Cape Breton Highlands National Park

The First National Park In Atlantic Canada, Established 1936, Covering About 949 Square Kilometres Of The Cape Breton Highland Plateau Between The Gulf Of St Lawrence And The Atlantic; The Skyline Trail Is The Best Known Walk In The Maritimes · Ingonish, Nova Scotia

Cape Breton Highlands was THE FIRST NATIONAL PARK IN ATLANTIC CANADA, established in 1936, and it protects about nine hundred and forty-nine square kilometres of a highland plateau that rises abruptly from the sea on both coasts. THIS IS NOT THE SAME THING AS THE CABOT TRAIL, though the two are constantly confused: the Cabot Trail is a two-hundred-and-ninety-kilometre loop road around northern Cape Breton, and roughly a third of it runs through the park. The park is the highland interior and the two coastlines - boreal forest and taiga on top, Acadian hardwood in the valleys, and headlands dropping several hundred metres into the water. THE SKYLINE TRAIL, a boardwalk ending on a headland above the Gulf, is the most photographed walk in the Maritimes and is where people see moose and, offshore, pilot whales. The Highlands are also the centre of Gaelic Nova Scotia and of Mi'kmaw territory.

Cabot Trail, northern Cape Breton Island, Ingonish, Nova Scotia, Canada

THE MAIN SEASON RUNS ROUGHLY MID-MAY TO LATE OCTOBER, when the campgrounds, visitor centres, beaches and services operate and a PARKS CANADA ENTRY FEE APPLIES, recently around CAD 8-11 per adult daily with a Discovery Pass covering it. THE CABOT TRAIL THROUGH THE PARK IS OPEN YEAR-ROUND and the trails can be walked or snowshoed free of charge in winter, with no services. OCTOBER IS PEAK SEASON HERE, not a shoulder - the Celtic Colours festival and the hardwood colour fill every room on the island, so BOOK ACCOMMODATION MONTHS AHEAD FOR AUTUMN. Campgrounds are reservable through Parks Canada and fill in July, August and October. THE SKYLINE TRAIL CAR PARK FILLS BY MID-MORNING in season. Moose are frequently on the Cabot Trail at dawn and dusk and are the main driving hazard.

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