Atlantic Canada

Cape Breton

After a couple of rainy days in Halifax we headed north up to Cape Breton and the Cabot Trail....one of the places I was most looking forward to visiting on this trip because of its remote location (fewer tourists) and the promise of some terrific hiking.

We stayed in the village of Ingonish Beach at the southeast entrance to Cape Breton National Park. Made for easy access to some of the prettiest hiking trails, and one of the most beautiful scenic drives, we've seen on our travels.

On the way up we stopped in the town of Baddeck and visited the summer home of Alexander Graham Bell. Although we knew about the telephone, didn't realize until we toured the little museum that he was quite active in experiments in early aviation in the years after Kitty Hawk. In fact the first successful flight in the British Empire occurred right here in 1909...on the ice from a small inlet close by his residence. Glenn Curtis was one of the small cadre of enthusiasts that helped develop the first flyable machine, much to the irritation of the Wright's who were keen to patent their invention and establish a monopoly. 

It was a pretty place with lots of shoreline views all the way around the peninsula. 

The Skyline Trail is the big headliner here, although there were numerous others that worked their way thru the bush to scenic viewpoints. Rita didn't particularly like this one - too steep.


The weather continued to hold during our 4 night stay here, then it was off to another anticipated highlight of the trip - the Gaspe Peninsula. 



Gaspe 

This was another remote part of Atlantic Canada as you can see. Very French, in fact in some of the places we stayed and stopped during our 5 night drive seemed to be French only...had to dig real deep for some French language skills in order to  communicate. Also was a very laid back and very friendly place. Really enjoyed our time here.

 
 Stayed just outside the little town of Gaspe, which was sandwiched between Forillon National Park and the town of Perce. The scene above is a view from one of our hikes just above the town. Apparently the French explorer Samuel Champlain first sighted (and named) the place during one of his voyages of discovery back around 1604.

Spent most of our time in and around Forillon National Park. Came across this old settlement on one of our hikes out to the lighthouse at the end of the point...one of the remnants, apparently, of an Acadian family evicted years ago to make way for the establishment of the park. 

 The Autumn colors finally started to make an appearance. 

 Heard a strange "crying" noise as we proceeded along the forest path. Stopped to investigate and saw these two porcupines in the tree right next to the trail. Guess our presence caused the female some distress so she started making noise - would never have noticed them otherwise. 

 It was a beautiful walk on a sunny day, and what made it especially endearing was the Park Service's strategic placement of these red Adirondak chairs along the hike...every couple of miles or so. 

The combination of some spectacular scenery, terrific hikes, and warm Indian Summer weather made for an extremely pleasant week as we toured the peninsula...in the footsteps of Eleanor Roosevelt (apparently) who came this way one summer back in the 1930's...we had just seen the Ken Burns series on the Roosevelts before we left on the trip.

Still in the middle of a very French-Canadian province - starting to get pretty good at the local dialect, even if I do say so myself. 

After a few weeks enjoying the countryside it was time to head back into civilization...next stop - Quebec.