Cape Split Trail, Nova Scotia

One of the best hiking trails in Nova Scotia outside of Cape Breton Island is a 16km trails called the Cape Split trail. This 4-5 hour hike takes you through a beautiful forest ending at a tremendous overlook into the Bay of Fundy, where you can witness one of the most amazing tidal bores in the world.

Unfortunately for us, we went on a rainy, misty day, so the end of our hike wasn’t nearly as impressive as the hike itself. You can just barely make out the water in the picture below due to the mist being so heavy. Even so, it was quite the feeling standing up on these tall cliffs without any railing or barrier keeping you from falling down below. (I don’t care for heights if you couldn’t tell.)

The trail itself takes you through a beautiful forest, where most of the forest floor is covered with ferns. Fields of ferns fill in any openings between the trees, and lichens and mosses find their home on the trees themselves.

Hardwoods dominate much of this forest, even though pines are present in some areas. The air throughout the trail smells “forest fresh,” partly from the misty sea breeze, and partly from the smell of the forest itself.

Many of the trees had very unique and tangled looking root systems, and looked like multiple trees were growing from the same trunk.

Along much of the trail, Purple Trillium, Trillium erectum, was flowering adding a little bit of color to the forest floor. This flower is not found west of Digby, nor has it been seen east of Pictou County, but it was quite abundant along the Cape Split trail.

Finally, my favorite unique tree of the hike was this one below. It reminded me of the trees that Native Americans used to shape to serve as markers throughout their wooded territory.

After 16km, we were quite hungry, so we packed up, and headed on to find some fresh Digby scallops!