You kind of have to commune with nature here - there is very little else to do in this part of Cape Breton. Towns are far apart, tiny, 10-20 homes with a co-op grocery, a lighthouse, a gas station, and maybe one or two folk art galleries. So, commune we did. We took a couple of hikes, waited out some rain with naps and good books, and generally relaxed.
Our first hike was up the Broad Cove Mountain Trail. The park map describes this trail as "a steep climb to panoramic ocean views." Boy, they weren't kidding about the steep climb - 475 feet up over less than a mile. But the view from the top was worth it.
Climbing up, and up, and up.
View of the Atlantic Ocean from the top of Broad Cove Mountain.
The next day we decided on a ranger-guided tour of the Middle Head Trail. This one is across an ocean headland/peninsula and is around 2 1/2 miles long. Our ranger was young, enthusiastic, and a summer employee. She is a university student studying archeology - not your everyday subject matter. She led a great hike and was very knowledgeable about the area, the early Indian tribes, and the forest we were hiking through.
This part of the Atlantic coast reminded us quite a bit of the Pacific coast, much rougher and rockier than the southern sandy beaches.
Middle Head Trail. The red berries are bunchberries and grow everywhere here.
After four days on the eastern side, we decided to move over to the west coast of the island. So off we went, roughly 60 miles and two hours later we were over the mountains. The road map is marked as this road having several steep sections. What it didn't mention was that those areas have grades of 6% to 12%! We ran across one camper that had his 5th wheel jump the hitch going up one of the steep grades. We took our time heading up at around 10 mph on the steeper ones, and mostly felt lucky to be able to maintain that speed. Our other option would have been a 6 hour drive back down to Baddeck and then up the west coast of the island. But we made it and settled into Cheticamp Campground.
Western coast overlooking the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
This side of the island has more to offer in the way of non-nature entertainment, but not a whole lot more - Cape Breton is all about the outdoors. So once again, we headed out to commune with Mother Nature. We took the 15 minute stroll around the Bog Walkway and got to see some pretty interesting plants including carnivorous pitcher plants. They live in nitrogen-poor soil, and have developed a system to augment the inadequate nitrogen by capturing and consuming insects. The inside of the tubular shaped leaf is lined with downward pointing hairs. These hairs block an insect from climbing up the tube and escaping. The fluid in the bottom of the tube contains digestive juices that then consume the insect prey.
Purple pitcher plants
After that "exhausting hike" we headed off to the Benjie's Lake Trail. This trail is level and goes through a boreal forest to Benjie's Lake - about 2 miles round trip. Along the way we snagged a few wild raspberries and blueberries to munch on. Supposedly this is a great trail to see moose on, but no luck for us.
After all that hard hiking someone needed a break.
Another carnivorous plant, the Round-leafed Sundew
(blow it up and check out the "dew" on the ends of the stems, actually a sap excreted by the plant to capture insects.)
Day 2 on the western coast found us in the car, out exploring the area. We headed down Route 19, also known as the Ceilidh Trail. Ceilidh (pronounced Kay-lee) is Gaelic for "party". The road tracks the coastline past saltwater bluffs and beaches. We followed it as far as Glenville and the Glenora Distillery. The distillery is the only maker of single malt whisky in North America. It is produced by the traditional copper pot stills method using only three ingredients: barley, yeast, and water. By law it cannot be called "scotch" unless it is produced in Scotland, therefore it is sold as Canadian Single Malt Whisky. The distillery started production in 1990 and did not market its first bottle until 10 years later in 2000. According to our tour guide, the distillery recently bottled its first run of aged 20 year whisky which sells for a scant $500 a bottle!
Copper distilling pot.
Samples at the end of the tour.
We also poked around the towns of Cheticamp and Inverness, checking out the local shops, and took in the Les Trois Pignons Museum in Cheticamp. This is a small museum opened after a local resident died and left her antiques collection to the town. She was a lifelong collector who was the recipient of many gifts from the local residents who gave her items rather than throw them out. Therefore, there are quite a few everyday use items from the Cheticamp area during the Acadian time period on display. In addition, the museum has an extensive collection of hooked rugs including several by Elizabeth LeFort, an internationally celebrated rughooker who was from Cheticamp.
We decided that we couldn't leave the area without being sure to hike the Skyline Trail. If you've ever seen pictures from Cape Breton or Nova Scotia with views of the ocean and mountains and wondered, Wow, where was that picture taken, well, this is the place. The trail is a little over 5 1/2 miles round-trip and travels through a spruce forest ending with a boardwalk over alpine grasses to the cliff edge overlooking the Gulf of St. Lawrence. This is also supposed to be a great place to see moose, bald eagles, bears, and whales out in the gulf. We hiked out at around 6:30 in the evening, planning to watch the sunset from the trail's end. Unfortunately clouds moved in, no sunset; the wind picked up, as in gale force winds, no hiking to the end of the trail (we were being blown over once we made it to the open cliff area), no animals; and the skies started to drizzle - we headed for home.
