By early afternoon, it was time to begin our Skyline Trail. It was mostly cloudy and rather windy, and for the first 3km or so along a service road then gravel trail. And then... Elizabeth spotted the moose. And then her baby! We had the mother and baby staring at us about 10 metres away. As I scrambled for a second camera, the mother stared at me suspiciously but as it became apparent we were no threat, she and her baby started grazing. It was a wonderful experience but the rest was yet to come.

moose along Skyline Trail, Cabot Trail

mother moose, Skyline Trail, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia

moose eating along Skyline Trail, Cape Breton Island

The mother headed off into the woods with her baby following, and after many smiles and self-congratulations for our timing, we continued. Having only spotted two other sets of hikers we were all alone, and we discovered that the grazing trail for the two moose followed our hiking path; they emerged to find some choice grass and vegetation only a few metres from where we were standing. For the next 30 minutes or so, they came within a few feet of our trail to eat, looking at us occasionally but generally quite intent on their food. The most interesting and cute aspect of these two was that the baby was still a bit too short to properly eat, so he often kneeled on his front legs to graze, just turning his neck to reach new vegetation. After a couple hundred photos and videos and more chilling wind, it was actually us that decided to leave them to eat in peace.

baby moose kneeling to eat

baby moose eating

mother moose scratching baby

After the high of enjoying company of wild moose in their natural habitat, the end of the Skyline Trail was going to be hard pressed to impress, but it came close. A long series of stairs follows the crest of the mountain that we followed down to the edge. These hundreds of stairs create quite a visual and physical experience, surrounded by the valley on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other.

end of Skyline Trail, Cabot Trail, Cape Breton Island

A few minutes in the wind is all we could handle, so we hiked all the way back without any new excitement, then began the long drive to the Caribou - Wood Islands ferry that would bring us to Prince Edward Island. After a bit of vehicle mishap involving failing breaks and a rain front coming in, we caught the last ferry to PEI and arrived at the Charlotte Rose B&B just before midnight. Our host John had stayed up to greet us, so after we were shown to our lovely room, it was time for a comfortable sleep.

05/29/09 by visitEarth
Tags: Skyline Trail, moose, Cabot Trail, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia