Hiking Information

54-25.jpg
Vic atop Beinn Bhiorach
(taken in the Cape Mabou Highlands 2004 August 5)

This area of my web site (which, like the rest of the site, is still under construction) is devoted to hiking in Cape Breton. In it, I provide four separate sections, reflected by the blank lines in the second part of the navigation bar at the left:

In addition, resources for the interested reader—guide books about Cape Breton hiking, typographical and trail maps, web sites giving trail information, and other resources available to the hiker that I have found useful can be found in the Resources section of this web site.

On this page, I will limit myself to generalities: I will try to convey a bit about myself to let you know “where I’m coming from” and present the salient geography of Cape Breton as it relates to hiking.

Hiking in Cape Breton

Cape Breton is filled with gorgeous scenery that is accessible to nearly anyone who can walk. If you are a serious alpinist, you are likely to find most Cape Breton hiking unchallenging, since the highest point in Cape Breton (and in Nova Scotia) is White Hill in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park at 535 m (1755 ft) [The Nova Scotia Atlas, ISBN 0-88780-521-3, p. 6], though I’m sure you will nevertheless be taken by the Island’s great beauty, altogether different from that of inland mountain chains such as the Rocky Mountains because of the nearness of the seas, both internal and external, which are integral to most of the great vistas on the Island. On the other hand, for an overweight 66-year old who has no problem walking 16 km (10 mi) on level ground but who quickly runs out of breath when climbing 100 m (328 ft), it offers more than enough challenge, but one repaid with a sense of accomplishment and delight in being able to enjoy the marvellous views!

In my twenties, I did a considerable amount of hiking in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State (see this web site for an objective description), close to the St. Lawrence River valley in the “North Country” where I grew up. I have stood atop, among others, Algonquin Mountain and Mount Marcy (New York’s highest at 1629 m (5344 ft)), a number of times. Even then I found significant difficulty in uphill hiking, but not enough to keep me away from the trails. On a good day, the views there are tremendous, with the beautiful undulating terrain spread out as far as the eye can see. The lush summer greens and the magnificent fall colours of these mountains and of the Appalachians to the south and east have always appealed to me far more than the much more sterile views in the Rockies, in spite of the awesome majesty of the latter. But, as proud as I am of my home turf, I have to admit that the views in Cape Breton are superior because of the proximity of the mountains to the seas: the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the northern and western sides of Cape Breton, the Atlantic Ocean on the eastern and southern sides, and the Bras d’Or Lakes and Lake Ainslie in the interior.

The mountains in Cape Breton are part of the Appalachian Mountain system, a 2500 km (1500 mi) range running from Newfoundland to Georgia, dispassionately described here. There are very few areas in Cape Breton where the mountains do not dominate the landscape, mainly along the southeastern and northeastern coasts of the Island.

The Cape Breton Highlands in the northern part of the Island are doubtless the most well known because the Cabot Trail (a scenic highway, not a hiking trail) winds through spectacular portions of this area, hugging the mountains, often high above the sea. Significant parts of the Cape Breton Highlands, such as the Pollets Cove, French River, and North River Wilderness Areas, are accessible only to hardy hikers and some are so remote that they require spending the night in the wild. Still other parts of the Cape Breton Highlands are rarely visited by humans and are effectively inaccessible.

The beautiful Cape Mabou Highlands are found along the western coast of Cape Breton between the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Cèilidh Trail (Route 19) between the villages of Mabou and Inverness. As best as I can determine from The Nova Scotia Atlas, the highest elevation is less than 350 m (1150 ft), noticeably less than in the Cape Breton Highlands. Site of the best and most extensive trail system on the Island, currently containing eighteen trails maintained in tip-top shape by the Cape Mabou Trail Club, it offers great and varied hiking, from the easy to the quite difficult, with gorgeous views from nearly all of the trails.

Creignish Mountain and the Creignish Hills, which line the southern part of St. Georges Bay (an inlet of the Gulf of St. Lawrence), are part of a system that extends inland a considerable distance along and back from the Transcanadian Highway, forming River Denys Mountain, the Bornish Hills, and the terrain at Glencoe.

