Cape Breton, Nova Scotia (07-16-13)

Figuring out how to visit and tour the island of Cape Breton took a little research.  Most of the population here is along the coastline, and there’s a scenic drive that circles the island.

Many people park their RV in one spot, then day trip along the Cabot Trail, which is what the scenic drive is called.  Others tow their 5th wheel all the way along the trail, stopping along the way to explore.  We made our final decision after talking with someone we met at Peggy’s Cove.  He sat down with us with a map and gave us his opinions.

From Cheticamp on, the Trail gets very steep and windy.  It’s not that we couldn’t tow it- we could, but it would be slow going, and not a lot of fun, plus we wouldn’t have been able to pull over if something caught our interest.

So, we drove as far as the town of Cheticamp, parked in an RV Park, and we have spent the last few days exploring the northern portion of the island.

The first thing I was anxious to do is hike so we headed to one of the most popular trails in Cape Breton Highlands National Park- the Skyline Trail.  It’s about a 5 mile loop out to a scenic lookout.

The trail was fairly easy, without too much elevation gain.  A lot of people don’t make the full loop-they hike out the “left” leg of the loop, which is the shortest and easiest path to the view, and then turn around. 

We wanted to hike the whole thing anyway, and the ranger told us that the more difficult side is where the moose are- so that clinched it.  And, luckily we were rewarded with a close up view of a female moose.

We spent the rest of the afternoon oohing and aaahing over the views along the trail.  











Later in the day the wind was kicking up quite a bit and so were the waves.  With the binoculars, we saw what looked like a small boat that was in trouble. The swells were  big enough that the small Zodiac kept disappearing- and another boat was clearly making a beeline for it.  When it got there though, the Zodiac took off, and we realized they were whale watch boats, stopped to look at whales.



We went down into Pleasant Bay harbor to watch the next boat head out.  I don’t know, we’d have to be pretty desperate to go out on a small boat when the seas are that rough. 

Another day, another hike. This time we hiked the Acadian Trail, which also ends with quite a view, but this time there was about 1000 feet of elevation gain to get to it. 

After our hike we headed to Meat Cove, at the northern end of the island.  There are a couple of small restaurants at the cove, and a beautiful beach.  If I’d had my suit with me I would have gone for a swim. It was just hot enough to make the water look very inviting, especially since the water isn’t that cold.