Live Life In Tents' Blog is dedicated to helping people get out to explore Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Top picks of food, travel
&
adventures. Camping, Hiking, Fishing, Paddle Boarding, Kayaking, and more.
Cape Breton Isn’t Closed: Why Winter Is the Island’s Best-Kept Secret
When you think of winter on Cape Breton Island, what comes to mind? Do you picture the island curling up for a long seasonal nap, waiting quietly for spring thaw? Or does winter spark something in you—an itch for a completely new kind of adventure? I’d bet most folks, maybe even you, pack away any thought of Cape Breton travel the moment the temperature drops. The hiking boots go into storage, the tent gets tucked onto a shelf, and the mental label slapped on the bin says, “Do Not Open Until Spring.”
Building BASECAMP: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Cape Breton’s New Winter Refuge
In the fall of 2024, I started building a pitch for Parks Canada. The vision was to establish a temporary winter camping village on the backside of Franey Mountain—something inspired by The North Face’s annual winter basecamps out west. The concept was simple: a snowshoe- or ski-in-only destination that could serve as a jumping-off point for alpine missions, cross-country ski loops, snowshoe routes to White Hill, or just a unique place to spend a few nights off-grid.
On guiding: why hire a guide for your backcountry adventure?
A guiding service has many different layers to it (keep in mind that I am a guide, writing a blog on why guides are worth paying for). I will attempt to portray the information in which you see the value added by having a guide, both for yourself and for the environment.
the storytelling series pt.3 // Exploring home
Like the tourism slogan goes: Cape Breton Island; your heart will never leave. As you can tell, mine sure didn’t. I know the world has opened up, but I’m pretty stoked to continue to explore my home.
Why you come off the mountains different than you go into them
In February my friend and I did a four day trek through the Rwenzori mountains that border Uganda and the Congo. For four days we did nothing but hike, laugh, eat, splash in icy rivers, stand wide eyed at the sleeping beasts of mountains around us. We were sweaty and muddy, miles away from cell service. We squatted over holes in the ground for the bathroom and warmed water over a fire for bucket showers. We stood under a sky blanketed by the brightest stars I have ever seen and we fell asleep at 9pm, laughing until we couldn’t stay awake anymore.
Four options (that don’t suck) for mapping and planning your outdoor adventures
We are probably all familiar with Google Maps and Google Earth. These platforms are useful when sharing general location data however the downside is their off-line versions are not always reliable. There is nothing worse than being in the middle of the words without any service when your map refreshes and you have no idea where you are. Below we have created a list of some of our favourite apps for planning backcountry and off-line excursions so that you don’t get lost on your next adventure!
Our easy 4-step guide to backcountry winter camping
In everybody’s journey into hiking, the backcountry is an inventible progression to going further and seeing more. Backcountry hiking doesn’t have to be anything crazy; some stay away from it because they simply don’t know where to start or think it’s beyond their current experience level. We’re here to tell you that heading backcountry can be accessible for all experience levels and have a simple 4 step plan to help you get there.
The White Hill Gang - 5 Days Winter Camping in the Cape Breton Highlands
Any backcountry camping trip can be a humbling experience but, winter backcountry camping is a whole other beast. It teaches you the need for efficiency in everything you do. Wasted time means wasted energy and that means you get cold… fast. You need to take care of the small things so they don’t compound into major issues. So as much as you think you’ve mastered your kit and preparation, mother nature will literally throw that upside down and make you start again until you are a well-oiled, efficient, machine… I mean it’s either that or you freeze. That is the true beauty of it all.
Reconnecting with the wild
Last week my friend, Ally, and I went camping. The weather is finally warming and the ground isn’t soaked through with soggy snow, so we packed our backpacks and set out into the Margaree valley. We ended up pitching our tent next to a set of tiny, cascading waterfalls on the side of one of Margaree’s mountains. We gathered up fallen tree branches, started a fire and ate dinner. We spent the rest of the evening laughing, writing and reading books as the smokey smell of the fire settled over us.
5 tips on hiking sustainably
I’ve seen it too many times to count. I’m out on a hike, surrounded by so much natural beauty that it takes my breath away. I look up at towering trees, listen to the bubble and babble of the river beside me, breathe deep to take in the ocean air and then… what’s that on the ground? But I already know. We all do, don’t we?