Hike the Highlands Festival https://www.hikethehighlands.com

On International Trails Day, Saturday, June 4th, we hiked the Cape Smokey hiking trail , a 11km seacoast trail that features a number of scenic look-offs – seven in total.  The look-offs are located over 900 feet from water on high granite cliffs. Besides the hike today, our tasks were to...Read more

The year 2011 can be declared the year of hiking challenges in the Cape Breton Highlands.  Here are just a few below : 1) The Cape Breton Highlands National Park celebrating its 75th Anniversary in 2011 has issued a 75 km hiking challenge from May to October.  You cannot hike on the same...Read more

Generally, the Victoria Day weekend is the start of the hiking season in the Cape Breton Highlands area for many hikers. You can expect wet conditions, some windfalls, cold temps, winds and much more. Here are some tips to get ready for the season: 1) develop a checklist for your hiking equipment,...Read more

Spring hiking means wet conditions, streams and brooks to cross, and using your trekking poles and wearing your gaiters. But don’t forget about snow...Franey is one of your classic hikes in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park – incredible views on top and a nice aerobic workout. It...Read more

In 2009, a young lassie, Sophia, from England came to Canada for a year to travel and work.  Her first stop was Hike the Highlands Festival…About midway thru the festival she met a lad from PEI who was studing at University of British Columbia. JF was working at Cape Breton Highlands...Read more

In February 2011, Hike Nova Scotia announced its new program – a Hiker Distance Award. Pattern a bit like Hike the Highlands Festival in Cape Breton, the award program provides a lapel pin to people who hike, walk or snowshoe in Nova Scotia. There are three distances 150 km, 250 km and 500...Read more

Marie Stradeski, a friend and volunteer of Hike the Highlands Festival has left Cape Breton Highlands National Park and is heading for the Pacific Rim National Park in British Columbia.  Marie was Heritage Presentation Officer III at Cape Breton Highlands National Park for the past 6 years. She...Read more

Forty hikers enjoyed the last two hikes of the festival on day 10, Sept 19 at Smokey Towers and Clyburn Valley…..the sun was with us on the last day of the festival. It was a sad day for many us – saying good-byes …the days seemed to go by fast.  Alot of  new friendships were...Read more

Heavy rains the day before made conditions on Cape Smokey wet and on Money Point Light tricky with some washouts but 60 plus hikers enjoyed the sunny day. It was nice to see the sun again… Hikers were disappointed to see the conditions left by government officials & contractors who...Read more

Today’s weather forecast was 30-40 mm of rain, heavy at times with winds 20-70 kms… I never thought 40 hikers on Day 8 would show up at 9:00 am. to hike Branch Pond Look-off at Cape Breton Highlands National Park. They showed at Middle Head at 10:00 am and later in the afternoon at...Read more