Nova Scotia - hikes

Almost every day we went for a good hike.  There are trails everywhere and the ones close to Antigonish were very quiet in terms of other hikers.  On some of the nicer ones we didn't see another soul.  

Hike one was in Arisaig where we hiked through allegedly tick infested woods to the lighthouse.  

 Though there were signs warning hikers of the deer tick type that carries lyme disease, we didn't see any there and later learned that there are few if any deer ticks in that part of Nova Scotia. 


 
 These were taken on the Fairmont Ridge Trail a short drive from Antigonish. Lovely hiking in the lush forest.

On our first venture to Cape Breton we discovered the Celtic Shores Coastal trail or the Ceilidh (pronounced kaylee, more about that later) Coastal Trail, a 95k segment of the Trans Canada Trail.  This trail, built on a former railway bed, starts in Port Hastings and ends in Inverness.  It's a multi-use trail so one encounters a variety of vehicles including horses and ATVs but when we were there, there were few other users.  

On another trip to Cape Breton we visited Badeck on the shore of the beautiful Bras d'Or Lake, a large lake, or series of connected lakes, in the middle of Cape Breton. 

Badeck is mainly known for the Alexander Graham Bell Historic Site located there.  This is a very touristy area and our hike in Uisge Ban Falls Provincial Park, lovely though it was, was the busiest we'd been on. I particularly liked these trees embracing the rocks.

Another day we drove south across Nova Scotia to Guysborough which turned out to be only mildly interesting with some nice older homes.  There was another section of the Trans Canada Trail there so we found it and hiked for a couple of hours.  For the most part, it wasn't a very interesting hike passing through dense, scrubby forest and quite hot.  Once or twice there was a lake or ocean view.

 
Cape George Point Lighthouse is situated at Cape George Point in the Northumberland Shore region overlooking the waters of St. George’s Bay. Cape Breton Island and Prince Edward Island can be seen on a clear day. The lighthouse sits atop a high cliff and guides vessels into St. George’s Bay. The original lighthouse was erected in 1861 and was destroyed by fire in 1907.  The present lighthouse is the third one located on this site which was built in 1968. Interpretive panels are on site. Cape George Point Lighthouse is one of three trailheads for the Cape George Hiking Trail network.

 This was a lovely hike and there were ticks.  As we were preparing to set off on our hike, a group of women were returning from theirs and carefully removing footgear and getting accumulated ticks out of their shoes and socks.  So we were very careful and only found one on Nancy's sock part way through the hike.  Otherwise it was quite lovely with some great views.  

Another unusual feature of many houses in Nova Scotia is the prominent five pointed stars on many of the homes.  Good old Google informed me that the stars identify homes where the family, or members of the family have Acadian heritage as denoted by these Acadian Stars.
 

Next up, Bay of Fundy