Cheticamp to Broad Cove, Cape Breton Highlands National Park

Amazing-can there be a different superlative to describe the trip over the mountains of the interior to reach the other side of the park.  The lookovers on the downhill side of North Mountain were interesting.  The Park map indicates the steepness of the road by showing an icon of a car going down hill. Here is where the lookovers showed the Aspy fault, which some believe starts in Scotland.

View of Asby fault

We drove on to Broad Cove Campground, which is really large, but since we were early in the season, it was sparsely populated with campers. The Park headquarters is about 10 miles further along from the campground.  We noticed as we traveled, that there is a Park Lodge, Keltic Lodge, with a nice restaurant and bar and music every night.  The lodge also sports a golf course, which Mike would have played if he had his clubs.  We sat in their parking lot to use the internet!

Cheticamp to Baddeck-Alexander Graham Bell

Raining again this morning, but the weather forecast was definitely more depressing than yesterday.  We decided to drive to Baddeck, the summer home to Alexander Graham Bell and a very nice museum.  What an amazing list of inventions for this man.  He and his wife gave generously to organizations that encouraged scientific investigations, such as the Volta Institute and the National Geographic.  His wife, once his student, was deaf.  He was very involved in teaching deaf people how to communicate and speak.  Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller were close friends.

Bell bought property in Cape Breton as a summer house.  But he was involved in early flight experiments and the first flight in Canada took place here-in winter on the frozen Bras d' Or Lake.

Cheticamp and Hiking the Skyline Trail

We woke up to rain.  Made a nice breakfast and walked over to the information center.  The lady there said no point doing the signature hike, Skyline, if it was lousy weather, because you couldn't see anything.  She gave us some ideas for other hikes that might be interesting.  So we set off.  One of the hikes was along a cobble beach that had information boards that explained the history of the spot.  There were whole towns along the coast with fish processing plants, wharfs, etc.  The federal government bought out the people living along the coast to create the Park.

The sky was clearing, but still foggy in spots.  We stopped for lunch at the ubiquitous Tim Hortons and then decided to drive north, just to see if the weather was clearing.

As we drove north along the coast, the sun came out and the fog was burning off.  There were spectacular overlooks, or as they say in this part of the world, look overs.  The colors were amazing; the water, the rocks, the sky all combined to give the most wonderful views.  We stopped at the Skyline trailhead and decided to walk as far as we could.  This was the area where we were warned about bears, coyotes, moose.  We got out to the end and the fog was swirling off in the distance but we could see down.  There were steps heading down, with benches on platforms along the way.  Mike decided to go the whole way down; I stopped much earlier.  I sat and looked out to see if there were whales or eagles circling.  Nothing.  It was a very peaceful spot.

Fog hanging over coast

 

Mike at bottom of walkway

You had to walk up!

Skyline trail-you walked out to the end

Looking back to the trail was interesting because you could see figures walking out to where the boardwalk started down.

The weatherman was a little off today in his weather prediction.  After a rainy, misty start, we ended up with a glorious day.  Sad to say, we did not see a whale, moose, coyote, bear, eagle, but we did see squirrels!  Still a great day in Cape Breton Highlands.

Tatamagouche to Cheticamp, Cape Breton Highlands

Cape Breton Island is a mix of several cultures.  As we started north toward Cheticamp in the National Park, we were on the Ceilidh Trail.  Signs were in English and Celtic.  As we went further north, the Acadian influence appeared and signs were now in English and French.  We were now on the Cabot Trail, which circles the Park. At the welcome center, we were greeted first, bon jour then hello.  We were only one of a couple of people camping in the campground.  It was a nice spot with full hook-ups and a nice shower and restroom.  We thought we would be in the beginning of the tourist season, but actually, we were several weeks early.  Lots of Europeans traveling and camping, but still lots of room in the campground.

Listened to CBC radio with a story of the first Canadian to win the international shin kicking competition.  You got to love it!

Canada-Nova Scotia via New Brunswick

It was a long drive today, and once we crossed the border at Calais, we were on Atlantic time, one hour ahead of eastern time.  We drove route 1 to Moncton.  In the past, we have had cloudy days on this drive, but today was sunny and you could look over to see the scenic highway at points.  At Moncton, we picked up route 2, down to Sackville and then into Nova Scotia, where we drove on route 104.  Our goal tonite was to reach a campground on Tatamagouche bay.  The lady in the visitor center said to take the scenic road along the water as it was as fast as taking the highway then cutting north.  Well, that was quite the ride, bumpy and "rough" and we sat in a traffic line where they were paving.  Once we could drive through, and I was driving, the cones were right next to us and on the left a drop off.  Finally we reached our campground with a site right on the water.  It was a beautiful spot.

Beautiful Day on the Land and Water of Acadia

We awoke to another beautiful morning in Maine.  We had a wonderful pancake breakfast at the campground and then set out to see more of the island called Mt. Desert (pronounced dessert).  We took a drive down the peninsula toward the town of Northeast Harbor.  It was a lovely drive along the Somes Sound.  Northeast Harbor is a small town surrounded by large summer "cottages" hidden from view by  fences or the forest.  The harbor is very nice, and this Sunday morning, very quiet.

Somes Sound

Northeast Harbor

From Northeast Harbor we drove a few more miles to Seal Harbor.  It was low tide as you can see from where the swimming raft is located-high and dry.

Low tide at Seal Harbor

From there we are back on the loop road in the park.  We stopped again at Jordan Pond House to take a short walk on the Carriage Road.  John D Rockefeller built 45 miles of crushed stone roads that wander throughout the park.  Hiking, biking, horseback riding or horse drawn wagons or carriages are allowed.  Today, by late morning, most of the parking areas that access the carriage roads were full.  Lots of folks biking and hiking.  There are gates that guard the carriage roads, along with gatehouses.

Carriage Gate near Jordon Pond House

In the afternoon, we took a two hour trip aboard the four masted schooner, the Margaret Todd.  It was a spectacular day for a sail.  You had to bundle up because it was 10-15 degrees colder on the water than on land.  We were prepared, but some on board were not.  They moved from side to side of the boat, following the sun.  We saw a few birds and an eagle, but really the sailing experience was the best part of the trip.  A National Park Service ranger was on board to narrate, which was nice.  He did not talk non stop, but gave you time to enjoy the peace of the experience and he was available to answer questions as he walked the deck.  I might add that help was requested to raise the sails.  Someone I know volunteered to help, saying afterwards that it was quite the workout for your knees and legs.

Raising sail

Glorious Day in Acadia National Park

We arrived at our campground last evening, in time for a nice but not spectacular sunset.  The campground had a campfire program at sunset point.  A few campers were there plus staff from the campground.  One young man played his guitar and provided nice background music.  This campground has a welcoming staff, which is really nice.

Airstreams for rent

This morning, it was cold, but bright.  We set off for the park.  Stopped at the visitor's center and then headed out to the loop trail.  We decided before doing the loop we would drive up Cadillac Mountain.  What a beautiful view of the park and Bar Harbor.  Many islands dotted the water, which was clear and blue.  The skyline was clear, unlike the haze which bothered us while on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Spring is just coming here, and the colors were light greens, pinks and whites with the dark  colors of the spruce and fir forest. It was such a nice day today, with lots of sunlight and warm (60's) temps, that the buds will give way to leaves, and the pastels will turn to deeper colors.

View from Cadillac Mountain