The Bras d’Or Lakes form a complex fjordal system situated in the heart of Cape Breton Island. This large lake system of brackish water (i.e., slightly salty—mixing fresh water from Cape Breton’s rivers with sea water from the Atlantic Ocean) is a place of stunning natural beauty, surrounded nearly everywhere by mountains: the Boisdale Hills to the north and east, the East Bay Hills on the east, the mountains of the Iona-Washabuck peninsula in the centre, North Mountain and South Mountain along the southern shore, and the ridge of mountains all along the western shore, including Whycocomagh Mountain and Salt Mountain at the southern end and Kellys Mountain at the northern end. Roads traverse these mountains and some cross summits, while most follow the base of the mountains, requiring hiking to access the views from the summits.

Lake Ainslie, Cape Breton’s largest fresh water lake, is surrounded by mountains; its outlet, the Southwest Margaree River, flows through mountains to join the Northeast Margaree River, which rises in the Cape Breton Highlands, at Margaree Forks. This river system flows through valleys carved through the mountains that surround it on all sides.

Not all the great hikes in Cape Breton require climbing mountains—far from it! The marvellous “Railway Trail” follows the abandoned railway bed from Inverness to Port Hastings; essentially flat, it offers more than 90 km (56 mi) of trails through the countryside and along St. Georges Bay with beautiful views of the varied terrain along its entire length. An excellent, though much shorter, trail system in the West Mabou Beach Provincial Park (whose highest point is 56 m (183 ft)) offers beautiful views of the Inverness coast line in one direction and of the Mabou River and the Cape Mabou Highlands in the other, all without demanding much climbing from the hiker. The Skyline Trail in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park runs along a high ridge, but is essentially flat walking from the parking area until one reaches the extensive stair system (entirely optional) at the trail’s end. Large parts of Les Trous de Saumons Trail, Le Chemin du Buttereau Trail, and the Corney Brook Trail, all also in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, are primarily flat walking, though each has some climbing involved. The trail at the end of the Englishtown Road involves some very moderate climbing as it follows an overgrown old logging road to debouch onto a cobblestone beach with beautiful views of St. Anns Bay, but the up-and-down required is less strenuous than leapfrogging the sometimes serious erosion found on parts of the trail. Numerous back roads and snowmobile trails abound all over the Island, some driveable and some not, many up the sides of mountains, but others offering flat walking over much or all of their course. So, if you are averse to climbing, there is still a cornucopia of riches from which to choose.

Equipment

p6281343.jpg
Three-Legged Stool and Backpack on a Cobblestone Beach
(taken on St. Anns Bay 2006 June 28)

I almost always hike alone, which means I need to be extra conservative and carry emergency supplies—a well-stocked first aid kit with bandages and antiseptic for cuts, scrapes, and blisters first among them. I always pack a warm sweat shirt and a light-weight, light-coloured, long-sleeved tee shirt, as well as a pair of jeans if I start hiking in shorts, as it can be quite cool on a hot day on the top of a mountain next to the sea. Extra socks are there in case I get my feet wet or to provide extra padding when an incipient blister makes itself felt. A rain poncho completes my backpack’s clothing provisions, as storms can and do spring up seemingly out of nowhere in the middle of a hike and they can dump a lot of rain in a short time. I carry Deep Woods Off!® and sunblocker, but I find that I use little of either. Applying the insect repellent to my shirt, jeans, and floppy hat usually suffices for the insects I typically run into (mostly mosquitoes and deer flies) and is normally necessary only in wet areas or in early summer—I usually wait until I know I’m going to need it before I apply it. Since many hikes are through wooded areas, sunblocker is needed only when one is in the open and the sun is strong enough to make excess sunlight a concern—my floppy hat keeps it off my face and the long-sleeved tee shirt keeps it off my arms and those often are all I need (although I am frequently red-faced in summer, that is normally from windburn and not sunburn). I carry a compass, a brass whistle, a pen knife, and any maps or trail descriptions relevant to the area I am hiking in. I always pack bottled water and cans of soda, fruit (usually fresh apples, pears, and plums), oatcakes, and hard candy for a little extra sugar when the climbing is particularly onerous.

