Fishing Cove Backcountry Campground

Fishing Cove is Cape Breton Highlands' only designated wilderness campground, with eight reservable, unserviced sites in a grassy clearing where a river reaches the ocean below MacKenzie Mountain. It is a hike-in overnight, not a drive-up camp: the trail drops 355 m over about 6 km, then makes you climb it back. The 12 km return route is rated difficult and listed at 5–6 hours. I'd save it for a trip where the coastal campsite is the goal; this is a lot of trail for a quick look.

Get a backcountry permit and register at Chéticamp or Ingonish visitor centre before camping. There is a pit privy but no potable water. Bring a camp stove; open fires are prohibited, and you have to pack out garbage. The trail has steep and muddy sections. There is no cell service reported on the trail, so save your route details before leaving the Cabot Trail. Black flies and mosquitoes are common in summer, and weather can change quickly between the plateau and the coast. Some campers report raised wooden tent platforms, but confirm your site rather than assume every spot has one.

The cove has a cobblestone beach, a river, grassy hills and rugged headlands. You can explore the shore and hills or swim in fresh or salt water; this is a remote coastal overnight, not a campground with services.

Fishing Cove was once home to a Scottish fishing community whose settlers traded with the French for supplies. That history is a nice extra when you reach the cove, though the settlement dates and individual residents aren't established in the material available.