Driving The Cabot Trail

Ned and Joe Posing in the Role of Moose

The next morning the weather looked like rain but it hadn't started by the time we broke camp. We set off. It would take three to four hours to drive the Cabot Trail without stops. That is impossible. Perhaps if you have driven it ten or more times you might become immune to the views. It took us almost seven hours. We stopped at many overlooks and hiked some of the trails. We drove up side roads to see waterfalls. There is still more that I would have like to see.

Our first stop other than a scenic pullout was at MacIntosh Brook. It is about a one and half mile hike through an old growth forest along a brook with small waterfalls. It was a good early morning way to loosen the legs and wake us up. The parking area has a kitchen shelter and when we finished the hike we fired up the stove and had our breakfast. While we ate it began to pour so our next stop wasn't until Beulach Ban Falls a bit further down the road. We continued along the Cabot Trail until we came to the Atlantic coast where we stopped at Green Cove.


Looking Down to Fishing Cove

The View to Pleasant Bay

I'm Telling You There are No Moose!

Green Cove is a small rocky headland that juts out into the ocean. It is formed of some really neat boulders of pinkish rock with intrusions of a highly crystalized granite forming lines and crosses. Down the road from there we turned down a side road to view Mary Ann Falls. They were crowded and there were people swimming the pools beneath them.

Green Cove


Joe and Ned Clamboring Over the Boulders

Our last stop along the Cabot Trail was to hike Middle Head. Middle Head is a long headland creating North and South Ingonish Bays. It is a two and half mile hike starting at the Keltic Lodge. The hike goes through some forests and meadows and has rocky cliffs on the sides and at the end for great views up the coast and to Cape Smokey to the south.

Wildflowers


Go Ahead Jump


The End of Middle Head


The Keltic Lodge Near Ingonish, NS

After the hike we said goodbye to the Cabot Trail and headed for the Southeast corner of Cape Breton Island taking the ferry at Englishtown and camping south of Sydney, NS at Mira River Provincal Park.


The Englishtown Ferry


Chéticamp, NS to Mira River, NS, 165 miles 8 hrs 28 min