Cabot Trail 2

After hiking the Skyline trail in Cape Breton Highlands National Park, it was time to find a place to hole up for the night, preferably in a scenic location.  On down the road, just outside the park boundaries is the small village of Pleasant Bay, known for it’s whale interpretive centre and whale watching tours.

After a few switchbacks later and some gearing down, we arrived at the harbour.

It was crowded , but we managed to find a spot!  Another night listening to waves crashing on the shore.

A local we met back in Petit Etang had recommended the hike down to Fishing Cove, so we backtracked a bit, and took the relatively short, steep hike down to a now-secluded bay that used to be the site of a Scottish (?) village and farms and of course, a cannery.  It is now a deserted, beautiful spot with only an empty back country campsite.

I’m guessing that this is the east coast version of a bear bar?  Perhaps it is a racoon bar?

Of course, this called for a quick swim, before taking the hike back up.

Back on the highway in the park, I noted a couple of interesting things I have not seen elsewhere in the parks.

While most of the plaques and information kiosks in the parks attempt to rightfully interpret the natural surroundings, these ones provided information on highway maintenance and the largely unsung heroes of parks,the  snowplow drivers and others who do their best to keep the roads safe in the face of cutbacks and ever shrinking budgets. (it doesn’t hurt that some of it is high-tech as well!)

Another good idea for public safety is these small shelters scattered in the isolated stretches of park roads, complete with emergency phones.

And, another information panel on how the parks highways department attempts to reduce the negative environmental effects of road-salt, etc.

As the road leads in and out of the park, we found another great campsite outside the park on a spit of beach near the Dingwall harbour, but not before another refreshing dip in the Atlantic.