Cape Breton Highlands National Park is located on northern Cape Breton Island in the province of Nova Scotia. A section of the Cabot Trail passes through the park featuring spectacular ocean and mountain views. The park was the first National Park in the Atlantic provinces of Canada and covers an area of 950 km². Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada Cape Breton Island (French: île du Cap-Breton, Scottish Gaelic: Eilean Cheap Breatuinn, Mikmaq: Unamakika), sometimes shortened to just Cape Breton, is a large island on the Atlantic coast of North America. ... Motto: Munit Haec et Altera Vincit (One defends and the other conquers) Other Canadian provinces and territories Capital Halifax Largest city Halifax Lieutenant Governor Myra A. Freeman Premier John Hamm (PC) Area 55,283 km² (12th) Land 53,338 km² Water 1,946 km² (3. ... The Cabot Trail is a Canadian highway located in the province of Nova Scotia on Cape Breton Island. ... The Canadian National Parks system encompasses over forty protected areas, including National Parks, National Park Reserves and National Marine Conservation Areas. ... To help compare different orders of magnitude and geographical regions, we list here areas between 100 km² and 1000 km². See also areas of other orders of magnitude. ...

At the western entrance of the park is the Acadian village of Chéticamp on the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and a park information centre. On the eastern side of the park are the beaches at Ingonish on the Atlantic Ocean. In between are mountains, valleys, forests, waterfalls, rocky coastlines and a tundra-like plateau known as the Cape Breton Highlands. Acadians are the original French settlers of parts of the northeastern region of North America comprising what is now the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. ... Chéticamp, Nova Scotia is an Acadian fishing community on the Cabot Trail on the west coast of Cape Breton Island at the western entrance to Cape Breton Highlands National Park. ... The Gulf of Saint Lawrence, the worlds largest estuary, is the outlet of North Americas Great Lakes via the Saint Lawrence River into the Atlantic Ocean. ... In physical geography, tundra is an area where tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. ... In geology and earth science, a plateau (alternatively spelt in a false French spelling plâteau, the real spelling in French being plateau) is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat open country if the uplift was recent in geologic history. ... The Cape Breton Highlands, commonly called the Highlands, refer to a highland or plateau of ancient rock across northern Cape Breton Island and is an extension of the Appalachian mountain chain. ...

Also on the east side of the park located in Ingonish at the Keltic Lodge resort is Highland Links, an 18-hole golf course designed by Stanley Thompson. Golf Magazine ranked it as one of the top 100 courses in the world and the best public course in Canada. George Knudson suggested leaving your clubs behind and just walking the course. The course has been certified by the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program, a program aimed at conserving wildlife habitat in spaces used for other purposes. Golfer teeing off at the start of a hole Golf is an outdoor sport where individual players or teams hit a small ball into a hole using various clubs. ... George Knudson (June 28, 1937 - January 24, 1989) was a Canadian golfer, who still holds the record for the Canadian with the most wins ever on the PGA TOUR, with 8 career victories. ...

The park's forested areas include

• Acadian forest of mixed deciduous trees and conifers, mainly found at lower elevations
• boreal forest found on the plateau and uplands

Park wildlife includes moose, black bears and bald eagles. Whales and Northern Gannets can often be seen from the park's coastal hiking trails. The park's forests provide habitat for the uncommon Bicknell's Thrush. The rare Gaspé Shrew, Sorex gaspensis, can be found on rocky slopes in the park. Deciduous means temporary or tending to fall off (deriving from the Latin word decidere, to fall off). ... Orders & Families Cordaitales † Pinales   Pinaceae - Pine family   Araucariaceae - Araucaria family   Podocarpaceae - Yellow-wood family   Sciadopityaceae - Umbrella-pine family   Cupressaceae - Cypress family   Cephalotaxaceae - Plum-yew family   Taxaceae - Yew family Vojnovskyales † Voltziales † The conifers, division Pinophyta, are one of 13 or 14 division level taxa within the Kingdom Plantae. ... Taiga (SAMPA /taIg@/, from Russian тайга́) is a biome characterized by its coniferous forests. ... Binomial name Alces alces (Linnaeus, 1758) A female moose. ... Binomial name Ursus americanus Pallas, 1780 The American Black Bear (Ursus americanus), also known as simply the black bear or cinnamon bear, is the most common bear in North America. ... Binomial name Haliaeetus leucocephalus (Linnaeus, 1766) The Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is a bird of prey indigenous to North America, and is the national symbol of the United States. ... Whales are not the largest species of exclusively aquatic placental mammals, members of the order Cetacea, which also includes dolphins and porpoises. ... Binomial name Morus bassanus Linnaeus, 1758 The Northern Gannet (Morus bassanus or Sula bassana) is a large seabird of the gannet family, Sulidae. ... Beautiful natural scenes are common hiking destinations Hiking is a form of walking, undertaken with the specific purpose of exploring and enjoying the scenery. ... Binomial name Catharus bicknelli (Ridgway, 1882) The Bicknells Thrush, Catharus bicknelli, is a medium-sized thrush. ... Binomial name Sorex gaspensis (Anthony & Goodwin, 1924) The Gaspé Shrew, Sorex gaspensis, is a North American shrew found on the Gaspé peninsula of Quebec, on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia and in New Brunswick. ...

Rivers in the park include the:

• Chéticamp River
• MacKenzie River
• North Aspy River

The Chéticamp River is a river on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, located at the western entrance to Cape Breton Highlands National Park. ... The Aspy River is a river on northeastern Cape Breton Island which rises in the Cape Breton Highlands and empties into Aspy Bay. ...

See also

• Canadian National Parks
• List of Canadian national parks

The Canadian National Parks system encompasses over forty protected areas, including National Parks, National Park Reserves and National Marine Conservation Areas. ... The Canadian National Parks system is run by Parks Canada, which also runs Canadas National Historic Sites. ...

External links

• Official Site