The Eastern Shore Granite Ridge, also known as the Musquodoboit Batholith, is a range of prominent hills averaging 100-125m in height, located just inland from the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia. Geologically, it is related to the much larger South Mountain Batholith, but the two are geologically distinct areas. Many of the hills have steep cliffs on one or more of their sides, some featuring vertical drops in excess of 50m ; as a result, many of the taller hills offer extensive views despite their relatively low elevation. The highest point of the range is located just west of Paces Lake, and is named Farquhar's Mountain. This high hill is 155m tall, and is one of the highest points in the local area.
Geography
In the Natural History Map of Nova Scotia, the Eastern Shore Granite Ridge is given area code 453. It's described as being a narrow plateau at around 100 m in elevation, with steep margins. A thin layer of glacial till provides poor soil, with large areas of exposed bedrock. Most of the trees are conifers, such as red spruce, balsam fir, Eastern hemlock, and Eastern white pine, with occasional patches of red oak and white birch in burned areas. The ridge runs in a roughly west-to-east direction, with its western end near Waverley, and its eastern extremity near Sheet Harbour. Its total length comes to around 70 km, and varies in width from 20 km along the lower Musquodoboit Valley to 7 km behind Jeddore Harbour. Its presence, in fact, is the reason why Ship Harbour and Jeddore Harbour do not extend farther inland than they do. The ridge contains three major faults, which run from a NW to SE direction. Porters Lake and Lake Charlotte occupy the westernmost and easternmost faults respectively, while the Musquodoboit River occupies the central one.
Geology
The Eastern Shore Granite Ridge formed in the Devonian. It consists of monzogranite, and is the second-largest granite batholith in the province, after the South Mountain batholith. Other granite batholiths that were formed at the same time as the Eastern Shore Granite ridge include the Canso Barrens and the Shelburne Batholith, and a number of smaller batholiths scattered around the south-central half of the province.
Transportation
Due to the ridge's rugged terrain, very few major roa ds cross it, with the exception of the Mooseland Road just west of Sheet Harbour, and Highway 357, which travels through the more level terrain of the Musquodoboit Valley. In the 1920s, the Intercolonial built a railway going from Dartmouth to Upper Musquodoboit. Due to the presence of the Ridge, the only way to get to Upper Musquodoboit from the coast was to follow the Musquodoboit Valley, as building the railway through the hills would have required a large amount of blasting and infilling. This railway ran until the 1980s, when it was abandoned. The section of railbed through the Ridge, from Gibraltar to Musquodoboit Harbour, was converted to a multiuse trail in 1998 by the Musuqodoboit Trailways Association. The trailway is part of the Nova Scotia section of the Trans Canada Trail.
Economic activity
Because of the region's rough topography, it is extremely difficult to clearcut using heavy machinery. As a result, most of the area has not been clearcut, and remains owned by the Province of Nova Scotia. A mine located north of Musquodoboit Harbour managed to extract silver, lead, and zinc ores, but has been shut down for a long time. Because of the region's lack of development and multiple wilderness areas, it is popular with hikers and canoers. Trails that cross this ridge include the Admiral Lake Loop and Granite Ridge Trails that branch off the Musquodoboit Trailway, and the Crowbar Lake Trails originating just west of Porter's Lake.
