One More Hill to Climb

2026-07-30
Cape Breton National Park, Nova Scotia

This motel has an air conditioner in the room. It's a small window unit mounted through the wall, but it does have AC in addition to baseboard heating. The previous room had just a ceiling fan, which we used to good effect. Here we have the AC option, but we have had no inclination to turn it on. The windows have been open consistently for several days. There is also a lovely river view out the back. We can sit outside, but it's mosquito season.

This morning the plan was to do a 10 km hike up the mountain that is only 0.5 km from the motel, leaving from the visitor center. V, the voice of Carpe Diem, said we should go. Me, the voice of the Sky (as in "the sky is falling") didn't want to be at the top of the mountain when the predicted rain hits. Of course, neither of us are familiar with Maritimes weather.

We set off on the Acadian trail counter-clockwise. There was a bit of a breeze, but we soon wound into the lee of the mountain we were climbing. We traveled along a lovely stream that had some quite pretty sections. It took a solid three miles of upward slogging to reach the peak of the trail, and then work our way across the mountain to see the ocean. The wind freshened up at this point and remained strong for the rest of the day. For me this was great as it kept me cool hiking, but V had to add a layer for warmth.

There are four viewpoints on the oceanward side of the mountain. The highest one was incredibly bland, and they seemed to improve as we descended.

While it was downright windy during the hike, no rain made an appearance. We are both glad we went.

The wind blew strong in the afternoon, with gusts at 100 kph (60 mph) and rain off and on. We decided hiking wouldn't be enjoyable so we cancelled those plans. We thought to maybe go see a movie since The Odyssey recently came out. The two nearest theaters are roughly 2.5 hours away, in different directions at least. Not wanting to make an eight-hour epic journey ourselves, it was a calm afternoon featuring chores and reading. In case you were wondering, on Cape Breton Island gas is $1.99 CAN per liter, which is roughly $5.40 US per gallon at the current exchange rate.

Driving Distance: Not far at all
Hiking Distance: 8.7 km (5.4 miles)