The Cabot Trail/ Cape Breton Highlands National Park

When I was in Guatemala almost two years ago, I met a married couple that I became extremely envious of. She was French-Canadian, and I think he was Scottish.  They'd met travelling a decade ago, and never stopped.  Not even when they had kids- she had their infant son strapped to her, and their 3-year-old daughter wasn't missing a beat.  Not even when climbing the ruins at Tikal - the kids went with them.  It made me so happy to see, but the pangs of jealousy also crept up and surprised me.  I'm not one for marriage.  It has never been anything I aspire to, and when I see my future, I see ME.  Independent.  But seeing them made me wish for a partner, because when I do have a child, it won't be as easy for me to keep travelling alone.  A single woman with an infant wouldn't be safe everywhere, and I'd get tired.  So I've had in the back of my mind for a while now that when I have a baby in a few years, I'll have stop travelling.

Then I hit the Cabot Trail, especially the section through the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, and I saw what I'll be able to do when I have my baby.  The park section has 24 different trails, with differing intensities, all leading to spectacular views, waterfalls, gold mines, etc.  We didn't do any of the trails today, but I am going to come back here with my baby when I have her.  This is an area I can easily spend a couple of weeks camping in, safely, and the hikes can be done with her strapped to my chest.  I can't wait :D

Anyway.  Enough dreaming.  The last 24 hours have been so beautiful they may as well have been a dream.  I can't even count how many times A and I have stood there breathless, looking at the beauty around us.  I'd honestly never even known about this area, and now I highly suggest all Canadians come out here.  Other people too - I've gone to other countries specifically to go on adventures in areas that can't even compare to some of what I've seen.  And we haven't even hit the Bay of Fundy yet, and that's been called one of the 10 Wonders of the World.

So.  Yesterday we left Price Edward Island, after camping out in the car near Thunder Cove, and headed east to Cape Breton.  We made it partially through the Cabot Trail, and up 'Smokey', where we saw the most beautiful view we've ever seen.  It was too dark to take photos, so we turned around and camped out basically on a rock ledge overnight.  We woke up just in time to catch THIS in the morning - I hadn't even gotten out of the car when I took this photo

We hit the road at 6:30am and started back up Smokey.  I'm so glad we went back in the morning to see this again...

And it just kept getting better and better.  As we climbed up into the mountains, it got foggier and foggier, until we realized we were driving through clouds.  Yes, I said CLOUDS.  Amazing.  Got insanely foggy for a while though, and as I'm a new driver, I was petrified.  Driving down a steep mountain, with shitty tires, almost no visibility...it was one of the scariest times of my life.  I'm pretty proud of myself for making it through, but once we were done I was exhausted and had to have A take the wheel for a bit while I napped.  


I can't wait to come back here in a few years and spent many days up there.  We did it all today in half a day, and what we saw was mind-blowing.  I can't even imagine what I'm going to see when I come here again.  I can't wait.