Camping in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park After a Two-year Absence...Some Peace at Last!

Covid-19 certainly did a number on everyone's life, including mine. The summer of 2020 was a hard one for me.  Covid hit my finances and mental health pretty hard and I was looking forward to an escape from it all.  Unfortunately, that didn't happen the way I would have liked.   

My ultimate escape when I want to get away from it all is to pack up the car with my camping gear and head to Broad Cove in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park.  I've been going there since I was a kid and I always set up my tent at the exact same spot every year, lot 87.  

When Covid hit here in March, there were lockdowns for months. Even the provincial park beach where I take my daily walk was closed down to the public so I had to find another place to walk.  When it reopened in the late spring, things looked like they might be improving so I started to make plans for my annual camping trip.  However, later in the summer when closures were still in effect and many restrictions were still in place, I decided to cancel those plans on the advice of authorities to stick around my community unless it was necessary to leave. It was the first summer in 30 years that I didn't make it to Broad Cove. 

The arrival of summer 2021 was looking much better since many restrictions were lifted and most things were opened up again.  When I heard that campgrounds were expected to be booked solid all summer because everyone was wanting to get away for the first time in almost two years, I started monitoring the booking site for an opening.  Because I was working Monday to Friday in the evening, I had to book for a Saturday morning to get the most out of a camping trip. I found an opening on a weekend mid-summer.  Unfortunately, my usual site, which is almost like a second home to me, was not available so I had to settle for another one.  Luckily, it was a nice one not too far away from my original site.

The campground was just as I had left it two years before and I felt all the weight of the world fall from my shoulders as I drove along the gravel road to my familiar home-away-from-home.  A day and night in the woods surrounded by nature was exactly what I needed to unwind and get my head on straight again before heading back to the real world that's still dealing with this dreadful pandemic.

I set up camp, I dined outdoors on a picnic table with a friendly squirrel, I sat in my beach chair under a clear, starry night. I read in my tent by candlelight and I fell asleep to the sound of waves rolling ashore and leaves rustling in a gentle breeze. I awoke early in the morning and ate breakfast surrounded by 5 AM morning dew, ordered a fresh coffee from my favourite coffee shop, The Bean Barn Cafe, and savoured it on the banks of Freshwater Lake near Ingonish Beach. 

After I took down my tent and checked out, I spent the day swimming, hiking and visiting my favourite spots around Ingonish.  Maryanne Falls, Warren Lake, Black Brook, North Bay Beach, The Point.  It was dark when I headed back over Cape Smokey and made the long drive home along the North Shore.  About a dozen cars whizzed past me (some passing on double lines going well over the speed limit) in the race to get to the Englishtown Ferry.  Some things never change!

 

Yoga, Hikes and Bikes

I've been doing yoga for about 5 years now.  However, I can barely be considered an actual yogi and my yoga "practice" wouldn't even be considered a practice by most yogis.  Basically, I open my iPhone yoga app each morning and follow along, Mimicking poses that I have no idea how to do properly.  I've never done yoga with a group before, never taken a single course nor did I see it necessary to watch videos to learn proper technique.  I thought the app was perfectly fine at teaching me how to do yoga.  That is until I actually took the step to further my "practice" after a friend of mine, who is a yoga teacher, persuaded me to sit in on one of her classes.

I drove the hour and a half to St. Peter's to arrive for the 10:00 class.  About 15 other students were already there setting out their mats. I felt a little like a fish out of water but soon adjusted and felt comfortable once I realized no one was paying any attention to me or what I was doing or how I was doing it.

I know now that I'd been doing yoga wrong all along.  Well, not wrong.  I was told my form was good and I learned the flow pretty quick.  However, when I had been doing it at home using an app with stationary pictures showing poses, I missed out on proper breathing and transitioning techniques.  That one hour-long class changed my whole outlook on yoga.  It had always been beneficial for me (even though I was going about it all wrong - I was at least getting some stretching and relaxation benefits out of it) but now I have the courage to take some more classes and the knowledge to improve my own practice.  I understand now that yoga has multiple benefits that go beyond stretching and relaxing and I am noticing a huge difference when I do yoga now. I felt like a million bucks after that class and I was ready for a long hike along Murray's Beach just outside St. Peters.

I hiked Murray's beach before but on this day, I hiked in the opposite direction.  My friend and I parked near the beach and had our lunch before setting out along the rocky shoreline.  I didn't walk far before almost killing myself.  I wasn't paying attention to my footing on the slippery rocks and nearly fell flat on my back.  Had I not caught myself, I would have hit my head and possibly broken a bone.  I did get wet but fortunately it wasn't that cold out.

