The Moose of the Cape Breton Highlands

Although they're not as commonly spotted these days, there was a time when moose were so plentiful in the Cape Breton Highlands, it was a normal thing to see a dozen in one day.  There are still plenty of moose in northern Cape Breton and it's likely that you would see at least one during a trip through the park.  The Skyline Trail, on top of North Mountain and anywhere between Neil's Harbour and Ingonish are the most likely places to spot a moose but they can be spotted anywhere in the park and along the Cabot Trail.  They are amazing to watch but care needs to be taken when driving in moose country because they like to wander out onto the roads and into traffic. 

The Lone Shieling - One of my Favourite Stops on the Cabot Trail

I've hiked most of the trails in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park and I love them all but there is one trail that I never miss whenever I drive through the park and that is The Lone Shieling.
This trail is not very long but it's beautiful with tall trees, a stream and plenty of opportunities to spot wildlife.  Unless you arrive at the same time as a tour bus, this trail is quiet and rarely crowded.  I love to sit by the stream under those tall trees and listen to the water and nature sounds all around.  Next week, as part of my Cape Breton Staycation, I will be heading around the Cabot Trail and through the national park and this will, no doubt, be one of my main stops.  If you ever make it to the island, this trail is not hard to find; it's right on the main road, it's well-marked and you won't miss the replica of a Scottish crofter's hut right on the side of the road!

Replica of a Scottish crofter's hut.

The trail is well-maintained.

These tall trees make the area look like an enchanted forest.

Weekend in the Highlands

I like to get out of town on the weekends. What’s wrong with that? Yes, I could stay home and putter around the house and do the same thing I do all week but why would I do that when I can just jump in my car and drive off to one of my favorite places around Cape Breton. This summer, those weekends away mean even more to me than they ever did because I am working this summer and only have those 2 days each week to truly enjoy the things I love. A few weekends ago, I decided to book a cabin in Ingonish for the weekend. I usually camp when I travel to The Highlands but this time, I wanted to try something a little different. Besides, with work and so little time, it’s not really worth setting up a tent for just one night.

As soon as I made up my mind, I started searching online for available and affordable cabins in the Ingonish area. Most of them were booked as people wanted to take advantage of the beautiful weekend that was forecast. I finally did find one cottage available at Ingonish Ferry, about 10 minutes from the center of Ingonish Beach.

I left home early that morning and drove north, hoping to reach Ingonish by late morning. Something always has to go wrong on any road trip I embark on so it shouldn't have been a surprise when, just as I made the turn off at St. Ann's, my "check engine" light came on. To me, anything to do with my car that involves the engine is automatically a bad thing. I noticed a few days earlier that the car was driving sluggishly but didn't pay much attention to it. That light on my dashboard got my full attention and shattered my plans for the weekend. I turned around and headed to the nearest garage to see if there was a mechanic who could have a look. I didn't feel comfortable driving all the way home if it may damage the engine further. Of course, being a Saturday, there were no mechanics to be found. Before I started the drive home, I made a quick call to my backyard mechanic. His advice? "As long as the light isn't blinking and the car isn't overheating, your fine". So I decided to risk it and headed back toward Ingonish.

Knotty Pine Cottages are located just off the main highway near the bottom of Cape Smokey Mountain. I had driven by them many times before but never stayed there so I had no idea what to expect. My plan was to check in, empty the car of my belongings, get beach-ready and head to Black Brook for a late afternoon dip. The lady at the front checked me in and let me know that my key was in unlocked cottage #3 and off I went. The area was pretty and the cottages looked nice but the parking situation was a bit dodgy. Cars were just parked on the side of the narrow gravel road and there was only a small space to turn around. In their defense, there wasn’t a lot of space to work with so it wasn’t a big deal. The first thing I did was go inside, grab the key and test it….and it was a good thing I did because the key that was left in my cottage ended up being the key for cottage #5 next door. Had I not checked, I would have locked myself out and not realized it until I came back from the beach later that evening when there would be no one around to give me the proper key.

I first headed to one of my favorite beaches in the area – Black Brook. This beach has been hit or miss the past few years and on this day it was a miss. On good days, there is lots of sand, no rocks, no jelly fish and the waters are calm and warm. On this day, there were lots of rocks, the waves were choppy and there was hardly a strip of sand to even stretch my towel out on. I moved onto North Bay Beach, my next favorite one. While there was lots of sand at North Bay, there were way too many jellyfish to go swimming! I knew Ingonish Beach would be too crowded at that time of day so I moved on to The Point. Although this beach has all the criteria I like in a beach – uncrowded, sandy, no jellyfish – I often overlook it as a place to swim. On this day, the beach lived up to its reputation and I had a lovely dip in the cool Atlantic. The only problem? A huge flat fish stalked me the entire time. I know they are probably harmless but I tried to keep my distance anyway but he was always there lurking a few feet away.

