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The Cabot Trail

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Oh, and the Timmies in Cheticamp closed a few years ago.

I remember the Cheticamp Timmies well. We stopped in years ago . One of our family members has a severe food allergy and they went out of their way to make sure our order would be safe for her. In those days, not every restaurant took food allergies seriously, but they did. Sorry to hear that they are no longer there.
 
The reason that I was told that it closed is logistical - this was the only Timmies on the west side of the island. Given the extreme cost consciousness of the new owners of THD they didn't think it made sense to keep this location open when you had to have a big supply truck drive for an hour for just one restaurant.
 
Just completed a fantastic road trip with my Model Y SR from Quebec City to the Cabot Trail.

The big addition from 2020 is that Tesla has donated a bunch of level 2 chargers to Parcs Canada. So if you plan a hike or stay a couple of hours at a beach (Ingonish, Black Brook), that should take care of charging along the Cabot Trail.

I started the Cabot Trail after a fast charge at Baddeck, and I agree that during high season there will be a high probability of a line there. Of course this year is different so I had no issues. Worst case, there is also a fast charger in North Sydney, 38 km away from the start of the Cabot Trail.

I used the Tesla level 2 chargers a couple of times, in addition to charging overnight on a 120V plug. On my way back, I charged on the Tesla Level 2 at Chéticamp for about an hour in order to reach the fast charger in Monastery with some good margin, some 156 km away, thereby skipping Baddeck. I did plan for strong headwinds which ended up eating nearly half the planned battery margin.

Parcs Canada at Chéticamp also has many camping spots available with 50 Amps Nema 14-50. Definitely an EV friendly place.

I saw just one other Tesla during my entire Cabot Trail ride. But there were very few tourists around, considering the circumstances. On the famed Skyline Trail parking lot, capable of normally handling hundreds of cars, there were only 20 cars when I was got in.

Overall I covered 2768 km in four days, at an average of 172 Wh/km.

Cabot Trail 2.jpg


Cabot Trail 3.jpg


Cabot Trail 4.jpg
 
This is partly why I bought a Model S LR+. 298 km is about half of my battery range, so worrying about where the Cha de Mo chargers are never happens.

I always recommend people buy the most range they can afford. BUY MORE RANGE!! You won't be sorry.
I agree with the recommendation, although I would still buy an SR today if I had to do it again. It just does the job for me, and the Cabot Trail with an SR was a no brainer. I even did some wandering around and added 80 km to the loop.
 
Thanks for the info on the Cabot Trail - I typically go to Inveness, NS a couple of times per year to play golf at the Cabot Links golf resort. I fly into Halifax and drive up but it is good to know the options in case I ever decide to make the long drive from Toronto.

Inverness is on the Ceilidh Trail, a few km south of the Cabot Trail. When coming from the rest of Canada it may make sense to not go through Sydney, but turn left when you get on the island and head up the west coast on the Ceilidh Trail and join up with the Cabot Trail in Margaree. There is an L2 charger at the Glenora distillery and there also appears to be an L2 charger at the Cabot Public House at the Cabot Links resort in Inverness.
 
Just completed a fantastic road trip with my Model Y SR from Quebec City to the Cabot Trail.

The big addition from 2020 is that Tesla has donated a bunch of level 2 chargers to Parcs Canada. So if you plan a hike or stay a couple of hours at a beach (Ingonish, Black Brook), that should take care of charging along the Cabot Trail.

I started the Cabot Trail after a fast charge at Baddeck, and I agree that during high season there will be a high probability of a line there. Of course this year is different so I had no issues. Worst case, there is also a fast charger in North Sydney, 38 km away from the start of the Cabot Trail.

I used the Tesla level 2 chargers a couple of times, in addition to charging overnight on a 120V plug. On my way back, I charged on the Tesla Level 2 at Chéticamp for about an hour in order to reach the fast charger in Monastery with some good margin, some 156 km away, thereby skipping Baddeck. I did plan for strong headwinds which ended up eating nearly half the planned battery margin.

Parcs Canada at Chéticamp also has many camping spots available with 50 Amps Nema 14-50. Definitely an EV friendly place.

I saw just one other Tesla during my entire Cabot Trail ride. But there were very few tourists around, considering the circumstances. On the famed Skyline Trail parking lot, capable of normally handling hundreds of cars, there were only 20 cars when I was got in.

Overall I covered 2768 km in four days, at an average of 172 Wh/km.

