Cape Breton Highlands NP, Nova Scotia

July 14, 2024

Another gorgeous weather travel day after a cloudy and rainy weekend--the pattern continues.

Really pretty flowers in a ditch by the dump station at Whycocomagh Provincial Park

Driving along Bras d'Or Lake

Since Rick had "avoid ferries" selected on the GPS for our route to our next destination, we ignored this sign:

We have a little inside joke in our family regarding ferries and GPS instructions. Years ago when we used to go camping with the kids, we were on a trip to Wisconsin, driving through some scenic back roads without a care of how to get to our destination because our nanny the GPS was handling it. When we were quite far out in the middle of nowhere Wisconsin, the GPS nonchalantly instructed us to turn right and board the ferry. WHAT??? Mind you, this ferry was not intended for cars with campers in tow, and we had to backtrack a considerable distance to get to our destination. Since then, we have always been careful to select "avoid ferries" wherever we go (unless we truly want to ride the ferry).

Fast forward to today. Here is the relevant portion of the route we were on (highlighted in pink), courtesy of Lola (our female British-accented GPS):

Don't see any issues here taking 312 north through Englishtown and on the causeway through St. Ann's Bay. Do you?

When we saw another ferry sign on the road, reminding us more earnestly that the ferry was still not operational this day, we got suspicious and Rick pulled over so that we could double-check things with Google Maps:

Look at that--the Englishtown Ferry. Huh.

Ohhh! Route 312 has a big chunk missing out of it. Guess that's why there is a ferry.

After verifying that "avoid ferries" was indeed active (it was), Rick tried to cajole Lola into finding a different route. At first she was very resistant, but eventually Rick convinced her to take us a way that didn't necessitate us swimming across St. Ann's Bay. Fortunately, we didn't have to backtrack too much, and we were once again headed in the right direction.

Our entry onto the "World Famous" Cabot Trail near St. Anne's

The road took us up the cliff where the big red arrow is

At the top of the cliff

As we drew closer to the national park entrance, we noticed that there was quite the market for roadside golf balls here. Other than the fact that there happens to be a golf course within the park, we had no idea why this was a thing.

What's the deal with all the golf balls?

(Later, Julie looked up this phenomenon, and found a surprising number people who sell used golf balls. Golf Ball Guy is just one of them.)

Our campsite was located in Broad Cove Campground within the national park. It was quite spacious, but it proved to be much easier to back in to it going the wrong way down the road rather than the right way. Luckily it was a quiet day with little traffic in the campground loop.

That maple branch resting against the left side of the camper provided a nice highway for Skippy the squirrel to run around on the top of our camper in the mornings.

We were tucked in pretty close to the trees

After dinner, we strolled down to the campground beach on the Atlantic.

We found a snake curled up in the weeds!

It turned out to be just a rubber snake

The next morning was gorgeous and warm, and we headed south along the coast to the nearby Middle Head Trail for a hike.

We enjoyed watching the seabirds come and go on the adjacent rocky island

Seagulls seem more "nature-like" when viewed in their natural habitat (as opposed to parking lots, touristy beaches and the like).

Juvenile seagulls blend in so well with the rocks-- it's hard to spot them (there are at least 2 of them here)

Parts of the trail were brand new and freshly cut from the forest

Photospheres still don't like the ocean - so these are not great but they do capture the surroundings - Rick's feelings won't be hurt if you don't bother to look at them😉

On our way back home, we drove past the historic Keltic Lodge and checked out Ingonish Beach.

Keltic Lodge

The view toward Ingonish from Keltic Lodge

Ingonish Beach

Keltic Lodge as seen from Ingonish Beach

The next day, Wednesday, was also a gorgeous warm sunny day. Back to back sunny days! It had been a long time since we experienced that phenomenon. Julie checked the national park map we got at the visitor center to find us some more sights to see. We decided to drive north up the coast this time and make several stops at scenic overlooks and small trails.

Driving north along the scenic Cabot Trail

One of several overlooks and short trails

The pink granite boulders were quite interesting and fun to climb on

We hiked a portion of the Coastal Trail. Much of the trail is currently closed for repairs.

One of the "red chairs" that Parks Canada installed. Often you find these chairs in pairs, but this must have been designated a solitary site for quiet meditation or something. Or maybe they ran out of chairs.

Really interesting striations. If you are a geology nerd (we are not), you can read about them here.

