Chéticamp, Monday, 19-Jun-2023
/It was back to Cape Breton Highlands National Park to do a hike and stroll around a bog (which is actually a fen).
Having hiked on the east section of the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton Highlands National Park, this time we decided to hike on the west side. After heading out from the motel, we stopped by a bakery to pick up some sandwiches to have with lunch. Then, we did a short drive to the trailhead.
Skyline Trail
The Skyline Trail is the most popular in all of Nova Scotia. The views are the main attraction, so we made sure that there wasn't fog (we would have done the trail the next day if there was fog). There was also no rain in the forecast, so we went for it.
You can do the trail as an in-out hike for 4 miles or a loop for about 5 miles; we opted for the latter. We started on the north side of the loop and made sure to look at the vista points as they came. At one point we saw a fenced-off area and what looked like a platform. We weren't sure what that was about.
One of the vista points gave us a view of the ocean, and we start to notice that things were swimming. We couldn't see what they were (too far for our binoculars and long camera lens) but they were light-colored, so we were guessing dolphins. Since we were still and the wind was calm, black flies started hovering around us, so we didn't hang around too long. We hoped we would get closer as the trail continued.
As we finished the north part of the loop, we arrived at a boardwalk that would take us almost 400 feet down the side of the mountain. As we started descending, the flies became more prevalent. When we got to the lowest platform, we still had trouble figuring out what was swimming in the water. I took a bunch of pictures hoping I'd be able to see something when we got back to the room; one photo seemed to show a dorsal fin, and the color and shape still seemed to indicate they were dolphins.
In addition to looking at the water, we looked south and got a great view of the Cabot Trail. Further south, we saw La Bloc, a huge rock that we saw when driving by the day before. We briefly thought about having lunch or a snack at this point, but the flies were pretty thick, so we started up the boardwalk to try to find a better place.
When we got close to the top, we felt a good breeze since there was a cliff behind us. We had lunch, and while there were a few flies, there were far fewer than lower down.
We finished lunch, then started back on the south side of the loop. We started seeing the same fencing and platform as we did on the other part of the loop, but this time the fence stretched across the path. We got to a gate, and there was a sign explaining the fenced-in area was a moose exclosure. Because there are so many moose, they eat everything in sight. The idea is to have an area where trees can be safely grown. We went through the gate and took a look at the platform. The purpose was so you could look at the exclosure, and if you see moose, you were encouraged to let the Parks department know.
Leaving the exclosure, we soon came across another smaller fenced-in area, but the fence had failed on one side. Soon after that, we were back in the car.
Bog Trail
We wanted to do a bit more, so we went a few minutes north to the Bog Trail. It's a boardwalk around a "bog", which is actually a slope fen since it gets moisture from a source other than precipitation. We saw a lot of wildflowers, mostly bogbean growing in the water.
Instead of being one large wetland, there are pools of water with plants between. We also saw wild rosemary, bog Labrador tea flowers, and swamp laurel.
When we started the boardwalk loop, signs made it clear you were supposed to do the walk in a clockwise direction. We weren't completely surprised to see people walking in the other direction.
Rest of the day
On the way back to the motel, we stopped to look back up to where we were on the Skyline trail. We could barely make out people and the end of the boardwalk. We also pulled out to look at La Bloc, a large rock formation that sticks out into the water.
Next, we went back to the bakery to get more sandwiches for the next day and some dessert. We then went to the grocery store to get fruit, then back to the motel to relax for the afternoon.
We did venture out to get dinner, deciding to drive since it was pretty cold and starting to rain. On the way back, it was still raining, so we were glad we didn't walk. Back to the room to finalize plans for our last full day on Cape Breton Island.
