Skyline trail

If you are going to do just one of the walks on the Cabot trail the one to do is the Skyline apparently. It follows a ridge up to a bluff by the sea through trees and meadows. The first 15 minutes are on a wide trail to take you up to the Skyline proper from the car park. After such strenuous exercise we stopped for a picnic and to see one of the rangers who was displaying antlers, footprints and poo. Round here you get deer and moose, with the occasional bear and coyote (the only adult to be killed by coyotes, a Canadian folk singer, was attacked on this trail in 2009). It is incredible to see just how big a moose antler really is. Lucas could hardly lift it, so we settled for a deer antler for the photo.

Then the path gets a bit narrower, but still pretty wide and smooth. It is also pretty level the whole way through. Sadly there are way too many people. There is a loop you can do to make the walk longer but we opted for the short version (7.5km is pretty much Lucas and Aisha's limit). The trail ends with a boardwalk (to protect the fragile vegetation) all the way to the end of the ridge and then about halfway down to the ocean. The views weren't too amazing as the day was pretty overcast, but on a clear day it must be quite something.

Stopped on the way back to learn about whales from another ranger, and then at the visitor centre. The kids completed their activity book missions and got a junior ranger diploma and dog tag, so they were pretty chuffed.