Taking in the Colours at Minden’s Panoramic Lookout
Date: 10/18/2013
On the advice of a colleague, I ventured to the Minden Panoramic Lookout last week. I chose the perfect day to drive to the lookout. It was a warm, sunny Friday morning on the cusp of Thanksgiving weekend.
I drove north along highway 35 until I came to the set of lights at South Lake Road. I made a right-hand turn at South Lake Road and followed the road for about half a kilometre. At the turnoff, I made a left onto Panorama Park Road and drove along the road that wound up the hill.
It wasn’t long before I reached the top of the granite cliff that affords visitors a full-circle, 360° view of Minden. The village of Minden, tucked amongst the hills, features charming homes and varied architecture, including St. Paul’s Anglican Church. Indeed, some of the buildings date back to the nineteenth century or even 1874, when Minden became the county seat. The Gull River, which is framed by verdant banks, is perhaps Minden’s most appealing feature.
Luckily, there weren’t throngs of people at the lookout to take in the autumn colours. In fact, there were only two other people. The quiet calm allowed me to focus on what lay in front of me - a view of rolling hills lined with sugar maples and other trees in full bloom as Camus might have said.
It’s striking in autumn, but the lookout is also an ideal perch for witnessing sunsets and thunderstorms at other times of the year.
Panoramic photographers have snapped the views from the lookout and proudly placed the photos in their portfolios. But you needn’t own a high-end panoramic camera to appreciate the lookout’s stunning pan of Minden, a vibrant village that has endured fire, flood, and pestilence in decades past. The panoramic view, in light of its wide perspective, tells a longer story, from left to right, of the historic village of Minden and the ephemeral allure of an autumn day.
The lookout is wheelchair accessible.
