September 10
The general store in Cape North had sufficient groceries for lunch, and after a late start, I headed southwest on route 30 toward Cheticamp in dense fog and rain. My goal was to walk the short trails along this stretch of the Cabot Trail in the Cape Bretons Highlands National Park and eat lunch at Petit Etang beach. I felt sorry for the bicyclists going up and down steep grades and sharing the road in such conditions. I used my “four ways” for part of the journey for better visibility. Fortunately, the weather cleared as I drove, and it ended up a beautiful day.
I walked the short but very pretty Lone Shieling Historic Place and trail with its crofter’s hut just off the road, old-growth forest and quiet riverside scenery.
The MacIntosh Brook Trail – about 2 miles – leads to a lovely waterfall, but I forgot my phone, so no photos. Very busy with a tour bus and many other visitors.
The Bog Trail
The Bog Trail was one of my favorites. With a relatively short accessible boardwalk trail, visitors could traverse this wet area at the top of the mountains. It’s actually a “slope fen” because it’s spring fed. Moose like it too. I didn’t see any moose, but people at the hostel had seen moose here this summer. The plants were fascinating, and I took a lot of photos. The smell was wonderful. A gardener’s delight.
Bog Trail Signs
Survival in a Desert – Heath shrubs are well adapted to rigorous bog conditions.
Bogs and fens can be a shot and dry as a desert. As they ate, peaty soil build up above the water level. This requires the plants to be specially equipped to conserve precious water.
Low shrubs of the heath family grow in this drier end of the fen. Many heaths, such as Bog Rosemary and Leatherleaf have thick, leathery leaves to reduce water loss. Rust-brown wool on the underside of Labrador Tea leaves serves the same purpose.
Orchid Garden
In early summer, thousands of orchids brighten this fen with their delicate pink and white blossoms.
Orchids of northern bogs are much smaller than cultivated varieties. These tiny, showy orchids attract insects with their bright colors, ensuring pollination and another generation of orchids.
An orchid plant takes up to 14 years to produce a flower! Picking the flower usually mean death for the plant, or at least delays seed production.
Plants named
Sheep Laurel, Leatherleaf, Pale Laurel, Labrador Tea, Bog Rosemary, Dragon’s Mouth, White Fringed Orchis, Rose Pogonia, White Bog Orchis
Other plants that I saw included blueberry, bayberry, sphagnum moss, other mosses and lichens, Canadian burnet, sedges, tamarack trees and other evergreens. You can see some photos of other plants in the fen here.
Unfortunately, I turned the wrong way out of the Bog Trail parking lot, and didn’t realize it until I started seeing buildings I had already seen some way down the road. I turned around, and it was clear what I’d done when I once again reached the turnoff. Due to spotty cell service, I wasn’t always able to know where I was or to get directions to places. And if you don’t know where you are, then sometimes even a detailed printed map, which I had, isn’t very helpful.
I also missed the turnoff to Petit Etang Beach – twice – it wasn’t marked, so you needed to know where it was. It seems so easy sitting here as I write this post, searching on Google maps for links – but without cell service it just wasn’t working on my phone or in the car – an ongoing challenge as I navigated Nova Scotia. But I did get to Cheticamp for a little practical shopping and exploring future destinations to get souvenirs for family. Instead of eating at Petit Etang, I stopped at a rocky beach by a small stream and wrote in my journal. A quick stop at the Cheticamp Visitor’s Center resulted in a handout on how to get to Petit Etang – I never would have found it without the directions. By that time it was late, and without stopping at lookouts or checking out trails, I was back to the hostel in just about an hour.
Music at the Hostel
After dinner, we were gifted with wonderful fiddle, guitar and drum music in the living room. Carla, who was staying in the hostel, invited her friends, a couple from Oregon, to play music for us.
