Cape Breton Highlands

The ferry from Prince Edward Island to Nova Scotia was an interesting and claustrophobic experience. The boat was running about an hour behind schedule and we sweated it out in the car. When we boarded – we were one of the last cars to be put below deck. The ramp was steep enough that you couldn’t actually see it while driving but we made it in and stopped the car before making our way up to the top deck for the ride. I bought some shortbread from a stand and we enjoyed a game of pinochle while making the crossing.

When we disembarked on the Nova Scotia side, it was getting close to evening so we made a grocery store stop for dinner and started heading east. There didn’t seem to be much listed for camping on the map but we did see a tent sign on the road leading us to downtown Antigonish. We set up camp and had a small dinner (since we had eaten most of a pack of shortbread on the ferry) before heading to bed.

We awoke the next morning to the sound of rain on the tent. We had not put on the rain fly the night before, so we quickly packed up the tent in four minutes and got in the car. When we looked at the clock, it was only 5:30…we shrugged and started driving.

The cloudy weather and rain persisted throughout the morning and we arrived at the Cheticamp entrance to Cape Breton Highlands National Park around 8:30. We took showers at the campground and then followed the road to Corney Brook, to see if there were any tent sites available. When we arrived, we were pelted with rain and gale force winds. We hid in the shelter and waited for it to blow over….it didn’t.

We got back in the car and headed back to the Cheticamp campground and inquired about tent shelters. They had one available and we snatched it before going back into town for hot turkey sandwiches and hot chocolate. We also bought a loaf of French bread at the boulangerie!

It was still raining when we came back to the campground so we took a quick nap and played some music on the porch. After a few tunes, we looked up and saw blue sky!

Donning our hiking boots, we headed back to Corney Brook for a hike into the waterfall. The trail was perfectly maintained with a slight uphill grade and we arrived in half the time that we calculated. We tend to think of hikes in terms of the “Adirondack Mile,” which is one mile per hour. We enjoyed the view and then made the hike out.

Arriving back at the campground meant dinner and we had big plans. I started a fire in our pit, which took quite a while with the soaking wet wood that we had. We had some baked potatoes with grilled brussels sprouts and pork chops with french bread and goat cheese for appetizer. Quite a feast indeed!

After dinner we watched the sunset from “Le Bloc.”

The next morning we were pleased to find the weather still cooperating and we went to the Skyline trailhead. This trail was listed in our guidebook as the one “must-do” trail in Cape Breton Highlands National Park. We started our hike into a cloud, but as it got closer to noon, the clouds started to burn off and we were given a nearly panoramic view of the ocean and mountains. We saw Mary-Ellen and Karen’s car drive by on the road, but they didn’t stop to say hello…

We grabbed some lunch at the Rusty Anchor in Pleasant Bay, before venturing back into the park for a short walk into MacIntosh Brook for another waterfall. Lisa was determined to see a moose and kept calling for them. Personally, I think she needs to work on her moose call.

We followed the Cabot Trail to the eastern side of the park and got a campsite at the Broad Cove Campground before heading into Ingonish for ice cream. We found a poster at the ice cream shop for a Ceilidh that evening at the Anglican Parish Hall in Ingonish. We made plans to attend and headed to Ingonish Beach for a short hike on the Middle Head peninsula. We enjoyed the views from both sides of this trail. Lisa called for whales at the end but had no luck. Personally, I think she needs to work on her whale call.

After a picnic at the beach we headed to the parish hall which filled with seemingly equal parts tourists and locals. The music featured three fiddlers and a pianist for a night of high quality music. The crowd was tapping their feet along with the music and the fiddlers kept changing from marches to strathspeys to reels without losing the beat. We didn’t want it to end, but eventually we had to crawl back to our tent.

The next morning we drove to our third waterfall: Mary-Ann Falls for some pictures. We considered doing a bike ride from here, but the deer flies looked a bit too thick for our liking. We headed back to Ingonish Beach and walked along the shore of the freshwater lake. Lisa tried to call the loon for a picture, but she needs some work there as well…

We are heading south on the Cabot Trail to see the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site before snaking back up to Sydney, Cape Breton’s only city. After that…who knows?