Whales and Seals and Horses, oh my: Pollett's Cove

 In less than a week I will be hopping on a plane to visit the wild horses of Sable Island. But who could have guessed that all I had to do to see horses out in the wild was go for a 13-14 kilometer hike in Cape Breton (Sable Island will still be an amazing once in a lifetime experience!). 

In preparing for this hike, it was often recommended by others to camp at the cove and hike back the next day as the hike is very difficult. Alltrails states that there is appoximately 800+ meters of elevation gain. As my mom and I plan to do Cape Chignecto at the end of August, we thought doing the entire hike in one day would be good practice. 

We drove up the day before and did a little warm up hike at Skyline on the way to our motel: Mountain View motel in Pleasant Bay.  Skyline was beautiful as always. Though if you are doing this hike, please listen to the signs and do not go off the boardwalk (at the end of the trail). The vegetation is very sensitive. Please respect the environment! In Montserrat, just outside of Barcelona Spain, there is this really neat structure known as the “Stairway to Heaven”. It became a really popular spot to climb on top of for instagram photos despite not being allowed to climb it. When we went in 2018 the entire structure was surrounded by a fence which ruins the photo. If we do not want something like that happening at Skyline, please listen to the signs!

(Would be much nicer without the fence! Montserrat, Spain)

Anyways back to the main hike… 

The trail starts off quite easy. You cross over a small wooden bridge where other hikers had left walking sticks. I highly recommend hiking poles for this! Then pass what looks like an abandoned shack. About 20-30 minutes later the real challenge begins. The first ascent of mountain number one. It just feels like you go up and up forever. And you kind of do. I think it took us close to an hour to get to the top of this first mountain. While the trail is well trodden, the brush is not trimmed. You will be walking through brush and ferns, and such. I was very glad I wore long pants! Some areas of the trail are extremely narrow and at a cliff edge. Careful footing was very much required. On the final descent of mountain number one you come out to this beautiful clearing with a small river that we would soon be required to cross. Maybe it is because we had a very rainy July, but we had a difficult time finding a safe way to cross. It certainly is possible. My dad braved the rocks. He also did not have a backpack. My mom and I each had 50-55L hiking packs in preparation for Chignecto and did not feel we could safely copy my dad’s route across the rocks. We elected to take our boots and socks off and walk across barefoot. Which was refreshing but also icy cold on the feet! 

After a short break for water and to get our boots back on, it was onwards to mountain number two. This mountain I found was much easier than the first. The first was just up, up, up. For this one there was a lot of up and then down. But never as steep as the first mountain. I also found there were a lot of fairly flat areas. This section of the trail however required a bit more dexterity. We traveled over mud, over trees and under trees, across small streams. Better than a steep incline for sure!

After just under three hours we finally made it to the cove. The final descent is very steep, and on tired legs, it feels like we were going downhill forever. At first we could not spot any horses. My one fear with doing the hike in one day was the risk that we may not see the horses. But as I hiked further I spotted two. Then further down I saw the other five! It was very exciting to see them, even from so far away.

There was a small river dividing us from the horses. They definitely do cross at times as the side we were on had a minefield of horse poop. I had to watch my steps very carefully! A fellow hiker who had stayed the night said they often cross when hikers are eating. We went back closer to the beach where we found a log to sit on and eat some lunch, silently hoping the horses might approach. Unfortunately no such luck. The horses stayed on the other side of the river eating the grass. We would have stayed longer in this stunningly beautiful cove, admiring the horses from afar, but we knew the weather mentioned it would most likely rain in a few hours. With the summer we have had, the chance that this was true was quite high. Along the beach there was a dead pilot whale, which was really sad to see. I have no idea what happened to it. 

We then said our last goodbyes to the horses of Pollett’s Cove and prepared ourselves for the long hike back. This trail is out and back, not a loop, so the sights would be what we have already seen, just a different perspective. 

While hiking to the top of the hill leading the cove, we looked back and noticed whales in the ocean below. It is always exciting to see wildlife on hikes (as long as it is not bears or coyotes). Later on at the small stream crossing where we had to take our boots off to cross we even saw a couple of seals as well. So horses, whales, and seals. An exciting day of hiking for sure!

With close to an hour left in our return hike it began to rain. Which sucked. To our surprise we passed three groups of hikers just making their way into the cove. Most do not recommend doing this hike in the rain so I was shocked so many were still making the trek. The rest of the weekend did not look promising either. We wished them good weather and were on our way. 

All in all, the return took about three and a half hours or so. So probably around six hours 45 minutes to seven hours total hiking time. Not too bad for one day. I know some websites will say a hike is “difficult” and it turns out to not be too bad. Pollett’s Cove has definitely earned the label “difficult”. This was certainly a challenging hike. The end was worth it one hundred percent. The cove is absolutely sublime and the horses are beautiful to watch even from afar. The trek itself was also enjoyable. Some muddy spots along the way, but a fun and challenging trail. Except for the incline. Inclines are never fun, and are a pain to go down. I mean this both figuratively and literally. My knees did not thank me for going down some of the declines. 

I am not sure if I will ever get back to this hike but if I do I would love to stay the night. It would be quite the experience to camp among the horses with no sign of civilization for miles. I am sure the sky would look amazing at night.  Maybe one day!