We walked for a while along the rocky beach before switching over to a path through the woods.  This made for easier walking but the flies, even at that time of year, were really bad!  I ended up with about a dozen bites on my exposed legs and arms. We reached a point where we decided to turn around as it was getting late.  But first, we sat on the beach and drank some tea and ate some snacks while watching the little ripples on the big lake gently come ashore.

We didn't go through the woods on the way back so we ended up having to maneuver around some fallen trees on the thin strip of beach that we missed when we took the shortcut through the woods.

We arrived back at the cars in the late afternoon just in time to see two deer saunter into the field for a snack.  It was almost dark when I started the long drive home but I was ok with that.  I love a night time drive along route 4, along the Bras d'Or Lakes on that windy country road through some of Cape Breton's most beautiful little communities.

Biking is another one of my summer pastimes and this summer I added a new feature to my car; a bike rack.  Normally, I just drive my bike around my neighborhood or around the nearby town but now I can go anywhere with it.  I didn't get a chance to go biking much during August because it was so hot and all I wanted to do was go to the beach.  However, once Mid-September rolled around, I wanted to be on that bike all the time.  The municipality recently completed a multi-use trail that runs from the airport in Gardiner Mines all the way to the Mayflower Mall area in Sydney - about 25 kilometres return.  I drove to the airport one fine day and parked my car near the trailhead and headed out.  It was chilly but nice and I did the entire trail and back in a little over two hours. The trail is very well-maintained, wide and safe compared to some of the roads I usually drive on.  It was nice to drive somewhere different and not have to deal with traffic.   

By this time, it was starting to get darker earlier so I switched my evening walks at Dominion Beach to late-afternoon walks.  That will continue now until spring.  October and November are what I call hiking and biking season.  However, a few road trips are usually reserved for this time of year, particularly my yearly trip around the Cabot Trail to see the spectacular fall colors.

I embarked on a trip around the trail on a fine day that was predicted to remain fairly sunny and warm until at least the evening.  I started the trail at the Red Barn just past Baddeck with the intention of going through Margaree and onto Cheticamp and finally Ingonish.  I took my time going through the Margaree Valley as this is where the fall colours are usually at their best.

I stopped at Lake O'Law first and if the success of the day was to be based on the events that transpired in that provincial park, it would not have been a good day.  I got out of the car and made my way to the women's bathroom (which was an old wooden outhouse).  Everything seemed fine.  Someone else had just exited the same bathroom a few minutes earlier and when I opened and closed the door, everything seemed fine. Until.....I tried to reopen it to exit and the lock jammed from the outside.  Because I am severely claustrophobic, I instantly panicked at the thought of being enclosed in a small space especially a smelly, remote outhouse.  First I screamed "help" over and over.  When no help came, I started punching the door and frantically tried to loosen the lock.  When that didn't work, I started kicking the door in an attempt to literally knock it down.  I think I would have succeeded if not for a distant voice yelling "hang on, I'm coming".  I froze and listened for footsteps until, finally, the door opened.  A woman stood on the other side with a worried look on her face which surely had to be a mask for the laughter she must have been stifling.

Had I been locked in an outhouse all day, I would not have been able to continue on with the wonderful day I ended up having.  Besides enjoying the spectacular fall colours of the Margaree Valley, I went on to visit many of my favourite places along the Cabot Trail and beyond.  I made a little detour off the trail to visit a few of my favourite beaches; Inverness Beach, Chimney Corner and Whale Cove.

I grabbed a coffee in Cheticamp and drove along the Cabot Trail until I reached The Lone Shieling. I love this trail.  It's only short but it's one of my favorite nature walks; tall trees, peace and quiet with a stream running through. On this day, I was the only person there and it was wonderful.  I took my time walking along that trail, taking in every sight and sound.

I drove almost straight to Ingonish after my little hike at the Lone Shieling.  I wanted to make it there before dark and before the Bean Barn, my favourite cafe, closed.  Eating a huge slice of their carrot cake and taking a small coffee with me to Ingonish Beach has become a little tradition for me over the years. After I made some quick stops at some of my favourite places along the way (Black Brook, Warren Lake, Broad Cove), I just barely made it to the Bean Barn.  The place was empty so I sat in my regular spot and ate my cake before hearing to my spot at Ingonish Beach.  I sat in the cool sand near the surf and didn't get up again until the sun disappeared into the horizon.  I took my time going home.  Knowing this was likely my last road trip of the season, I wanted to stretch it out as much as possible even if it meant driving at night in moose country and getting home close to midnight.