In addition to my backpack, I carry a three-legged stool. When climbing and totally out of breath, I find it most helpful to be able to sit down and rest for a few minutes until I am breathing normally again and ready to continue upward. It is also delightful to be able to deploy it when I reach my goal and to just sit and enjoy the views in a comfortable position, especially when the ground is wet or no natural feature (log, boulder) is in proximity—my legs tend to go to sleep when I sit cross-legged on the ground for any length of time. The stool cost about $10 and weighs less than a pound, so it's hardly onerous to tote one around.

To round out my equipment, I pack in a waterproof plastic bag my camera and a small notebook in which to jot observations of the trail and notes on the pictures taken; both fit in my shirt pocket. I also carry a spare battery pack for the camera and, if I’m likely to need one, a spare memory chip.

I normally hike in a pair of Rockport walking oxfords (seen in the picture at the top of this page), not in more robust hiking boots. They are almost always appropriate for the trails described herein. Occasionally, and especially in areas I have found to be mucky wet after rains or when there are shallow streams to be crossed that require getting one’s feet wet, I wear “woods boots” instead. For those who don’t know what I mean by woods boots, they are insulated waterproof boots that come half way up the calves of one’s legs and have laces only at the top; usually green or tan in colour, they are also known “Adirondack boots” or “Maine boots”.

Cautions

p6179560.jpg
Recently Fallen Cliff Face on the Beach near Coal Mine Point
(taken 2006 June 17 at Mabou Coal Mines)

Erosion by water, ice, and wind is constantly at work on the coasts of Cape Breton. As you will see if you descend to water level, it often hollows out a cliff face underneath, giving it a concave shape, i.e., with a lip at the top which is unsupported below. Eventually, that lip will break away, crashing down to the water or shore below. Unless you are certain of the character of a cliff face or unless a well-defined trail crosses it, you should avoid approaching too closely to the edge of a cliff when there is water below, even if there is good grass cover right up to the edge: your weight could be enough to cause the lip to give way. For the same reasons, use great caution when you are on a shore below an eroded cliff; falling rocks or the whole upper part could easily come crashing down. These cautions are especially cogent at MacKinnons Brook Mouth in the Cape Mabou Highlands, a favourite picnic area, where considerable rock falls have recently occurred, but they are hardly limited to that single locale.

Much of Cape Breton is wild and that means that there are wild animals about. I am a noisy hiker, huffing and puffing and panting, and that seems to work pretty well at keeping the animals out of sight. I have seen the occasional moose, deer, and coyotes during my hikes, but, so far, have not met any black bears, though I have seen plenty of evidence that they are around (I have, however, seen black bears on or beside the road when driving: I saw one crossing the Cabot Trail near the Chéticamp River campground just inside the Cape Breton Highlands National Park in 2004, and I saw a mother and two cubs on the Whycocomagh to Glencoe Mills Road in 2007, but, as yet, none on any trail). The protectiveness of a mother bear is legendary and you definitely do not want to be between her and her cubs. Moose can move very quickly and their hooves are dangerous weapons that they can and will use if provoked. My experience is that these animals will avoid you if they hear you or smell you when at all possible, unless young are involved, in which case they will defend them when given no other choice. Keep any food you carry well wrapped so that animals cannot smell it, especially early in the spring when bears are hungriest. Avoid berry patches and other known food sources that bears like to frequent. If you do not know what to do when you encounter a black bear, see this Parks Canada web page; other very useful information about black bears, including avoidance suggestions, is linked from that page.

Cape Breton weather is very changeable; don’t assume that because the sun is shining when you leave on your hike that you won’t get rained on before you return. A squall moves across the Gulf of St. Lawrence with astonishing speed, so make sure you are prepared to stay dry until it has moved on. If you are climbing, be prepared for cool temperatures and strong winds at the top, especially early or late in the season. Even on very hot days, there are almost always good breezes blowing along the Gulf, and those breezes on a summit can be quite chilling. Make sure that you can stay warm while you enjoy the views you came to see.