Cape Breton Vacation In Pictures

We set off Saturday morning and made a stop outside of Wagmatcook for lunch at the Herring Choker (after thinking we passed it or that it had vanished since it was much further down the road than I remembered!). 

 








 Apparently they are looking for hungry people, it's a good thing we showed up. 

This fantastic comic was in the bathroom at the Herring Choker. 

We stayed in Ingonish Ferry at the Knotty Pines Cottages and just before we got there we hit the first big mountain on the east side of the park - Cape Smokey. I can't believe that Allison and co. biked this - I'm amazed!

This is a peak of Cape Smokey from a hike later on that day, it was a short (1.5 hrs) trip out past the Keltic Lodge with a killer view of Ingonish. Take a peak down at the second map for trail #26 I believe.

We stumbled upon a seagull colony at the cape, I was terrified of them crapping all over my head. Then I looked up and promptly put up my hood and ran into the woods!





 AHH!!

Sunday morning we tried to hike #16, but it seems it's been closed. So we started out with 17 and continued on to 18, the bottom half of 16 and the 15 loop. It took 3 hours and the weather was great other than a 10 minute rain shower. The rain made everything a little bit slippery but it was a nice cool down.

The 15 loop had lots of information posted throughout - I learned a lot about Jack Pines since there was a fire in the 1920's in this area. They pop up after a fire since they need heat to open their seed and start growing. Go Jack Pines, the save the forest tree!

Here's a shot of the beach along the 16 coastal hike. The sea is harsh on lobster traps!

After lunch we ventured to Franny Mountain (#23) and hiked to the top! It goes from 95m (you drive up a dirt path and hike up) to 450m with a proper hiking path on the way up and a cart path on the way down. The path was filled with snow (about 4 feet or more) and made the return hilarious - lots of sweat but surrounded by snow.

This tree was a bit worse for wear about 3/4 of the way up Franny. Poor o'l tree.