Nova Scotia waterfalls & trails

Canada has always been a bucket list trip for me.  I've been across the border twice to QC for dog shows, but obviously there remains a lot more to see!  This time I got to explore NS, which has always been near the top of my list.

It was a trip a few years in the making.  We had plans to go, and like so many other things that were interrupted or thrown off the rails, the covid pandemic set us back.  Finally this year we had our chance.

Driving from Maine through New Brunswick to Nova Scotia, we first headed to Halifax.  We were surprised, and slightly disappointed on some level, to find most of the trip was very comparable to ME.  The landscape and towns between here and there were nothing overly unique.  Certainly nice, and simply being Canada made it feel even a little nicer than northern New England, but it wasn't quite what I expected.  But then, I was after the wild coastline, and we hadn't made it there quite yet.

All the way through NB and into much of NS, lupines were the theme!  It became a running joke for us.  And now I need to plant some in my field. 😄

We always appreciate seeing wind turbines.  They're plentiful up there!

Halifax was pleasant.  Once again, familiar feeling; we actually found it to be very similar to Portland, only bigger and nicer.  It's a very well done city in pretty much every aspect.  Hawk insists if we were ever to move to Canada, that'd be the place to live.  I can't entirely disagree, except for the fact that, well, it's a city.  I need country.  Besides, it's too far from family, and everything else for that matter, and as comfortably familiar as eastern Canada felt, obviously I have roots here.  

When I returned home after vacation, I hiked up Pine Mt. that evening and it felt SO good to see "my" mountains and lake; my home turf.  The NH lakes region will always be home for me. ❤️ 

But meanwhile I will still love visiting and exploring Canada.

Halifax waterfront

The Citadel

Inside the fort. There were frequent bagpipe serenades. 🙂

The expansive Public Gardens.

Naptime for duckies!

Our visit timed perfectly with a Celtic music festival!

"Halifax Oval" is the public skating rink. Use and rentals are all free!!

But this is a hiking blog, so onto the stuff you came here to read!  😉

After the first half of our trip in Halifax, we drove up to Cape Breton Island for the second half.  On the way, we took a side road to chase down a waterfall.  

Myles Doyle Falls sounded like a worthy detour, and with the "hike" out to it a mere .1 mile trail, it was not a big time investment on a travel day, and was actually located perfectly to make for a good leg stretching break from the car.  In fact, the drive to the trail was the longest time investment…  

The road in to the falls was very narrow, and a bit sketchy.  We were thankful to have an SUV!  4WD is definitely a good idea on that road, otherwise I'd probably recommend parking at the beginning of it and just hike in.  If you're a trail runner, you could probably get there as quickly as a vehicle. LOL  Yeah, the road was that bad.  But we made it!  And it was a worthy adventure.

We were surprised to find steps leading down to the waterfall, where there was also a picnic table, although a dilapidated one.  The falls were very pretty, and an impressive size.  Of course, these were just the first falls we would see in our time on CBI.  (Click on the links that follow for separate blog entries on each hike and more pics & details.) 

After settling into the cottage we were staying at, I persuaded Hawk to venture back out for an evening hike for some real leg stretching.  There we explored Little North River Falls.  It was probably our least exciting hike of the trip, but I was still glad to have had some real time in nature.

The next day had steady rain on the forecast, so unfortunately hiking seemed a no go and we chose to make it another city day.  Also unfortunately, that city was Sydney.  All I can say is, it was no Halifax!  It wasn't awful, and there was a fairly nice park, but overall it felt pretty pointless.  Perhaps "worst" of all, the weather report could not have been more wrong, and it turned out to be a beautiful day.  Why was this a bad thing?  Because we didn't go prepared for other activities, such as hitting some other waterfalls and hiking trails that were in that area, so it was purely city walking and missed opportunities.  And I was already burnt out on city time, so this really killed me.  But at least we got some essential shopping done, and for whatever it's worth, I racked up around 4 miles of walking.  (I can only guess how much more we did in Halifax!)

"Yup, that's a fiddle alright."  They said it was a must see.  So we saw.

Adirondack chairs are apparently a big thing in NS. They're everywhere!  Usually red.  Sometimes extra large. I kinda want a pair now too. LOL But, normal size.

Wow, look at that, more lupines.

Somewhere in the Bras d'Or region, I believe St. Ann's Harbor.

Finally, we got into the real hiking days!  Next day was spent in Ingonish, climbing Franey Mt., followed by Middle Head peninsula.  It was a good total 8 miles and about 1800 ft. elevation gain.  Beautiful scenery.  A bigger taste of the unique NS coastline that I was longing for.  There are a bunch of trails and interesting sights in that area.  I wish I could have done more.

En route to Franey.

See, another adirondack chair. On top of a mountain!

And yep, lupines again!

Views from Middle Head.

On our last day we headed to two separate places.  First stop was Baddeck, where we started our morning by hiking to Uisge Bàn Falls, which may very well have been my favorite hike of the trip.  The whole place was gorgeous, and I would absolutely do it again if we returned to the area.

After that, we explored the town a bit before continuing on to the Cape Dauphin area.  En route to our goal trail, Hawk spotted a roadside waterfall, which google identified as Arm of Gold Falls.  Talk about a random score!  There were a couple other stops along that road as well to marvel at various interesting sights, and of course to snap pics.  Eventually we found the Kluskap Cave trailhead, which is what we were looking for.  What a way to end our vacation!  The trail itself was not fantastic, but the payoff - when we finally found it - made it all worthwhile.

Thank you to Hawk for making this vacation happen. 😘

6/24-7/1/2022 Halifax & Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada