First Camping Trip of 2023
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Ace and I spent the weekend up in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park at Broad Cove Campground. Dylan, Danielle and their two kids, along with Mulder (their dog), also camped there all weekend in their newly purchased tent trailer. I snapped a few photos on the drive up while the weather was nice. Some spots like Cape Smokey were packed with people, so I could not get as many photos as I would have liked.
Friday
I arrived there a few minutes after check-in time. Turns out the national park is not fully open yet, so there was a notice to call to complete the check-in. The cell service was spotty throughout the campground and non-existent at my campsite. I could not get ahold of the reservation desk, but did manage to flag down a park attendant who said some construction was happening in the parks, and they accidentally destroyed a phone line, taking down most of the park's phone system. She said she would consider me checked in and all good to go.
Ended up cooking hamburgers at that point as it was around 4pm, and it would be the first time I had anything to eat that day. Managed to fully set up my campsite and tent while the burgers cooked.
My campsite was further in the back, with a small path in the woods that ran parallel with a body of water which connected to the ocean. The background noise of the waves was amazing until being interrupted by extremely loud crows at 6:00am.
The weather did not really cooperate, as it was mostly cloudy and temperatures did not pass around 15 all weekend I believe. It made for two cold nights sleeping in a 4-season tent on the ground. Luckily, I didn't find it too cold during the nights.
Saturday
After a quick breakfast and cleanup of the campsites, we headed to the Warren Lake Trail, which is a family friendly 5 km trail that loops around the actual lake. With two dogs, a baby, a six-year-old and three adults, it only took one hour and half. Followed up by a stop at Main Street restaurant for fish and chips, and the Bitsy Bean Café for a hot tea. The tea was delicious. The fish and chips were slightly pricey but went down just as good.
Sunday
Woke up early to the rain and a slight self-induced headache, so ended packing up my campsite and headed home at 8:00am. My gas tank was running pretty low, but all the gas stations were not open when I drove by them. The Englishtown ferry was also not operating, so I had to take the longer way around. Ended up stopping at the end of the road to let Ace do some business and met a gentleman on a motorcycle and had a good 10-minute conversation with him about his German Shepards.
I did not end up taking many photos at any stops because the fog was intense most of the drive home. Could not even see the ocean due to all the fog.
Spent a couple of hours after arriving home unpacking and cleaning up, watching the newest episode of the TV show From. I followed that up by going for a three-hour nap in the glowing warmth of my bed.
Was a great first camping trip, just wished for a little more sunshine and higher temperatures.
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