Peter And Evie - Travel blog: June 22, 2023 - Cape Breton's Cabot Trail, New Brunswick

June 22, 2023

We spent most of the day on the Cabot Trail, which travels the coast along the east and west sides of Cape Breton. It also goes through the Cape Breton Highlands National Park in the north. It goes through many cultural heritage sites and has lots of scenic overlooks. We stopped at several locations as we traveled the Cabot Trail circle drive.

I will say that the West side of the trail was more dramatic, with more scenic overlooks, cliff sides, and harbors. The East side had them, I'm sure, but you couldn't see as many from the road, which was a bit disappointing, and there weren't as many overlooks.

One of our stops was at Margaree Harbour. Then we did pull-outs along the Trail. See some of the photos below. We made a stop at Les Trois Pignons Cultural Center, and had a expert-led visit of the Museum of Antiques, which depicts the early life of Acadian ancestors who settled in the village of Cheticamp over 200 years ago. They also had a gallery of hooked tapestries, which were commonly made by this community, and still are. Very intricate designs and pictures, done in tapestry. Impressive. This area has mostly Acadian history, which was very interesting, and quite sad, as they were expelled from the area, and sent down to New Orleans or back to France.

Then we came to the most impressive views of the ocean, where the mountains slope into the water, with a view of the Cabot trail snaking off in the distance. Very nice. The road also goes through some mountain passes, with green-covered tree-sloped mountains. The Trail went through the National Park, connecting the west coast road with the east coast road. We stopped for lunch at the MacIntosh Brook Trailhead. This was a little turn-off, with a picnic area, along a brook, in the trees. Very pretty but FULL of MOSQUITOS. I couldn't sit in the shade, but had to be out in the sun. Quick lunch. We made a stop at the Neil's Harbor lighthouse, on the east coast, out on a little peninsula. It actually had an ice cream store inside, so . . . yummy. We then made a few overlook stops on the way down the east coast. If we had been driving our car, there would have been a lot of stops, sites, and trails we would have stopped at. This trip only gave us a taste of what the Cabot Trail has to offer.

The end of the Cabot Trail is back in Baddeck, and the bus driver knew of a hiking trail through the woods, along a stream, to a small waterfalls. It was down a long dirt road, that took us to the Uisge Ban Falls Provincial Park. Some of the active folks started walking the nice woodland trail, but after about a mile, and some discussion with hikers returning from the falls, it was determined that the hike was much longer than anticipated. So we returned to the bus. Oh well, it was nice to be walking after the long bus ride on the Cabot Trail.

Dinner again at the Resort, and hanging out along the Bras d'Or Lake water's edge to watch the sunset.

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