After our hiking we decided to just drive up the coast and check out some small towns along quiet rural roads with very little traffic.

The uncontrived fishing town of Neil's Harbor

Not the prettiest of lighthouses, but it seems that when one encounters a lighthouse, one must photograph it

Driving one of the more remote roads off of the Cabot Trail

The tiny town of White Point is another real-life fishing village that was refreshingly devoid of the tourist trappings typical of scenic locations

The town had a pretty beach that was mostly free of tourists

The idyllic White Point harbor

Looking down on the town of White Point (which felt like the sort of place a writer or artist would stay for a summer to get away)

Continuing our drive on a back road overlooking Aspy Bay

Back on the Cabot Trail heading toward home

Thursday brought remnants of hurricane Beryl, and we resumed our now-familiar weather pattern of rain. It rained the entire day pretty much non-stop.

Surprisingly, the next morning was once again sunny. After doing some morning laundry at the rather pleasant campground laundry facility, we checkout out nearby Warren Lake and took a bike ride around the area and through the campground.

No hanging racks at this laundromat, but MacGyver saves the day 😉

Warren Lake

There were not a lot of back roads to ride on near the campground, but we found a few

More golf balls!

We ended our relatively short ride at the campground beach

The beach here had red colored "sand" which was fairly coarse and which you tended to sink into more so than regular sand

Later at the campsite, Skippy quasi-terrorized Rick when he scampered over Rick's feet

Another nice day followed on Saturday, and we drove further north on Cape Breton Island. Our travels included the little town of Dingwall, Cabot Landing Provincial Park, and a sketchy-ish hike (our specialty 😉).

We left the campground in bright sunshine, but arrived in Dingwall to a bit of fog

This particular beach was mostly made up of stones and pebbles. With each receding wave, there was a pleasant sound of gently cascading pebbles as they were pulled into the surf--very mesmerizing! 🙂

The St. Paul Island Lighthouse Museum

The museum was small, but there were several interesting artifacts pertaining to the lighthouse and local shipwrecks

The lighthouse in its original location

One winter, the lighthouse keeper's home was completely enshrouded in ice

Inside the lighthouse

We happened upon quite a few old boats just parked in people's lawns

We stopped for lunch at a cute place in town and ordered traditional fare: seafood chowder and poutine

After lunch, we stopped in the North Highlands Museum which had an interesting movie with archival footage of the island in the first half of the last century

Breaking from the Cabot Trail, we traveled northward along North Harbour

Cabot Landing Provincial Park was small and consisted of a hiking trail up the mountain (which we didn't take) and this beach. This is apparently where some scholars believe John Cabot (Canada's version of Christopher Columbus) first landed in Canada.

Soon after the provincial park, we embarked on a sketchy gravel road up the mountain in search of a hiking trail we found on Google Maps.

It's been our observation that Canadians (or at least Nova Scotians) seem to prefer the term "lookoff" instead of "lookout"

If nothing else, the view from the "lookoff" was worth the trip!

We encountered a few truck-eating potholes

Well - we must be close with this official looking sign

Someone left a review on Google Maps to look for the white buoy. Guess this must be it!

Some parts of the trail were really narrow

Other parts were quite muddy

When we were beginning to wonder if there would be any payoff, we saw this ridge top through the brush. That was our final destination.

At last, the trail opened up to sweeping vistas along a mountain ridge

It was also quite windy along the ridge which really added to the experience

It's hard to see, but Julie is way in the distance along the ridge

Ruffled grouse sighted at the side of the road on our way back

Homeward bound after another fun day of exploring

Historic St. Peter Church We noticed that most of the old country churches in Nova Scotia are white and have similar architecture

Even the cemetery occupants have great views!

Sunday was yet another pleasant day, save for a very brief thunderstorm that sideswiped us in the early afternoon. We decided to just relax on the deck and work on the blog and things.

We really enjoyed our stay in Cape Breton Highlands National Park, and we consider it one of the highlights of our 2024 travels so far. We felt like we truly "got away from it all" here. It was one of the few times we have encountered a truly beautiful place with "real" people living there. The pace of life is slower here and hasn't been smothered in short term vacation rentals, hordes of tourists, overt commercialism, and the like. We can't remember seeing any chain restaurants, touristy shops, or even gas stations having more than 2 pumps. It certainly did not have all the conveniences of more touristy places, but sometimes that's a good thing (for a short period of time, anyway 😉).

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