Skyline Trail (Cape Breton Highlands National Park)

The Skyline Trail is a seven-kilometre, looping, hiking trail at Cape Breton Highlands National Park in Petit Étang, Nova Scotia, Canada. It lies on the western side of the Cabot Trail, near French Mountain's summit. This trail is well known for its scenic views, but also for the 2009 fatal coyote attack on Taylor Mitchell.

Trail outline

It consists of a loop that at about half way leads to a boardwalk. The first half of the loop is very well maintained and virtually wheelchair accessible. The second half of the loop is an easy hiking trail over stony ground and meadows. The boardwalk at the middle of the trail yields majestic views of the Cabot Trail and the ocean. There are multiple interpretive panels along the trail. Moose have been spotted by hiker along this trail numerous times. Northern gannets fly over this trail's coast near while minke whales, harbour seals, humpback whales, harp seals, fin whales, white-sided dolphins, sei whales, harbour porpoises, grey seals, and pilot whales swim offshore.

Taylor Mitchell coyote attack

On October 27, 2009, coyotes attacked and fatally injured Canadian country folk singer Taylor Mitchell when she went a short distance and walked down the access road returning to her car for preparation of her next concert.^[1][2] This serious event occurred six minutes after one of the hikers photographed the two coyotes. Taylor's wounded body was taken to Sacred Heart Community Health Centre in Chéticamp and then airlifted by a helicopter ambulance to Halifax's Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre, where she died after midnight. This park's resource conservation supervisor, Erich Muntz and the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resource's Wildlife Resources manager, Michael O'Brien thought the predatory animal suspect was a black bear when both of them heard about Taylor's incident at first, but they soon found out it was a pair of coyotes. An earlier coyote attack took place on that same trail in 2003, when a teenage girl was bitten on the arm while she went hiking with her parents.^[3] Parks Canada introduced coyotes to Cape Breton in 1981.^[4]

Aftermath

Ten months after Taylor's death, a coyote bit a sixteen-year-old girl on the top of her head twice. She was camping with her parents at Broad Cove.^[5] The teenage girl was taken to a hospital for stitches and treatment to prevent any rabies.^[6] Also in the summer of 2010, Cape Breton Highlands began having coyote warning signs at the entrance of every hiking trail for visitors. They feature safety instructions about any visitor confronting one or more coyotes while hiking on any of the trails.

References