On Top of Cape Smokey

Years ago, visitors to Ingonish in the warmer months could ride the chairlift to the top of Cape Smokey to get a view of the land and sea from above.  I never got the chance to do it before the service stopped.  

Now, that service is being offered again but it's much better than the old experience.  Now visitors can ride a gondola up the mountain and enjoy a range of other services that are included in a day pass.

I finally had the chance to make my way up to the top of Cape Smokey this August.  It was a spur-of-the-moment decision and, in hindsight, probably not the best decision considering what was going on at the time.  The day I decided to go was in the midst of a province-wide forest lock-out.  In other words, no one was allowed to enter the forest or have a fire anywhere or for any reason due to the dry conditions Nova Scotia endured this past summer.   

My friend and I arrived before the Gondola even opened and walked around the main lodge.  When the ticket booth opened, we got our lift tickets and free cookies and hopped on the gondola to take the scenic 8-minute trip to the top.  The view was amazing but I was not all that impressed with the experience at the top that day.  The only thing we could do was grab a beer, sit and enjoy the view and go back down.  For over 50 bucks, this didn't seem all that worth it but.  Considering that during other times when the forest is accessible, there are e-bike and kayak rentals and hiking trails available, I would definitely consider giving it another try.  

After our mountain adventure, we headed to Black Brook to do some swimming but the water was so rough, we ended up leaving and spending the rest of the afternoon swimming the clear, calm water at The Point.  After supper at the Seagull Restaurant, we made the drive back over the mountain...another thing ticked off my Cape Breton bucket list! 

 

A Fall Hike in Ben Eoin

It's fall and that means I've traded my swimsuit and flip flops for long sleeves and hiking boots. It's the time of year when it's still warm enough to be outdoors enjoying the fresh air. It's the time of year when I head to the trails and enjoy time in the forests, mountains and rugged coastlines of Cape Breton Island.

My first real hike of the season was a fairly short one.  I didn't plan to hike that day.  I was out for a drive on a nice Saturday afternoon when I spotted a picnic park in Ben Eoin.  I pulled in to have my lunch and noticed a sign for a hiking trail.  It looked quite steep.  I was tired.  I pondered the idea of hiking up a mountain.  On one hand I didn't really feel like tackling such an exhaustive-looking feat.  On the other hand, it was nice out, the views were amazing, the fall colors were out and I had never hiked this trail before.  There were way more reasons to push myself than to just drive away having turned down an opportunity to spend some time in the forest.  So I went for it. 

It was warm enough to wear just a t-shirt and although it looked like it might rain, I didn't care.  It was warm enough that I risked it so I didn't have to carry a heavy rain jacket up the mountain and back. 

The trail was well-maintained and fairly easy except that there were lots of old roots that created tripping hazards and some parts were quite steep. I kept a steady pace to gain momentum going up the hills but hiked slowly enough to take in everything around me.  A woodpecker pecking at some bugs on a tree.  Two squirrels fighting over an acorn.  The trees rustling in the gentle breeze.  The sun casting it's rays through the canopy.  The smell of rotting leaves.  

It took about a half hour to reach the top of the mountain where there was a clearing overlooking the Bras d'Or Lakes.  The walk down the hill was a little difficult at the steep parts but I made it down in good time before the rain started.  

I continued on with my afternoon drive and kept going up Route 4 to St. Peter's and onto Isle Madame.  I took a wrong turn on the island and ended up in another part of Cape Breton that I had never been to before and made a mental note to return to explore it more thoroughly.  I took a drive through the Lennox Passage Provincial Park and thought it would be a nice place to stop and enjoy lunch on my future return visit to the area. 

I just can't get enough of Cape Breton and I'll never stop exploring it!  More fall adventures to come!

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!