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View attachment 686599
Using advice from here, I successfully drove the Cabot Trail on Sept 4/5. I charged to 100% at Enfield (outside Halifax), then charged at Baddeck, Ingonish, Beulach Ban Falls (parked and used Tesla Destination charger) here and walked the 1km back to my cabin. Car charged to 100% overnight, no problem.
Charged again at Cheticamp visitor center (note, this is still outside town of Cheticamp, so not much to do here!) and then did a small top up at a free charge in New Glascow, before getting back to Enfield.
Thanks for this thread....
 
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Using advice from here, I successfully drove the Cabot Trail on Sept 4/5. I charged to 100% at Enfield (outside Halifax), then charged at Baddeck, Ingonish, Beulach Ban Falls (parked and used Tesla Destination charger) here and walked the 1km back to my cabin. Car charged to 100% overnight, no problem.
Charged again at Cheticamp visitor center (note, this is still outside town of Cheticamp, so not much to do here!) and then did a small top up at a free charge in New Glascow, before getting back to Enfield.
Thanks for this thread....
I'm in the middle of a week of exploring the Cabot Trail right now. Having a wonderful time. It's been quite do-able with an SR+. Biggest challenge was getting to the island as the Flo chargers on the mainland had lineups. On the West side of the island we stayed 4 nights at Laurie's Inn in Cheticamp which has a Level 2 charger. Charged to 100% each night which was more than enough. If there was more than one Tesla staying there though it would be a challenge (one showed up just as we were leaving). Also did a gratuitous top-up at Macintosh Falls trail. Thank you Tesla and Parks Canada for the free charging.

Next couple days we're exploring the east side of the island, based out of Baddeck where there's a Flo Level 3 charger (also was a line-up for it, but it was manageable) and a couple Level 2s.

The biggest note about doing the Cabot Trail is that, if you get popping/bangs from under the car during SuperCharging, you'll likely get the same popping/bangs while driving the long steep hills. It must have something to do with air pressure changes as my ears popped several times during the climbs/descents. I was worried at first.. my car is dying in the middle of nowhere... but checked online after and found that others had the same experience and it wasn't an issue.

Also there's free Level 2 chargers at the Glenora Whiskey Distillery, where they give interesting tours (Note: look for the $2 off coupon for the tours in some of the tourist brochures). Had a good chat with a couple guys who worked there about Teslas and thanked them for installing the chargers.
 
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I'm in the middle of a week of exploring the Cabot Trail right now. Having a wonderful time. It's been quite do-able with an SR+. Biggest challenge was getting to the island as the Flo chargers on the mainland had lineups. On the West side of the island we stayed 4 nights at Laurie's Inn in Cheticamp which has a Level 2 charger. Charged to 100% each night which was more than enough. If there was more than one Tesla staying there though it would be a challenge (one showed up just as we were leaving). Also did a gratuitous top-up at Macintosh Falls trail. Thank you Tesla and Parks Canada for the free charging.

Next couple days we're exploring the east side of the island, based out of Baddeck where there's a Flo Level 3 charger (also was a line-up for it, but it was manageable) and a couple Level 2s.

The biggest note about doing the Cabot Trail is that, if you get popping/bangs from under the car during SuperCharging, you'll likely get the same popping/bangs while driving the long steep hills. It must have something to do with air pressure changes as my ears popped several times during the climbs/descents. I was worried at first.. my car is dying in the middle of nowhere... but checked online after and found that others had the same experience and it wasn't an issue.

Also there's free Level 2 chargers at the Glenora Whiskey Distillery, where they give interesting tours (Note: look for the $2 off coupon for the tours in some of the tourist brochures). Had a good chat with a couple guys who worked there about Teslas and thanked them for installing the chargers.
Excellent. It is a gorgeous part of the country. I certainly could have used more than 2 days there, to do some of the hikes. The Parks Desination chargers certainly make a difference. I will also add, that if you were in an ICE car, you would also have to plan, because I did not see many places to get gas on the trail!
I didn't get a chance to get to Glenora. I will try that next time. A chance to fuel up the car AND to fuel up the driver!!!
 
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This is partly why I bought a Model S LR+. 298 km is about half of my battery range, so worrying about where the Cha de Mo chargers are never happens.

I always recommend people buy the most range they can afford. BUY MORE RANGE!! You won't be sorry.
We did buy the most range we could afford and it was SR. You've scared us off doing the Cabot Trail.