An Adventure On Cape Breton Island by Kristin Nord

An Adventure on Cape Breton Island

The Welps of Connecticut had been having a grand adventure on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, traversing the switchbacks of the highlands and hiking some of its most famous trails. Lisa was posting her exuberant photo impressions daily on Facebook. Then the postings stopped, and her tone shifted abruptly — to Sunday’s missive:

“Hello everyone, we are stranded at a place called Meat Cove on Cape Breton Island. Came for one night of camping and had a very heavy rainstorm that washed out five bridges. Not sure how or when we are getting out. I guess it’s just another Welp adventure…”

As Lisa and Randy Welp emerged from their tent, they learned that the only road to and from this remote spot in the Canadian Maritimes had been destroyed in a rare flash flood. People landing at Meat Cove, a tiny community on cliffs overlooking the Cabot Strait at the end of this long dirt road on the northernmost tip of Nova Scotia often imagine they’ve arrived at the end of the world; now the Welps found they and about 30 other tourists, and the little community of Meat Cove itself, really were cut off from civilization. Meat Cove is believed to have earned its name in the late 1700s, from the stench of slaughtered moose reaching passing ships. In more recent times it is more likely known, for its abundance of wild orchids and spectacular scenery.

Bill Danielson, a meteorologist for the CBC, reviewing the data on Tuesday, described the storm that drenched the area with 6 inches of rain within 18 hours as a once in 200-year event. But Randy, the proprietor of a Connecticut bath business, would beg to differ with the rainfall measurements, as the 12 gallon jug he’d left outside his tent had filled and overflowed in just six hours.

“From midnight to 6 a.m. it was just a deluge,” Welp, an experienced camper reported. “It was highly localized, but probably more like 14 inches fell in that short time.”

The Welps’ tent was designed to withstand wind and extreme conditions, so they weathered the storm unscathed. But a German couple sleeping in their vehicle at the beach was not as lucky; they leapt to safety just before what they described as a fast moving, wall of water, swept their rental vehicle as well as the entire beachfront out to sea.

Lisa, who teaches fourth grade at an elementary school, says what she’ll remember most from that night are the piercing sounds — of thunder and lightning, wind and rushing water. By morning what Lisa remembered as “a little scenic brook” had become ”a raging river.” It would take a day for the waters to recede enough to install a temporary foot bridge and reconnect the pockets of people stranded there.

The Welps began to chronicle the damage for their friends and family as they waited for word on what would come next. The campground had lost power and there was no running water, but everyone was safe. By 2 p.m. on Sunday, the Meat Cove Chowder House was up and serving, thanks to the remarkable efforts of the young proprietor to get provisions in for them.

He and his wife had been off-site when the road washed out, and the only way back was by boat. They caught a ride from a whale watching boat, but found the spot where they had planned to land blocked by logs and debris. The captain took them further upstream, where they jumped overboard and swam through frigid water to reach land. They then scaled a steep goat path and bushwhacked for two hours through the rain-soaked forest to get back to the campground.

“It was a story in and of itself,” Lisa said.

An Adventure on Cape Breton Island

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