Getting blown to bits by the wind, note all the grasses lying down in the background.
I've mentioned a few times about how Canada is expensive. I thought you might want to have something a little more substantial to base your own opinion on so here's a few random figures. The current exchange rate is $.99 Canadian to $1.00 U.S.
- Gasoline-regular grade - $1.34.1/liter (5.08/gallon) as of yesterday
- Skim milk - $6.94/gallon
- Eggs - $2.99/dozen
- Celery - $2.27/bunch
- Bell pepper -$1.99/lb.
- Sweet potatoes - $2.42/lb.
- Chicken breasts - $8.99/pound (on sale)
- Hamburger - $4.50/pound (on sale)
- Burger King - 2 Whoppers, 1 small fries, 1 small Coke - $14.75
- Camping fees - national and provinicial parks (average)
- dry camping - $25/night
- electric and water hook-ups - $33/night
- electric/water/sewer hook-ups - $35/night
- Property taxes - depends on the province, but averages 1.9% of the assessed value
- Income taxes - Federal - 15% on the first $42,707 of income up to 20% over $132, 406
- Income taxes - Provincial (equivalent to U.S. state tax) - dependent on the province
- Nova Scotia ranges from 8.7% on the first $29,000 up to 21% over $150,000
- Quebec ranges from 16% on the first $39,000 up to 24% over 78,000
- So that's a whopping 23.7 to 31% for the low end to 41-44% for the upper end!
- Sales taxes - 5% Federal, 5 to 15.5% Provincial, no local, all items get taxed, here in Nova Scotia we've been paying 17%.
On the other hand, it only costs $75 to register a car and a driver's license is $15, both done annually.
In addition, there are parks galore, roadsides are clean, and systems seems to work well.
Our "friends of the day" come with a bit of a story, so hang in there...
Our "friends of the day" come with a bit of a story, so hang in there...
We looked all over Canada for moose, but none were there. After a while we thought that it might just be an advertising gimmick to bring old and impresionable Americans up for a visit.
Moose-crossing sign
We found moose tracks everywhere, but no moose. Was someone on stilts pretending to be a moose?
Moose tracks on side of path
We found moose trails, and places where moose supposedly had slept - but no moose. Maybe just someone with a big paddle?
Moose path
We even found moose poop, but no moose, either that or rabbits grow REALLY big here.
Moose poop
On a side note: You CAN have your moose poop made into earrings, or a tie tack, should you be so inclined, or want to advertise to everyone your... ah... greenness...
No two exactly are alike - AND they are 100% organic!
(Click the above link and order your very own.)
So anyway, on our last morning on Cape Breton Island, after a full month in the Atlantic Provinces; after getting up at the crack of dawn to hike into the hinterlands; after going out at sunset to hike out to cliffs and overlooks; after checking out lakes, bogs, and forests, finally we spotted two moose...by the side of the road... munching on grass... at mid-morning - go figure!
Moose - posing!
We've now moved on to Halifax, so that will be my next saga.
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Latest Recipe:
Being surrounded by fresh seafood I decided to stretch my culinary reach a bit and try steaming fresh mussels for the first time. I found the following recipe in The Little Saigon Cookbook by Ann Le. It is a Vietnamese recipe for mussels. Heinz enjoyed it so much he saved the leftover broth to thicken and use over pasta later this week. I doubled the recipe and fixed 5 pounds of mussels as our main dish.
Mussels Sauteed with
Chiles and Basil
2 lbs. fresh mussels (clams may be substituted)
¼ cup olive or vegetable oil
3 tbsp finely chopped onions
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
½ tsp sugar
1 ½ tsp ground black pepper
¼ cup oyster sauce
¼ cup fish sauce
2 fresh Thai bird chiles, finely chopped (or substitute
another spicy pepper)
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 ½ cups chicken broth
1 cup roughly chopped fresh Thai basil leaves
½ tbsp cornstarch
2 scallions, chopped into rings
1 Rinse mussels in cool water. Tap open mussels firmly, and discard any mussels that remain open
after tap or that have chipped or broken shells. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat
until hot. Sauté the onions and
garlic for several minutes until the onions are translucent. In a small bowl, combine the sugar, black
pepper, oyster sauce, fish sauce, chopped chiles, and lime juice. Whisk until the sugar is dissolved. Add the mussels to the skillet. Let them cook for 2 minutes, and then
drizzle the fish sauce marinade all over them. Stir the mussels and cook with the marinade for 3 minutes and
then add the chicken broth. Add
the chopped basil and toss. Cover
the skillet and cook for another 8-10 minutes. When the mussel shells have opened, remove them
to a serving bowl. Discard any
shells that did not open. Mix cornstarch in a bowl with some water, and add it to the pot to thicken the
liquid - being sure to evenly blend it in.
Toss in the scallions. Serve sauce in bowl beside hot steamed rice.
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