Thursday Travels: Glasgow Lakes Look-Off

Middle Ridge School, 1876. (Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. 8 June 2012.)

After breakfast at the cabin, M and I drove a short distance to reenter Cape Breton Highlands National Park for our first Cape Breton hike.  The day, as you may or may not recall from my previous Thursday Travels post, was gorgeous.

The trail we decided on for our first hike was the Glasgow Lakes Look-Off trail.  It’s a 9.2 km. (5.7 mile) trail that crosses over windswept barrens, and gives you a good feel for the highlands plateau region.  It is said to have a wonderful panoramic view of the barrens and the ocean.  We did see some pretty spectacular views of the barrens, but not the ocean as we didn’t make it quite that far.

Paquette Lake

It wasn’t for a lack of trying.  The plan was to go half way, have some lunch, and then decide whether to keep going or turn back.  It would depend on how rugged the trail turned out to be.  Sometimes the trail descriptions make things sound worse than what we actually encounter.

In this case, we did encounter a problem along the way.

You can’t see it in the photos I’m showing you today, but there was a lot of water on the trail.  This slowed us down considerably as we found ourselves rock hopping rather than walking.

We later found out that this trail usually is wet — under water in spots — in the spring and early summer.  According to one of the park rangers we spoke to later that afternoon, the trail doesn’t usually dry up until July or August.

There were a lot of beautiful flowers in bloom.

The trail is very rocky.  It’s the kind of trail where you could easily twist an ankle so even without the water, we would have been slowed down a bit.  As it was, it took us well over an hour to go one mile.

The portion of the trail we hiked was a steady, gentle climb.

I would love to go back someday and hike the entire trail.  The little we did get to see was incredibly beautiful.  Photos do not do it justice.  You have to see it for yourself.

We saw signs (scat) of moose, but no moose.

You can see water on the trail in this shot.

We did not see any other people.  We didn’t even see signs of other people.

The old school of thought would have you believe that you’d be a fool to take on nature without arming yourself with every conceivable measure of safety and comfort under the sun.  But that isn’t what being in nature is all about.  Rather, it’s about feeling free, unbounded, shedding the distractions and barriers of our civilization — not bringing them with us.

~ Ryel Kestenbaum

That should do it for this week’s edition of Thursday Travels.

We have just about reached the point on the trail where the trail became a stream, and that seems as good a place as any to stop and rest for a little while.

I’m sure there’s a big rock nearby where we can sit and take in the beauty and peacefulness of the place.

Thank you for joining me.  🙂

Reminder:  This is a scheduled post.  I am currently taking a break from my blog for some spring cleaning and other adventures in life.  Happy Valentines Day!  ♥

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