August 14, 2019 –  (what a day, as promised!)

WARNING: this is a long post with lots of pictures. It is best viewed on our website –  rickandnancyadventures.com 

Since we had such a bad weather day for Nancy’s birthday, I wanted to do something special today. I had just the right thing in mind. First thing this morning, we headed to the Cabot Trail, one of the most scenic drives in North America. It was spectacular(even if it did take 10 hours with  stops!!). It’s 187 miles long, and is basically a big loop around the northwest part of Cape Breton Island.  A lot of folks split it up into a 2-3 days, but a lot (like us) go for the whole enchilada in one day. So off we went…..and it turned out to be one hechuva day!

“The northern section of the Cabot Trail passes through Cape Breton Highlands National Park. The western and eastern sections follow the rugged coastline, with views of the ocean. The southwestern section passes through the Margaree River valley before passing along Bras d’Or Lake.”

The first thing we noticed when we got up was the clear blue sky.  The weather was absolutely perfect…..low 70’s, a light breeze, and low humidity. From the beginning of the drive along Bras d’Or Lake until we returned that night, the scenery was incredible. We could never have imagined just how beautiful it would get as we went further north and entered the Cape Breton National Park.

The first major stop was at the Keltic Lodge. It was interesting to learn that this beautiful piece of land was once owned by Henry and Julia Corson from Akron, Ohio. Henry was a wealthy businessman that vacationed in Cape Breton in the summers. He had been recruited to come to the area by another famous summer home owner, Alexander Graham Bell (more on that later this week). The land was eventually purchased by the Nova Scotia government to help create the Cape Breton National Park in 1936.  The lodge was built to help promote tourism and has been in operation since 1940. The resort consists of the main lodge, several other cottages and buildings, a fabulous wedding venue, and the Highland Links Golf Club, one the top 5 golf courses in Canada. In fact, 3 of the top courses in Canada are in Nova Scotia! I hope to play at least one of them before we leave. Hopefully I can get Nancy to drive the cart.

Keltic Lodge

This building below is used for weddings and other events. Out back is a seaside Gazebo and a stunning back porch view!

Highland Links GC…..it looks spectacular!

There’s a ski resort across the bay from the Keltic Lodge. The tallest peak in NS is only 1204 ft., but it seems like a lot more when you’re at sea level.

The geology in this area is is fascinating. There are so many signs of the glacial impact on the environment. One of the first things we noticed was all the rock along the coastline…..including massive amounts of granite.  The ground around the ocean, and a lot of the ground inland, has very little soil…..just lots of rock. I guess that’s what you expect based on all the pictures……but it’s still just so impressive!

Many of the beaches we saw had thousands of smooth rounded cobblestones, and only a small band of sand. I honestly thought the rocks had been brought to protect the shoreline. Then I learned it was, in fact, the natural state of the environment.

In many places, the rocks extended out into the water (making it nice to look at, but hard to walk on, and definetely not a beach!).

We drove by lots of small quaint fishing villages. Like PEI, there are lots of rental cottages and small seasonal eating establishments all over the island.

At about the halfway point, we came to a fork in the road……you can either continue to follow the Cabot Trail(which most do), or take a right and head up smaller roads to the northeastern tip of the island…..a place called Money Point. We decided to go for it……unfortunately, we didn’t make it. After driving the 25 miles or so to get there, the road came to a dead end. The only way to go further was in a jeep, or walk. The walk was over 7 miles…..so obviously we headed back to the Cabot Trail! The blue dot below shows where we had to stop.

As mentioned, from what have seen, the ground on the island is basically a lot of rock with a little soil.  You could really see some of the unusual geological characteristics of the island when we hiked the Jack Pine Trail, which is a 1.5 mile trail that meanders through a coastal wooded area to the oceanfront. Everywhere we looked in the woods, tree roots were basically growing on top of the ground. They simply can’t grow down because so much of the surface area is solid granite with very little “soil”.  It’s amazing how things can grow in the worst conditions….somehow the plant life adapts and finds a way to survive and flourish. And after thousands of years, a forest grows!

Tree roots running along on top of the ground attaching themselves to anything they can.

In the next 2 pics, the plants were growing on top of solid granite!

Turtle Rock (I named it)

The striations in the rock is a sign of the glacier activity that carved through this area thousands of years ago. Its amazing how green everything looks despite being so rocky.

The people on the rock below were jumping in and taking a trail back up. For this area, this was a great day for swimming or going to the beach. It looked like fun and I thought it about it…..for about a half a second!

I call her Magellan…..she’s quite the explorer.

We had a great dinner at the Rusty Anchor on the north side of the Cabot Grail.  Haddock is a popular locally caught fish here so Nancy had Haddock fish cakes and I had pan fried haddock. Both were excellent!

After our dinner, we headed for home

Amen! It was a great day….but a also a very long day. We’ll slow down a little tomorrow. We’re glad to be back in an area with such spectacular and stunning natural landscapes and seascapes!