I woke up early the next morning at the Markland and explored some of the back roads. I didn't get more than 15 yards from the cottage when I heard a song that in ingrained in my memory. It took a minute to remember why, but it was a Mourning Warbler!
A little further down the road - an Olive-sided Flycatcher!!
Loads of Yellow Warblers.
The only down-side were the mosquitoes. When the wind drops, Nova Scotia can be overrun with them.
After a delicious breakfast, we hit the road for the second half of the Cabot Trail. Just to clarify, its a road not a trail but there are tons of trails coming off of it.
Melissa and Luke at some waterfalls with a Scottish name.
The highlight of the day was the Skyline Trail which took a couple hours and ended at an overlook with gale force winds.
What you can't see in this picture is how windy it was.
So here is a short video of George and Melissa. They look a little goofy here, but I can vouch that the wind was no joke and really had us a little scared of being knocked over.
To be honest the hike was beautiful, but I think it may be overhyped and not as awe-inspiring as some of the online claims.
I did see a Northern Goshawk fly right over my head while I was hiking but my camera was in my pack. It was very close range and one of the only birds I saw in that crazy wind.
We finished the hike just in time before the skies opened up and it started raining as we drove on and finished the Cabot Trail.
In the evening we checked into our motel which was a really nice family run business called the Antigonish Inn. The lady who ran it made delicious scones and the rooms had a quirky but clean kind of feel.
We took a short hike in the morning along the waterfront at Antigonish Landing and I kept picking up some good birds with the Merlin App which has better ears than me, but I wasn't able to get on them. A Philadelphia Vireo was probably the best one but Yellow-bellied Flycatchers were being picked up too.
We got back on the road and I stopped at one more provincial park on the way to Halifax - Beaver Mountain Provincial Park.
The place was thick with Black-throated Green Warblers and Magnolia Warblers. We found the Beaver dam but they stayed hidden while we were there and the bear scat all over the place had us a little nervous so we moved on.
That night we stayed in Halifax again and at at another fantastic restaurant, this one rated #1 in Halifax on TripAdvisor - Studio East Gastropub. I can confirm it was excellent and not pretentious at all. Definitely hit this place up if you head to Halifax : https://www.studioeastfood.ca/
Unfortunately the hotel we stayed at was a bust. It was one of the high end hiltons and I had booked it with points hoping to pamper Melissa for one night, but the AC was broken and our room was boiling hot. This was strange because the temperature outside was lovely. It was a high-rise and the window wouldn't open. So none of us got a good night sleep.
We had one more leg of the trip planned and that was in Lunenburg which is a Unesco World Heritage site. The whole town is a relic of an old english settlement and holdout. Lots of history, which I am not that interested in, but it was pretty for sure. I was more enamored with a nearby village called Blue Rocks which didn't really have much other than some beautiful scenery.
The harbor at Blue Rocks.
I loved the colors of the seaweed here.
And oddly enough, the moss on the roof of this shed was a similar color!
Luke and I took a load off in Lunenburg while Melissa did some shopping in the cute shops.
We had some time before check-in at the Lunenburg Inn so we headed to Ovens Natural Park which is about 30 minutes away and has some really cool sea caves to explore.
I would imagine on a very wavy day in the winter this would be a more dramatic and cool place to visit. The waves crash into these caves and make all kinds of interesting noises. One of the caves sounded like a canon going off.
Golden-crowned Kinglet
No questioning this thrush - Hermit.
The family unit.
A bonafide Nova Scotia Herring Gull.
Magnolia Warbler
Well that's a wrap! The trip back was easy and uneventful which is always a good thing with air travel.
On the whole, a very good trip. Maybe not on par with our recent trip to Yosemite, but certainly worth a visit. I would recommend going in the fall during peak foliage and maybe bring your surfboard. The waves can get amazing in Sept-Oct.
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