Nova Scotia: Gaff Point Trail

Distance: 3.5 km
Elevation: 50 ft
Elevation Gain: Negligible

The wilder side of Nova Scotia, Gaff Point Trail

Gaff Point is a narrow headland that extends into the Atlantic Ocean near Hirtles Beach. Our original intent was to walk on the beach but when we arrived we realized the beach was not sand but large 30 pound cobbles. After a few steps we realized this beach had ankle twisting potential. A sign near the parking area told us about the trail, which was not mentioned in any guide book of the area, including the local gazetteer. We then drove around trying to find a way to get closer to the headland so that we did not have to walk very far on the rocks. We did eventually find a road, but had to park near someone's property and walk through another person's field. There was a sign that indicated that pedestrians were welcome, and a social trail was worn into the grass so we did not fee too badly. I was concerned that our car might be unwanted but there was not way to tell.

Looking south from the Hirtles Beach parking lot towards an estuary and houses beyond.

A view of the beach, the fog, the large rocks, and one brave surfer

Storm damage on the beach. You can see the imprint of the wave that brought all the large cobbles into the estuary and the overturned picnic table.

We hiked this trail two days after Hurricane Bill had hit the province and it was clear that this area had been impacted by some heavy waves. Large boulders were tossed up on the rocks, the the shale cliffs had been fractured and chunks were tossed about. These remnants made the trail feel even more primeval.

A small house we passed on the way to the trailhead

After cutting across some land, we came to the farther end of Hirtles Beach. Gaff Point is in the distance.

The lichen covered trees and moss covered ground of the inland forest

The trailhead is barely visible from the beach. A small placard marks it, but then you have to bushwhack just slightly through the shrubs.

The center portion of the trail crosses an exposed area of heaths. There are nice views of the cliffs here too along with social trails heading down either side to small, rocky beaches.

The latter half of the trail is a loop. Here is where it splits. Note the log and wood tailings trail construction. This was the state of the trail in the forest.

The trail eventually reaches the cliffs. This is looking back towards the beach, which is just of site.

The trail itself spends part of the time in the forest and part of the time on the cliffs, which are incredibly scenic. Storm damage aside, the rocks of the coastline are paper thin shale layers turned vertical by the forces of geologic time. I wanted to spend some time prying apart the layers in search of fossils. The trail travels directly over these area, the route marked in splashes of yellow paint. It was actually hard walking since nothing was flat.

Our first exposure to the vertical shale. The rocks look much thicker in the photo. They are in fact composed of many thin layers.

Looking down into the sea on a relatively calm day. It is not difficult to image what the sea was like during the storm.

The trail continues to skirt the cliffs

The forested part of the trail were unique to our Colorado eyes. Moss and lichens covered every inch. It was peaceful and yet mysterious at the same time. Too damp for fairies, which are admittedly delicate, it was just right for shore birds of various shorts. Chirps and whistles could be heard from the branches of the overhanging trees.

Here you can see the shale torn into chunks and scattered about

After rounding the point, more damage was evident. Large chunks of dirt had been eroded, leaving boulders lying on the rocks below.

We are about to head back into the forest

Gaff Point is a trail of the Canadian Nature Conservancy. Kudos to this organization for trying to preserve some natural space in an ever urbanization of Nova Scotia's coastline. We stumbled across this trail by accident, but I would recommend it to hiker visiting the South Shore. It was one of our trip highlights.

We took one of the social trails down to the shore from the center open area. The rugged beauty of the area is evident.

These flat cobbles are testament to the enduring power of the waves. Each of these stones started out as a chunk of shale scoured from the cliffs along the coastline. Time and the constant pounding of waves have turned them into tiny smooth rocks.

Nova Scotia: Bird Islands

On our last day on Cape Breton, we decided to depart late and take a boat tour to the bird islands and their well know sea bird nesting colonies. The Bird Islands are two small rocky outcrops, Hertford and Ciboux, that jut out into the Atlantic Ocean between the eastern extent of the Cabot Trail and the Sydney peninsula. A tour of the islands takes about 2.5 hours.

Boarding the boat

Approaching the first bird island

Cormorants sun themselves as the boat gets nearer

We took the tour to see Puffins, but this late in the year most had departed. The rocks were still home to the Greater and Lesser Cormorants, however, as well as large numbers of Bald Eagles, a pair of Blue Herons, Gulls, and various other smaller birds. Large numbers of Gray Seals also inhabited the area.

Cormorant on a rock. They were everywhere.

Then the Bald Eagles came into view like fighter jets over a war zone.

