Cape Breton and the 6-Hour Ferry

Cape Breton is an island at the eastern end of Nova Scotia. We went to drive the Cabot Trail and to visit Cape Breton Highlands National Park. The Cabot Trail is similar to the Blue Ridge Parkway, but longer. It encircles the island and has spectacular views of the pine forests, wildflowers, and rugged rocky coastline. Cape Breton also has a strong Scottish heritage that is evident all over the island.

After crossing into Cape Breton we visited the information center where we learned that the Glenora Distillery has Scottish music every night from seven to ten. You can see the distillery and the piano / fiddle players above. We had a wonderful time listening to the traditional reels and jigs while having a tasting of single malt scotch style whiskey.

Then it was up the Cabot trail to Cape Breton Highlands National Park. I was so excited to see Parka the Beaver. This is the Canadian National Park mascot. Too bad I left Castor in the car 😟.

The first hike that we did was the Salmon Pools Trail. This trail follows the Chéticamp River canyon. Above you can see that there are cliffs almost 400 metres high that come down to the river bed.

The First Pool, which you can see above, is about 3.6 km up the Chéticamp River. Unfortunately no salmon for us. Wrong time of year, but cool to see this as Atlantic Salmon are critically endangered here. They release 20,000 in Cape Breton Highlands National Park but because of over-fishing in the Atlantic only about 300 make it back to breed. The river then narrows and continues to Chance Pool where polished exposed bedrock shows you just how little soil there is in so many areas in the Maritime Provinces.

We wanted to make it to pools 2 and 3 but no luck; the trail was badly washed out and we turned back.

Here is one of the many views that is so common along the Cabot Trail. You can see that there are pull-offs, spectacular ocean and towering rocky views for miles and miles. This is what we lovingly call lazy man's hiking😂. The next hike that we chose is called Skyline. It is supposed to be one of the most iconic in the park. This trail is 7km that can be done as an out-and-back, all on boardwalk, or as a longer loop. The loop is much nicer as it goes onto actual rough trail through much nicer mixed forest with about 1/4 the foot traffic. Now the boardwalk section does have an interesting feature as it features an enclosure that keeps Moose out so scientists can study the effects of Moose browsing on plant species.

The trail is so popular because of its easily accessible dramatic headland cliff that overlooks rugged coast on the Gulf of St. Lawrence. You can see that our view was not all that good because of fog, but we did enjoy the eagle's eye view of the Cabot Trail that was laid before us. On the way up to the hike the people on top look like ants, and when you are up there the camper vans look like children's toys.

We refused to be dissuaded by the weather from taking our ultra-touristy selfie. Hey we are on "vacation" aren't we?

Yaaay...first Moose of the trip!!! We saw this yearling bull on the trail side of Skyline. He was just eating and eyeing us. Unfortunately too many loud people gathered and he vanished into the woods.

Mike and I were at an overlook when I saw this placard and had a blonde moment. I looked at it and remarked, "Do they have a different species of black bear here because ours is Ursus americanus?" Insert face into palm...

The last hike that we did today was Lone Shieling Trail. This super-short trail reminded us of home because it is dominated by 350-year-old sugar maple trees. This area, called the Grande Anse Valley, is highly protected and is one of the largest old-growth hardwood forests in the Maritimes. A replica of a Scottish crofter's hut is found at the end of the trail. It is there because Professor S. Macintosh bequeathed 100 acres of land to the park. One of the stipulations of the bequest was that a small cabin be built and maintained on the land in the same design as the Lone Shieling on the Isle of Skye in Scotland, so that the Scottish history of the area is never lost.

After the hike we headed to Meat Cove, Camus na Feòla in Scottish Gaelic. It is the most northern settlement in Nova Scotia and supposed to be great for hiking, beach lounging, camping and eating...

We disagree, and think that the pull-off where we spent the night was by far the best part of Meat Cove.

Here is the sign for hiking and the only restaurant.

Here is the office to rent a campsite.

This is the Beaver Lodge almost falling into the ocean as it learns the limits of its ability to do vertical descents on the road at the end of Meat Cove. Well I guess we can say "We came, we saw, we left without dying..." If you are ever here, skip this detour and just Google it.

Back in Cape Breton Highlands we went to do a tiny hike out to see these rocks. I also learned a new word!! A “krummholz” is a twisted stunted tree. The plants in so much of this region have adapted to the windy salt spray. The rock here is also fascinating. The patterns you see are formed by molten rock cooling at different speeds. The grey is gneisses and it cooled first. Then the clear quartz, pink and white feldspar cooled forming larger crystals in the granite that you can clearly see. It is quite lovely framed against the ocean. We then moved on to the best hike that we did in the park. It was a strenuous climb to see views 365 m above the Chéticamp River.

One of the first things that we saw was this ring-neck snake. Nearly stepped on him as there are so few snakes here that we stopped looking out for them.

This section of the trail was amazing. It was a highland bog that just materialized out of the forest. It ran along the trail and little did we know we would be able to see it from the top.

Here is Mike telling me that he loves the bog too. You can see that the trails here, even the ones marked strenuous, are well maintained. I love this park system.

Here is a shot of the panoramic views that include the Acadian coastline and the Chéticamp River valley. You can see the huge bog from earlier that shows off the diversity of the park's highland interior.

The last hike that we did in the park was for lovely views of Ingonish Beach, Freshwater Lake, Middle Head and Cape Smokey. A good way to round out the park. Now we are on our way to North Sydney to sleep at Walmart and wait for the ferry to Newfoundland.

P.S. North Sydney is the ghetto of Cape Breton!! I saw this motel and it just made me giggle. Perhaps it was the lack of sleep from our night in the loudest parking lot ever.

The Beaver Lodge is exactly 19.75 feet long. You may wonder why this is pertinent. The cut-off for being a "car" on the ferry is 20 feet. This .25 of an inch saved us a ton of money for van passage.

I love ferries. Here is a shot on the exposed deck. You can see that they put the vessels with known tonnage on the top deck to the rear, then cars and then camper vans in the bowels of the beast. We got loaded with the vans even though we paid as a car... sweet.

This is a shot of the top deck. Can I tell you that I would not want to need to land on a moving ferry!

Here is one of the last views of Nova Scotia. Lucky for us we missed almost all the rain it had to offer. As we pulled out we watched a thunderstorm in Cape Breton.