The Cabot Trail is a well-known scenic roadway around Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton Island. If you visit Nova Scotia, no doubt it’s on your list of things to do, but before you reach the official trail (if you drive it counterclockwise) you’ll go through the town of Baddeck.
Don’t just give this town a honk-and-a-wave. There are, minimally, two great things to do in Baddeck – hike to Uisage Ban Falls and visit the Alexander Graham Bell Museum!
***PRO TIP***Follow the road signs to Uisage and not Google maps. Google took us a back-route and down dirt roads that had unavoidable, cannonball sized divots and ended at a fallen tree that prevented further travel to the trailhead.
Uisage Ban Falls is at the end of a 1.7 mile-out-and-back, mostly well-marked, gravel trail. Near the very end some scrambling over large tree roots and rocks is needed to get the base of, and best views of, the surprisingly tall, but low-flow falls. If you’re travelling with that person who ignores all warning signs (Doug), I’m sure they’ll get the best pictures for you. We were the only people boondocked at the trailhead that night.
The next morning, we toured the Alexander Graham Bell Museum. He was a remarkable inventor! Known, of course, for the invention of the telephone, but did you know he also invented an audiometer to detect hearing loss, worked with Edison on the phonograph, taught Helen Keller to speak using a “visible speech” technique started by this father, joined the Aerial Experiment Association with Glenn Curtiss to accelerate flight, worked with a team who set a hydrofoil boat world speed record, and experimented with transmitting and receiving underwater sounds? Not all of his experiments succeeded though. He also attempted to develop a flock of sheep that would consistently bear twins, but after 30 years of research, only succeeded in breeding a flock of mulit-nippled sheep!
Baddeck has a great waterfront, so if you go, head down the hill after the museum for some food, shopping, a stroll, or a selfie with Bell and his wife (photo at the top of this post).
We highly recommend some time in Baddeck before the Cabot Trail.
