Talk:White Hill (Nova Scotia)

Other names?
Does White Hill have other names? Is North Barren Mountain the same as White Hill? 24.222.118.126 (talk) 14:37, 18 May 2011 (UTC)

My Answer: It seems to have another, unofficial name but White Hill is how it is shown on government maps and in the official "Nova Scotia Geographical Names" database: http://www.nsplacenames.ca (This is the highest point of land in Nova Scotia.) and in the "Geographical Names of Canada" database at: http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/earth-sciences/search/unique_e.php?output=xml&id=CBOQL There is a link to a zoom-able topo map on that page which will show White Hill and the North Barren if you zoom in enough.

White Hill is on the North Barren but is only about 35 metres higher than the surrounding hills, so calling it a mountain is sort of stretching things a bit I'd say.

To quote someone who has been there:

"You might think that the highest point in all of Nova Scotia, located in the scenic Cape Breton Highlands and in the center of a well-visited National Park, would be a prominent, famous, and popular peak. You would at least expect a well-marked hiking trail to the summit, perhaps crowded on weekends with families and dogs, and with interpretive signs at the trailhead or even at the top.

Well, if that is what you thought, then White Hill is almost the exact opposite of that picture. It is an extremely remote, lonely, low bump on a marshy, barren, windswept upland about 20 km/13 mi from the nearest road and 10 km/6 mi from any maintained hiking trails. When I talked to National Park rangers about access to the peak in 1994, they discouraged me and were not sure the last time anyone was up in that area. I don't think the situation has changed much since then."