Cheticamp Campground, Cabot Trail – Cape Breton Highlands NP
It is finally time to begin exploring the Cape Breton Highlands. Soon after leaving the campground the Cabot Trail winds into the mountains offering breathtaking views of the Gulf of St. Lawrence below. There are many look-offs, as they are called here, and to add to the fun, we have O’s geological map of Nova Scotia (available at the Cheticamp visitor center) which offers all sorts of tidbits explaining the layers of metamorphic, sedimentary, and igneous rock along the highway, and the faults that helped create this dramatic landscape. It takes us most of the day just to drive the first 30 miles just because we are finding the geology so interesting, and we’re not even half way around.
We pause up on the highland plateau to walk, or rather hobble, the bog trail, which is a boardwalk loop through a sloping fen. A fen is a bog that has ground water seeping in and out. A sloping fen has water slowly moving through because the terrain is slightly sloped. Here we see pitcher plants, wild orchids, sphagnum moss, rushes, tamarack, and black spruce. We finally turn around in our drive near Pleasant Bay and return to camp for supper.
While we are eating dinner, Mary Louise, an indigenous Mi’kmaq walks by and invites us to a demonstration she is giving tonight of a game called Waltes. It is an ancient game with a unique way of counting points. In the past it was used to tell the future as well, but that skill has been lost. The game is played by lifting a wooden plate holding six dice made of moose bone, although Mary Louise’s dice are made of wood. The dice are disc shaped, rounded on one side and flat with a design on the other side. The plate is firmly pounded on a blanket or pelt causing the dice to flip on the plate. Points are scored if 5 out of the 6 die land face up or face down. Extra points are scored if all the dice land either face up or face down. O and I play with a couple from Quebec. O and the couple each win several sticks, used to count points. I seem to have no luck whatsoever. Soon only the stick known as “the old man” is left. I take another turn and all the dice land face down. We wait for Mary Louise to come over to find out how to proceed. She tells me to flip the dice again. Again they all end up face down. Mary Louise explains this is called “Dunking the Loon.” Game over and I’ve won!! What a great game!