No critter is safe from these marauding raptors.

Even with a telephoto lens, it was hard to view the birds in real time. Between the bouncing of the boat, the movement of the birds, and the shadows near the cliffs, many birds were just a blurr. It was not until I manipulated the photographs for this post that I could see what I actually captured. Still, I love being out on the water and any chance to feel salt encrusting my hair is worthwhile for me.

I love this shot. It was dark against the cliffs and I had no idea if anything was in focus. If you click on the image to view the larger version and look into the eyes of the eagle you won't see compassion for its fellow avian brethren.

Another great action shot. There were so many eagles, it was like sparrows around a bird feeder.

Here we have a juvenile. The punk of the rocks. It takes several years for an Bald Eagle to develop its trademark coloring.

The most interesting aspect of the tour was the lesson the boat captain gave us about man's effect on the birds and seals. The chain of events all begins with Lobster season. During the season, the fisherman have to replace the bait in their traps once a week. This is a bounty for the Gull species on the island which eat the scraps left by the boats. This ready food supply means the Gulls can stay close to their nests and their large numbers fend off Bald Eagles, which other wise swoop in to eat the Gull chicks. Lately though, there have been too many fishermen, and the area catches it quota in about 2 weeks. It used to take 6 to 10 weeks. Now the Eagles are arriving early, eating the Gull chicks and scaring the Puffins out to sea. This effects the tour groups who lose income because the Puffins are gone. While we did see a few, solitary Puffins floating on the waves, we also saw large numbers of Bald Eagles, so I am not sure which situation I would prefer.

Gray Seals

The Puffin's chick rearing habits are unique indeed. The Puffin digs a burrow into the rocky cliff face and lays its egg. When the chick hatches, the adults feed the chick to such an extent that it grows so large that it can't leave the nest. The parents then leave. Over time, the chick looses weight, matures and finally leaves the burrow. Puffins are pelagic birds, they spend 90% of their life out on the open sea.

It was easier to see the birds on the sunny side of the island. Can you pick out the Grand Cormorants in this picture?

A shot rounding the farthest point

The life of the Gray Seal in this area has also been effected by man. General overfishing has reduced fish stocks and many of the seals are starving. How to balance fish stocks for both humans and seals is a difficult task.

Two Great Blue Herons had taken up residence. Our guide said this is very unusual.

One last eagle shot

Whether or not I would recommend taking a boat tour depends upon the time of year you go. Be careful to ask the tour operators exactly what you will see and whether the mentioned species are on the rocks or out on the water. There are several tour companies in the area, so it does not hurt to shop around.

My only decent Puffin shot. They fly incredibly fast and would not let the boat come near them. I could barely see the bird with the naked eye, but despite the bouncing of the boat, I managed to get one in focus.

Nova Scotia: Skyline Trail

Distance: 5.7 miles round trip
Elevation: 1,500 ft
Elevation Gain: Minimal
Critters: Moose

The end of the Skyline Trail looks out over the ocean in a series of cascading wooden steps and platforms with benches. The view opens up only the last quarter mile though.

Since we had only one day on the Cabot Trail, we knew we could only pick one hike. The Skyline Trail is the iconic trail in the Highlands National Park. It is in all the brochures, and even the park rangers were gushing. We were worried that ~6 miles round trip would take up too much of our day, but the Skyline is practically flat, so it only took us 2 hours to do.

All the pictures of this trail show the far end when the trail becomes a boardwalk over the bog. There is quite a bit of walking through the trees to get to this point, however, so be forewarned.

The first 0.5 miles of the trail is along a broad service road.

The trailhead is off the main road, but then you walk 0.5 miles up a wide service road before the real trailhead. There is a small bathroom there and a ranger standing by to educate the curious about the Moose in both English and French. As I walked by I saw the ranger hold up a jar of Moose droppings and as a women in French if she would like some chocolate. Ah! My 4 years of high school French just paid off! Now I know those things on the ground are actually chocolate left by the thoughtful Canadian Rangers. I wish our rangers were as kind to hungry hikers.

Moose (Alces alcies americana) on the narrow forested trail.

It was not long up the trail before we ran into a crowd staring that the rather large butt of a Moose sticking out of the trees. I have been wanted to capture a Coloradoan Moose for this blog for so long that I almost had an epileptic fit. Alas, I was snapping pictures so quickly, my auto focus did not have time to catch up. Then much to the delight of all present, another Moose just started walking up the trail right towards us. I am guess this was the kid of the much larger Moose whose butt we were not intimately familiar with. It took off into the woods, which was a good thing because passing a Moose, no matter how diminutive, on a narrow trail is no easy thing.

