Abandoned Roads of Nova Scotia – I’m Steve Skafte, and this is my project, a years-long attempt to create a complete map of every single unmaintained right of way in the province! Those still owned by Department of Public Works (DPW), the municipality, the county, or another government entity. After years of daydreaming and driving past the mouths of derelict roads, I finally started this project in late 2014. Since then, I’ve hiked hundreds of abandoned roads in all corners of western Nova Scotia, most closer to civilization than you’d think.

I started young, and against my will. In the early days, my mother would drag us out on Sunday afternoons to hike along the Bay Shore, or up one of the nearby abandoned roads. I’d be trailing behind tired, dragging my feet and taking three steps to every one of my 6-foot-plus parents. But I learned to love the sense of discovery, slowly. The one that stuck with me most was Chute Road, the nearest to my Beaconsfield home. The winding, twisting trail made me feel like going on an epic adventure in reach of home, looking down on the Valley below.

For years, I forgot about that kind of feeling, misplaced along the way by social concerns. But when I found myself out of high school and stuck in a job I couldn’t stand, I felt desperate for some kind of escape. So I got into photography, and that quickly grew into an excuse to get me out in the wild. I was immediately drawn to abandoned things. First were homes, the crumbling farmhouses and hippie houses all along the coast. Over time, the sense of wonder they instilled drew me further up and further into the woods, steadily searching.