Riding the less travelled paths created by pioneers, settlers and homesteaders.

“We can’t go through here,” I told my riding partner Glen — although that technically wasn’t true. If we’d really wanted to, we probably could have found somewhere to ford the Northeast Margaree River, which stretched in front of us, cutting the trail, swollen from the previous night’s rain. But on the first full day of our Cape Breton backcountry discovery mission, I didn’t feel like getting into a soaking mess. We looked for a route that was safer than the trail I’d taken on my last time through here, 11 years earlier.

We soon found a gravel road with the luxury of a bridge over the river, which we took instead of riding over an unsure, slippery bottom. Did we wimp out? Perhaps, but we were here to explore, not to go swimming, and the fun was just getting started.

Technically, the fun had started the day before, when we’d pulled into the Silver Dart Lodge in Baddeck, NS. This strategically located resort wasn’t particularly close to most of the areas we’d be riding, but its central placement on the island meant it wasn’t far away, either. Good enough! 

We’d unloaded our gear into the room and rolled the bikes off the truck; a brand-new Honda CRF300L I was testing and my old Yamaha WR250R, which Glen was borrowing because his Katoom was down for maintenance. Not the usual machines of choice for riders up here to strafe the Cabot Trail, but that wasn’t our intention. Our goal was to see what lay beyond, with a heavy emphasis on dual-sport riding.

TIME TO EXPLORE

That first evening, we’d ridden the Highland Road north from Hunters Mountain to its Wreck Cove entry point onto the Cabot Trail; nothing challenging, except for rain that surprised us — the only rain we rode in all summer, in this season of drought, and the rain that had caused the rising river that initially blocked our route the next day. 

So far, my plan to retrace my long-ago dual-sport tracks in the Highlands, the mountainous region in the centre of the island’s western section, was off to a bad start. The last time I’d come through this section, the weather had been similarly soggy, and it had been challenging; but this time, I was able to ride much more confidently, with a riding partner behind me if things got sticky. 

Never underestimate the power of positive thinking, and the confidence that comes from knowing you have…