The trail also traversed small patches of mixed deciduous forest.

As I mentioned above, the Skyline trail is narrow and winds through coniferous forest before opening up to a barren area with many dead trees. The forest had been killed off and the new trees have been attracting the Moose, which have been eating the young, replacement trees, leaving the area barren. The Park Service has fenced off an area to see what would happen to the plant succession without the Moose.

I took this shot on a short social trail that exited the forest.

The trail contains patches of other trees and then low shrubs when on nears the boardwalk. 1,500 ft above the ocean, the boardwalk does contain dramatic views. There are platforms with benches all the way down to a low hill. We decided to stay on the upper platform for the most broad view. A large eddy could be seen to the left and the spouts of whales were visible to the naked eye off shore.

Reaching the boardwalk

We had hoped that the heat wave that was hitting Nova Scotia would be less daunting in the park where the terrain was open to the ocean breezes. Alas, it was 28C with no wind. We were roasting. There is limited infrastructure in the park, and our 1 Liter of water a piece was dwindling fast. I felt quite exhausted by the time we reached the car where I downed that last of my horded water and blasted the air con. I can imagine on a typical day, the Skyline Trail would be quite chilly.

Nova Scotia: Cabot Trail

The iconic photo of the Cabot Trail inside the Cape Breton National Park. Much of the drive is in the trees, so this is one of the best views.

The Cabot Trail and Cape Breton National Park are listed by many travel magazines as one of the most scenic drives in the world. There are parts of the drive that are panoramic indeed and other parts that are best seen at 80 miles an hour...not that you can go that fast by any means on Canada's roads. With all the hype, we just had to go.

The Acadian side of the island. This area was filled with open fields, houses, and Acadian flags.

It took us 5 hours to drive from Lunenburg to Beddeck on Cape Breton Island and in hindsight, we might have chosen to stay in the south. When you travel, you make choices, however, and never really know if it was the right one until you have seen it all. If I had to do it over again I would I have spent my time entirely in the south or entirely on Cape Breton. Trying to touch both was too much for a one-week vacation. The guide books are very clear about this too, but if you think you may never get back to a certain area it is hard to not want to hit the highlights.

One of the ocean views from a pull out in the park.

Looking deep into the park from another pull out. The guide book had me thinking much of the park was Highland bog. As you can see it is very forested. Most of the park is inaccessible due to the deep canyons that can be seen here.

We stayed in Beddeck for two nights so that we had a whole day to drive the Cabot Trail. Tour buses do this in about 8 hours. The guide books recommend 3 days. We wanted to start at 8:00 AM but really did not get going until 9:00 AM and returned by 8:00 PM. We did go hiking in the National Park, which added a couple of hours to the day. Our hike will be the subject of my next post.

St. Lawrence Bay. This area is off the Cabot Trail. It sits on the far northern tip of Cape Breton. The CD we were listening to indicated the trip was a worthy detour. We had intended to go all the way to Meat Cove but decided time and day light were running short. We talked to some tourist in the airport who stayed there. There was no food and no one told them.

The proprietor of our Inn gave us a CD with a narrated driving tour of the Cabot Trail. This made our trip. There is so much cultural history in the area that we would have missed had we not heard the CD. We learned about the Acadian side of the island and could recognized the Acadian flags (French with a gold star) as well as the Scottish side. We learned about the fishing camps and the history of the National Park. If you can find this CD before you go, you will enjoy it.

Neil's Harbor and the many types of fishing floats. There is a restaurant here but we were not yet ready for dinner so we continued on.

The guides books all mentioned how harrowing the drive is through the National Park. Those travel writers need to come to Colorado if what to know what a understand the definition of harrowing! The drive was no worse than I-70 and did not even come close to Red Mountain Pass or Trail Ridge Road.

A view on Middle Head, a narrow peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic. The Cabot Lodge is just behind me. There is a trail that all the books recommend in this spit of land. We did not have time to do two hikes, however.

The author sitting at the Keltic Lodge.

At the end of our journey, we ate dinner at the Cabot Lodge, which was on the cover of our guide book. South of this area there are many artist studios that would have been fun to visit but they were all closed by the time we got there. We could have returned the next day since they are relatively close to Beddeck, but instead we decided to take a boat tour to the bird islands. I will post that trip shortly.

We came across this beach south of Cape Smokey. The sun was just beginning to set.

In an ideal universe, spending several days on the Cabot Trail would be ideal. Be advised though that infrastructure is definitely lacking in places, so planning your stops is required.