Cape Smokey, The Cabot Trail, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia



National Parks
Nova Scotia is very lucky to have two National Parks inside our borders. At our end of the Province there is the beautiful Kejimkujik National Park (Keji as we refer to it down here), and in Cape Breton, the Cape Breton Highlands National Park is gorgeous and world famous for its amazing roadway that loops the Park – the Cabot Trail. Canada does a very good job of conserving its nature in this way and both Parks are well worth getting to know.
Norma and I were fortunate enough this week to be visiting her friends and relatives in Cape Breton and we drove around the Cabot Trail, taking in the hilly vistas and the ocean views. It is lobster season in Cape Breton, so there were many small fishing boats to be seen. The drive also takes you through the hills that protect some of eastern Canada’s last old growth forest, and the sight of a mass of 300 year old trees is breathtaking. The drive also offers the views from the hilltops that rise out of the ocean – the thing that makes the Park so attractive for many.
Lest we forget, though, the National Parks in Canada do something else – they conserve and protect the habitat for many threatened and endangered species of plants and birds and allow people to view without damaging the fragile nature that we humans have put at risk. With climate change comes changes in habitat in a way we may have never thought about, so it is good to be reminded of our responsibility as stewards of this incredible planet and the special life that thrives if not disturbed by humans. Canada, wisely, does not allow much commercial activity inside the Parks at all – unlike the current administration in the US that wants to allow for things like oil drilling in the “protected” wilderness. I think that is the correct course for countries to take. It is what makes these places special.
That specialness is on full display for all to see in our Canadian National Parks. Go see it for yourself. And learn.