That evening, I returned to my cabin to shower and get ready for dinner. I also took this time to get familiar with the little cabin I would be calling home for the day and a half. A kitchenette with a toaster, coffee maker and other appliances, a little deck overlooking the bay, a table (perfect for placing my laptop) looking out over the scenic area and a very comfortable bed with nice fluffy pillows. It was very small but cozy and I prefer cozy over spacious so it was perfect for me.

That evening, I grabbed some takeout and ate it at a picnic table near the beach. My way of thinking is “why eat inside a stuffy, noisy restaurant when I can eat to the sounds of the ocean and a view of a spectacular, fiery sunset over the bay. To me, the latter is the only way to go when it is an option! My meal was followed by a relaxing walk in the surf of Ingonish beach followed by a drive to The Point where I sat near the breakwater to watch the moon settle into the sky. After a long week at work stuck in front of a computer screen in an air-conditioned office, this is how I like to spend my free time…

I returned to my cabin close to midnight and settled into a late-night internet session and a glass of wine. I wandered outside to the deck for a while but the flies were so bad, I had to come back in. In my further explorations of my cabin I discovered a few things that could have been improved. For one, I realized I wouldn’t be having coffee first thing in the morning because the coffee maker had not been cleaned and some of the other appliances looked as if they had not been cleaned either. I also discovered something else rather annoying; the toilet had a habit of making a lot of weird and loud noises. I slept very well though and that is always a good thing.

Check-out went without any problems and off I went to spend another afternoon at the beaches before heading home to start another work week. Now that I know about Knotty Pines, I can look them up and book a reasonably-priced cute little cabin anytime I just want to get away from it all for a few days!

Conquering Franey Mountain

Cape Breton Island is known for many things. The small island off the coast of Nova Scotia in eastern Canada has been voted one of the most scenic islands in the world and there are many ways to see the spectacular coastal beauty of the island. Most chose to drive the Cabot Trail in the comfort of a car. The adventurous types prefer to drive around the island by motorcycle. The extremely fit (and maybe slightly crazy ones) cruise the steep hills, mountains and hairpin turns via bicycle. It is the fit and outdoorsy ones who see the most and best places the island has to offer; they are the ones who combine one or more of the travel methods above with hiking.

There are literally dozens, maybe even hundreds, of hiking trails on Cape Breton Island. Some are quite easy like The Skyline Trail or Warren Lake. Others, like North River and Pollett’s Cove, are much longer than the average trail and more difficult. Franey Mountain is another one of the trails that is considered to be more difficult. Over the years, pretty much everyone I know made the hike up to the top of Franey Mountain…except me. Their accounts of the long, steep hike up and difficult hike back down convinced me that I would just have to resort to listening to those second-hand accounts of the hike because I had no intention in partaking in a hike that some deemed “torturous”. But as the years went by and I checked off almost every other hike on Cape Breton Island off my “to hike” list, I once again set my eyes on Franey. After all, the one good thing I heard over and over again was the view from the top was spectacular and well worth the hard hike.

For a few more years, I toyed with the idea of eventually hiking Franey. I would make a pact with myself to do the hike before the end of the season but summer after summer passed without even making an attempt. I asked many people to join me on the hike but no one ever wanted to. Apparently, everyone else I knew had already hiked it, loved it…but will never hike it again. I soon learned that, for many people, the hike up Franey Mountain is a once-in-a-lifetime deal.

This past summer, the idea of hiking Franey came up again but, after hearing more testimonies to the beauty at the top of the mountain, I became even more determined to hike it even it I had to do it alone. My dad often hiked with me and I he always said “no way” when the idea of hiking Franey came up but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask him again. Surprisingly, he said “maybe” and I think it had to do with a conversation he had with my sister who hiked that trail a few years previously. Her account was the same as everyone else’s. It was the hardest hike she had ever done, the view at the top was out-of-this-world but she would never do it again. Maybe hearing about the trail from a close family member opened his mind more to the possibility of doing the hike.

The end of summer was closing in when dad mentioned hiking up Franey Mountain. I was taken by surprise. I didn’t even have to coax or bribe him. He was all for it. “Sometime early next week, we’ll take a shot up to the Highlands and do that hike you always wanted to do”. I was game and so was he.

I packed a light backpack full of necessities, some water and a walking stick and placed it by the porch door the night before. Dad arrived early so we would make it there before the mid-afternoon heat settled in. I’d suffered heat exhaustion twice in the last few years and didn’t want to take any risks by combining such a hard and long hike with soaring temperatures. We arrived in Ingonish mid-morning and became concerned when we noticed the outside temperature gage on the car read 26 degrees Celcius. By the time we reached the trail head a few minutes later, it read 29 degrees. Temperatures were steadily rising and it was dangerously hot out with no clouds in the sky. After some deliberation, we decided to try and make it up the trail.

I’d say we might have hiked a little more than a kilometer when the heat really hit me. My breath was short and my head felt like it was going to explode and these were the warning sings I had experienced in the past with the onset of heat exhaustion. We had to turn back. I was disappointed but even more determined to complete that hike before the end of the season. We made a pact to wait until later in the fall to attempt it again.

