Cape Breton Island
June 24th, 2008Before our trip, everyone we talked to told us, “make sure you schedule enough time on Cape Breton Island.” Some folks told us that we could spend our entire two weeks there. We ended up spending 4-5 days there, and probably could have spent much longer.
We drove over the bridge, and headed toward Mabou, which is about 30 minutes from the National Park. Mabou, itself is a small, but cute town, and has plenty of hiking trails. Not only that, but we found out that just about every town along the coast, has absolutely gorgeous views of the ocean.
Not only that, but the landscape itself is different from the rest of Nova Scotia because it is highlands, with huge cliffs, falling off into the sea. The rolling hills themselves are forested, or are at least covered with greenery.
Once you make it to the start of the famous Cabot Trail, you soon after enter the park. The first day, we went straight to the also famous, Skyline Trail, which leads you to the top of the mountain, which has a view that pictures can’t describe. (I tried below.)
Much to our satisfaction, along the trail we first saw numberous piles of moose poo, and then finally came upon this young male moose. All of the park literature about moose states that you should keep your distance, and wait for the moose to continue on its way. Well, we came upon the moose, pulled out the telephoto lens, and got our snapshots. Waited 5 minutes. Waited 10 minutes. Apparently, we had intruded on this moose’s dinner hour, and he had no plans to cut it short. Eventually, we had to go around him and continue on our way.
As night drew close, we decided to spend the night in the park, camping under our small backpacking tent. The campsite was right on the water, giving us a beautiful night sky. Had we been there a couple months later, we would have had a good chance of seeing whales out in the distance, but instead we got to watch some birds dive bombing the water for fish.
We hiked a few more trails in the park, encountering a black bear, several carnivorous plants, and a moose cow and calf. We eventually left the park to make our way around the rest of the island. One day, we drove to Meat Cove, a town in no-mans-land at the top of the island. We read that whales are frequently sighted up there. We didn’t see any whales, but we got the great shot below.
We continued around the rest of the island, stopping at many places to take more photos, and eat a lot of fantastic seafood. I hope to get back up to Nova Scotia sometime in the future to spend even more time up on Cape Breton Island.
June 24th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Look at all that driftwood on the beach!
June 24th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Driftwood galore! Too bad it was a national park, and it’s illegal to collect wood for campfires, let alone removal. I’m sure there would be some fantastic specimens, however.
June 24th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
One of your best series yet ! I enjoyed every single photograph you have shared. If I could be picky, I would request a bit more color in the sky – similar to #6. #1 & #3 are your typical polarizer photograph. #2 & #6 are my favorite. Thanks for sharing this beautiful place.
June 24th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Thanks Jay! I would have liked a bit more color in the sky in some of the photos too. Many of the photographs were taken midday, or during hazy days. If you have any photoshop tricks to fix these, please send them my way. 🙂 Number 6 and 7 are my favorites. 🙂
June 25th, 2008 at 9:04 am
I love looking at these again. I would be happy to be on that beach in #6 again.