The North Sydney,NS KOA is about ten minutes from the Cabot Trail in
South Haven, NS on Sunday, August 5, 2018 we hooked up left the
campground and began a three night four day exploration of Cape
Breton, NS.
Cape Breton is rural and thus sparsely populated. The Cabot
Trail sparsely mainly on the Cape's perimeter is wooded with rocky
cliffs , meadows and vistas of the sea. The drive on mostly single
lane somewhat narrow curvy hilly roads were relatively free of
traffic although I was occasionally passed when conditions
permitted. I even pulled over several times to let cars go by. We
soon came to a very daunting mountain called BIG Smokey.
In retrospect I am glad we drove from West to East because I
believe the drive in the other direction would have been more
nerve racking. after a brief stop at the top of Old Smokey we
continued on to Broad Cove a Campground in Cape Breton Highlands
National Park.
It is a really nice campground and we set up in the rain. Of course
it stopped by the time we finished setting up. I think that's some
kind of natural rule. We left the campground drove back through the
town of Ingonish to the visitors center. It would have been nice to
stay longer but our schedule combined with campground availability
allowed us one night in Broad Cove and two nights in Cheticamp on
the Eastern side of the Park. From the visitors center we drove back
past Ingonish stopping for diesel fuel then on past the campground
to Warren Lake. There is a 5.7 Kilometer trail around the lake which
we walked. personally I think the metric system makes more sense
then ours which is based on the English Kings feet but we are still
a little behind the times there. The trail is approximately 3 and a
half miles around.
The next day we packed up and drove the 60 miles to the
Cheticamp Campground on the Cabot Trail. Parts of the road
unfortunately were steep, winding and worse under construction.
Several days later when we were in New Brunswick my description of
the road conditions under construction dissuaded a Biker from
making the trip. Construction not withstanding The Cabot Trail is
quite scenic with several pull outs to view the ocean. I assume
some people are fortunate enough to see whales, we didn't.
We arrived at our campground and I had a heck of a job getting
into our spot I was even afraid that once in I would have trouble
getting out. I didn't but went in the wrong direction to do so.
Fortunately another camper was able to give me directions and an
assist getting into the site. Campsites are displayed at
reservation sites on the internet without trees as such picking a
site is a crap shoot but we have not had that many problems.
After setting up we walked over to the visitors center to buy ice
and find out what walking and sight seeing options were available.
The visitors center was on the other side of a parking lot
adjacent to our site.
Later we walked on the Salmon Pools Trail but never did get to the
end where the pools were.
In the morning we drove a short distance back on the Cabot trail and
walked on Le Buttereau Trail. There were several others that may
have offered better scenery and features but parking at those trails
was too challenging for our truck. The trial itself was interesting
with overviews of a beach and the ocean and we passed several
foundations from people who lived here and moved when the park was
built.
On the completion of our walk we drove into the town of Cheticamp,
shopped in the Co-op Super market and pharmacy before returning
to the campground. That evening we went back into town for a
lobster dinner at Le Harbor a local restaurant after which we
strolled along a boardwalk in town.