The weather was still fairly dry and warm in mid-September so we again made the two-hour drive to Ingonish in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park to finally conquer Franey Mountain. There was to be no turning back this time…no matter what. Fortunately, the weather was just right for a long hike – sunny but warm with hardly any wind. We made it to the point where we turned back the first time and the trail got very difficult just around the next turn. It was straight up from there all the way to the top on a narrow, rocky trail that hovered dangerously close to a ledge in some parts. I try to stay in shape and thought I was in pretty good shape but at times, I was so exhausted and out-of-breath, I wanted to turn around. I kept pushing through and every time dad asked “you want to turn back?” I just responded with a firm “no” and pushed myself along. While the trail was very steep, it was still nothing like what I had heard from others and it didn’t seem very long. The stories of the view from the top were, on the other hand, very accurate. We were literally on top of the mountains with a view of the ocean and surrounding coastline, Middle Head Peninsula and the Keltic Lodge, Ingonish Island and the peaks and valleys of nearby mountains. The top of the trail was well equipped for more adventurous types who wanted to remain in the area overnight. There were outhouses (cleanish as far as outhouses go), a small cabin with bunks and a notebook for trail conquerors to sign and let everyone know they had made it to the top and an Adirondack chair placed on a ledge overlooking the view. Perhaps these facilities were more for people who just couldn’t make it back down the trail and needed a nap before heading down. Either way, the option is there if bad weather comes up or you want to rough it on top of a mountain for a while.

I relaxed for a bit and took in the view from that giant Adirondack chair before we made our way back down the mountain before darkness fell and we ended up being stuck in that overnight shelter. The hike down was not as hard but it wasn’t easy either. Walking downhill on gravel is not an easy feat but we made it out before dark without any broken ankles, heat stroke or wild animal encounters. And I must say I am mighty proud of myself for finally conquering that mountain…and I am one of the few who would gladly do it again!

A Gros Morne National Park Adventure

Well, I am back from a wonderful week spent exploring one of Canada's, and maybe even one of the world's greatest national parks, Gros Morne National Park.  If you're ever wondering what to do in Newfoundland, a trip to this spectacular park is definitely worthwhile. 

After an 8 hour drive on the Trans Canada Highway from St. John's and many stops in beautiful towns and cities throughout Newfoundland, we finally made it to our destination on the West Coast of the Island. 

Gros Morne National Park camping is great when the weather is nice but the weather was not too great the first night.  The long range forecast didn't look too good but we managed to get to the far end of the park and set up camp just before nightfall. The next morning, we awoke to sunshine and it stayed that way for most of the week! So much for putting faith in the forecast, especially in unpredictable Newfoundland! 

The first day, Gros Morne hiking was on our minds.  We spent exploring the far end of the park. We started off the day with a stroll on the beautiful and very sandy beach close to our campground and than made our way to the Western Brook Pond Trail where we hiked 6 kilometers to a beautiful pond complete with a boat dock, out-of-this-world scenery and a lone moose strolling the shoreline in search of food and water! 

After this hike, we drove to The Arches Provincial Park where we saw some very unique rock formations and watched the sun go down. It was dark by time we made it back to camp and we were both too tired to start cooking anything to eat so we settled for fast food even though we had a car load of food that could have kept us going for about a year out there! 

That evening before bed, we realized we had a dilemma on our hands. We didn't have a lot of time in the park and would not be able to do everything we wanted to do and there were two hiking trails we wanted to do the next day; Gros Morne Mountain and Baker's Brook Falls. Upon sticking my head out of the tent first thing in the morning, our decision was made. It was foggy and the magnificent view that was said to greet hikers at the top of Gros Morne Mountain would be non-existent on this day. So, we hiked to Baker's Brook Falls instead and I'm glad we did! 

We spent some time there relaxing and enjoying the beautiful waterfalls and the fact that there was hardly anyone around. Just us and a vast wilderness in the middle of nowhere! The rest of our trip was spent exploring the small downs on the edge of the park and walking various leg stretcher trails in the park. I was most amazed by not only the spectacular scenery but at the diversity of the different areas in the park. One one end, it was sandy beaches and barren land while on the other end, it was mountains and high cliffs. 

The tablelands was the most diverse of all. On one side of the road was green rolling hills while the other side was reddish, rocky, snow capped mountains! Walking the tablelands trail felt like walking through a desert in the ol' west! 

We spent our last night in Gros Morne at the Campground in Trout River and again, it was nightfall by time we had our tent up and again we were too tired to cook. This time it was pizza. So much for packing all that food. On the plus side, we didn't need to buy much groceries when we got home as we already had a car load of food to bring back with us! The next morning, we packed up and hit the road for the long haul back to the Avalon Peninsula. 

We didn't head straight back to St. John's but instead stayed at my boyfriend's parents house for the night. One more night away from the city. It's always strange coming back here after being in the country for so long. The sound of traffic and sirens and construction right on my doorstep!