Big Intervale Campground in Cape Breton Highlands National Park

Campground · Cape Breton Highlands National Park

Big Intervale Campground

A five-site riverside base for a simple Cabot Trail night.

Type
Campground
Nearest trail
2 km
Audio stories
3 nearby
  • Restrooms

Hear the audio tour

Seeds Waiting for Heat

Overview

About Big Intervale Campground

Why stop

  • Useful for cyclists or late arrivals from the north end

Heads up

  • Unserviced sites with no potable water or on-site firewood

Map

Where it is

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CampgroundBig Intervale Campground46.83047, -60.61419
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Plan your stop

Before you go

6 active Cape Breton Highlands alerts

  • CautionPedestrian prohibition on Cabot Trail near French LakeMentions Cabot Trail, referenced in this guidePedestrian use is prohibited at all times on the Cabot Trail between 19713 Cabot Trail (French Lake Look-Off) and 18865 Cabot Trail (Veteran’s Monument Look-Off) through October 25, 2026.Official details
  • ClosureCoyote-related area closuresMacIntosh Brook Campground and Trail, Lone Shieling, three Cabot Trail properties, and nearby pull-offs are closed because coyotes have approached people aggressively.Official details
See all 6 alerts
A park ranger sits on a dash-mounted phone, talking, as Parkwolf’s Tour Guide plays “Army Cutworm Moths: A Grizzly Bear Buffet” on Grand Loop Road below Dunraven Pass in Yellowstone
Parkwolf Tour GuideThe highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.

Cape Breton Highlands Tour Guide

Your drive to Big Intervale Campground, narrated.

Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Cape Breton Highlands National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.

See the Cape Breton Highlands audio tour

Recorded for this area

Seeds Waiting for Heat
0:00 / 0:29
“A jack pine can carry seeds in closed cones for years. Resin seals the scales together, and the heat of a fire can melt that seal, letting the seeds scatter.”

Plays on the road 0.3 km from Big Intervale Campground in the Parkwolf Cape Breton Highlands Tour Guide.

More stories near here in the app

  • Beulach Ban Falls
  • North Mountain Look-offs
  • Why the Highlands Have a Flat Top
  • Moose from Alberta
  • 50 audio storiesacross Cape Breton Highlands’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
  • Wildlife heatmapsfor Moose, Black Bear, Bald Eagle, and 13 more
  • Works offlinemaps, 27 trails, 38 places, and audio download before you lose signal
  • CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
★★★★★
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
JMJamesApp Store review
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4.7 from 8,600+ ratings

Guide

More about Big Intervale Campground

A small, simple campgroundBig Intervale is a five-site tent campground beside the Aspy River, at the base of North…

Big Intervale is a five-site tent campground beside the Aspy River, at the base of North Mountain. It is a basic overnight stop on the Cabot Trail, not a full-service campground: all five sites are unserviced.

What to bringThere are pit privies and fire pits, but no potable water or firewood for sale on site.

There are pit privies and fire pits, but no potable water or firewood for sale on site. Bring drinking water and arrange firewood before you arrive. Camping is by self-registration, and reservations are not accepted.

A practical overnightThe campground is about 10 km from Cape North and can work well as a simple overnight for Cabot…

The campground is about 10 km from Cape North and can work well as a simple overnight for Cabot Trail travelers or cyclists. Road-noise reports differ: some visitors describe quiet nights, while another noted traffic and said two sites sit close to the road. If a reliably quiet or level pitch matters to you, this small roadside campground may be a gamble.

Wildlife

Wildlife in Cape Breton Highlands

All Cape Breton Highlands wildlife maps

Sighting maps show where each species has been reported across Cape Breton Highlands. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.

Parkwolf’s Cape Breton Highlands ranking

Top sights in Cape Breton Highlands

All 38 places
  1. 1Beulach Ban FallsSight
  2. 2Ingonish Beach and Freshwater LakeBeach
  3. 3Black Brook BeachBeach
  4. 4Lakie's HeadSight
  5. 5Lone ShielingSight
  6. 6Highlands LinksSight

Take Parkwolf to Cape Breton Highlands.

The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.

4.7 from 8,600+ ratings

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