During our 38-day driving trip to the Canadian Maritimes we started our stay at the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. We camped at the Cheticamp Campground and spent 5 nights exploring the park. It was an extremely hot week to be on the island, which made it very difficult to enjoy some of the time but the trails and vistas were definitely beautiful enough to consider a follow-up trip in the future – perhaps not in the summer though.

On our first day, after fixing a hole in our exhaust system and setting up our campsite, we hiked the closest trail to our campground, Le Chemin du Buttereau. The trail was 4.6 kilometres, there and back. The trail led us along what looked like a horse and wagon trail. There were remnants of an old Acadian farm, gorgeous vistas at the cliff’s edge and a lovely, shaded forest.

At the old settlement, there were several boards with historical information that tell the story of the people who once lived there, the old bridge that used to give them access to the area and some of the history of fishing in the area.

The trail was a great start to our stay at the Highlands.