” I heard Mike groan from behind me so I turned around and saw Mike’s concentration face turn into one of shear horror.
“ Oh no, Sam!….BEES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Mike screamed, my stomach sank. Wasps were swarming out of the ground under Mikes foot! I turned back around.
“Oh god! RUN!!!!” I yelled backward and booked it as fast as I could trying not to trip on all the rocks and foliage. Holding my arms in front of my face to protect it from stray branches.
“AHHHH! Ahh ahhhhhhh!” I could hear Mike freaking out, I could tell he was right behind me, bringing with him a pack of 50 bees. Finally I stopped. “Are they following?” Mike yelled still barrelling toward me. Trying to get my eyes to focus behind him, I looked.
“Keep going!” I yelled and continued running further. I couldn’t actually tell if he was still being followed by eyes were still blurry with adrenaline. My fight or flight instincts were telling me I was not ready to face the wasps yet.
“They’re on me! I can feel them!!” we stopped again and I could see exactly what he was talking about. 6 or 7 wasps! not bees, were clinging to him,
“Oh god! They are all over you Mike!” I cried.
WHERE!?” he asked.
“Your shoulder! Your right leg! Your back!” I named the places and he swatted them while hopping on the spot and I kept my distance. Then “OUCH!” I squealed and practically punched myself in the armpit. “They got me MIKE!” I whined, then I looked him in the eye
“They got…. you?” he replied sarcastically, looking down at what must have been a dozen stings on his legs one of them all scraped up in the attempt to get away…. “One went down my pants…” we both went silent…… then burst out laughing uncontrollably. If we weren’t in the middle of a wasp infested forest we probably would have been rolling on the floor.
“I’m So Sorry MIKE, that’s so unfortunate” I said weakly. “You aren’t allergic are you?” I asked,
“I don’t think so…” he replied. I started to think what I would do if he just dropped to he earthy floor… there was no way I would be able to carry him back down the stream… we weren’t too far from the lightly populated suburb we parked in, if I yell loud enough someone might hear me. Sound travels farther over water after all… but the section of river we were on had very little water flow. “Sam!” the sound of Mike’s voice snapped me out of my theoretical crisis solving mode and I relaxed a bit. It didn’t seem like his throat was slowing swelling shut, so we would probably be ok. “How are we going to get back now” he asked.
“Carefully Mike, very carefully” I replied. And we discussed the intricacies of our escape for about 5 minutes before I took the lead again. “Just follow me Mike, just follow me” and I started back along the rocks. Keeping as far to the right as possible to give the altercation point a wide birth. Hop, Hop, Hop “oh man…. Don’t follow me Mike, STOP! DO. NOT. FOLLOW. ME !” I yelled while gaining some distance from an extremely large wasp nest the size of my head I had noticed basically hanging by my face….. “This one is in a tree! Straight in front of you!” I warned Mike. Man that could have been bad… thankfully I was lucky enough to not knock into it and warned Mike before he had fully approached it. I watched Mike carefully navigate around the second hive. We made it the rest of the way back to the car incident free. Bursting into fits of giggling while holding our battle wounds.
We drove straight to a pharmacy. We got out of the car and walked toward the superstore, a wasp flew toward us and we both all but dove to the ground. We tried to explain the atrocity that had happened to us in the forest through fits of giggling due to the unexpected ridiculousness of our situation. Mike pretty much bought everything in the pharmacy. Back at the car he slathered on the ointment and when he was done he got in and said, “So … where to next!” This is the moment I knew Mike and I would become very good friends.
The Verdict
The Slaughenwhite cascades is a truly unique location. I try to remember it for the magical feeling it gave me when I first came upon it and the fun climbing tree we played on …. but trauma sticks, and it’s difficult to forget about the horrific wasp attack we succumbed to before seeing the rest of the cascades. I don’t think Mike will ever go back there.
I on the other hand, do still highly recommend this beautiful spot just… maybe don’t do any bush whacking and Beware of Wasps! We were not expecting wasps at all and so we were taken completely by surprise. It also might have been better after a rainfall. It has been recommended to see it on a cloudy day, but I could not imagine it looking as magical as it did without the sun rays. Fall number 4 was unique and I am glad I saw some of it but because of the wasps I would have to say Pockwock is still in the lead.
