The Cabot Trail--Cape Breton Highlands National Park

Wednesday, May 16, 2018--North Sydney to Antigonish (Via The Cabot Trail, Cape Breton Island)

The weather was colder today, but it was still sunny.  We have had amazing luck with sunny weather.  My forehead is even sunburned.  But instead of cool temperatures we have been having recently, today they were colder.  I can see on the weather on TV that a low pressure system moved past us and that it is pulling a cold front down the continent.

From North Sydney, we drove westward and entered Cape Breton Highlands National Park at Ingonish.  The route we followed from there (except for one short stretch) is called The Cabot Trail.  It goes along the eastern coast, then across the northern part of Cape Breton, and then down the western coast.  The national park covers a portion of the area enclosed by the trail loop.  As we traveled along, there were wonderful views of stretches of the rugged coast, views of fishing boats out in the bays, views of bald eagles soaring in the sky, and views of the mountains ahead of us.  And at one point Wes almost ran over a brown rabbit that tried to cross the road right in front of us.  It is one of the world's great drives.  Along the way, there are small fishing communities outside the boundaries of the park.  The one place we left the trail was done to pass through a couple of those communities that the guidebook had recommended seeing--Neil's Harbor and White Point.  Probably the prettiest we passed was Cheticamp.  Exploring the trail was a great experience.

It took about 5 1/2 hours of driving today--leaving North Sydney, driving the trail, and then continuing to Antigonish where we are staying at the Coastal Inn--so we didn't do much else.  But this evening we did go into Antigonish.  We walked through the downtown area, explored the beautiful campus of St. Francis Xavier University, and walked the Antigonish Landing Nature Trail (where we saw a beaver and a bald eagle among lesser other critters.