Pollett's Cove Backpacking & I'll Never Make This Mistake Again!

The last weekend of September my mom and I make a regular weekend into a long weekend and take a little road trip up to Cape Breton Island. Our destination is Pollett's Cove. To reach the trailhead we have to drive 6+ hours from our home on the South Shore, northeast through the province and then along the western edge of the beautiful Cape Breton Highlands National Park. We hike in Saturday, after staying at The Mountain View Motel & Cottages in Pleasant Bay on Friday night. Arriving mid-afternoon to the cove, we set up our camp and discover I made a big mistake in my packing. Mom takes action and a group of young people camping on the beach that night comes to our rescue! Thanks to them we have a comfortable sleep. Sunday is another beautiful day and after enjoying the spectacular scenery of the cove we hike back out and return to the trailhead by mid-afternoon. From there we're off to Baddeck for the night, for a supper out, hot showers and motel beds. ----------------- If you go to Pollett's cove: For Nova Scotia, the hike is considered difficult. I would not categorize it as such though there are definitely strenuous sections. However, the trail is not well maintained in terms of grading and erosion control, therefore some sections are a little treacherous. I would be cautious about doing this during a hard rain. We hiked in the day after a rainstorm and it was ok. But if you're hiking in the rain prepare for slippery conditions. The hike is one of the most strenuous trails I've come across in Nova Scotia. The views are worth the overgrown and poorly maintained trail. (Trail maintenance may change when the Seawall Trail comes into existence, see below.) As you'll find in researching this hike, the land is privately owned. There is no cost to hike or park. The location is stunning, one of the best I've camped in, but if you go on a summer weekend you can expect to have a lot of neighbours. There is a lot space for camping to accommodate everyone though I do worry about how long this site will be able to remain unregulated given the increasing numbers of hikers and their impact on the land. I am excited about the plans for the Jajiktek Seawall Trail that will connect Pollett's Cove to Meat Cover further northeast along the coast. I can't wait to do that hike one day. https://invernesscounty.ca/seawall-tr... https://www.seawalltrail.com/ I found the following videos and articles helpful in preparing for our hike and learning about the area:    • Walkabout S1E7 - Polletts Cove   https://hikecapebreton.ca/cape-breton... https://hikersmovement.com/hiking-pol... PS. The horses, which are not actually wild according to Andrew Young's video, did not appear during our visit. That was fine with me since I was nervous about the possibility of them trampling tents. ----- Lastly, on a editing note... I shot all this video on my phone (I know, it's obvious!) And my phone isn't stellar. I'm aware of how irritating/distracting the autofocus is on some of the video clips. I tried to edit it out where possible. I think I've now figured out now how to disable that feature on my phone so future recordings won't have that. Ideally, I'll be using my nice camera for the videos and this issue won't come up very often. ------ Music credits Open Road by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Artist: http://audionautix.com/