Parking
Start at the MacIntosh Brook Campground and Day Use Area on the Cabot Trail. Parking capacity, fees and overflow details were not found.
Overview
About MacIntosh Brook Trail
Why go
- A waterfall at the end of an easy 30–45 minute walk
- Brookside scenery in old-growth Acadian forest
Heads up
- Exposed roots make the otherwise easy tread uneven
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Cape Breton Highlands map
Full mapElevation26–79 m
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
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
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Cape Breton Highlands Tour Guide
Your drive to MacIntosh Brook Trail, 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 tourRecorded for this trailhead
MacIntosh Brook Falls and Day Use Area0:00 / 0:27
“Up ahead is MacIntosh Brook's campground and day-use area, a picnic stop with a short waterfall walk.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Cape Breton Highlands Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- The Partnership on the Bark
- Lone Shieling
- Rusty Anchor Restaurant
- The Forest's Next Generation
- 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!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking MacIntosh Brook Trail
A short walk to a waterfallMacIntosh Brook Trail is an easy 1.7 km (1.
MacIntosh Brook Trail is an easy 1.7 km (1.1 mi) out-and-back from the campground and day-use area to the falls, following a brook through mature hardwood forest. Allow 30 to 45 minutes. It’s a good pick when you want a real woodland walk without committing to a long climb; the waterfall gives you a clear turnaround.
Follow the brookThe path stays beside MacIntosh Brook for most of the walk.
The path stays beside MacIntosh Brook for most of the walk. It’s fairly level, but exposed roots make the tread uneven, and small wooden footbridges cross the stream. At the end, the brook drops over rock into the waterfall pool. Take care around the water: the rocks near the falls can be slippery.
An old forest and a changing streambedThis is old-growth Acadian forest, with forest birdsong along the route.
This is old-growth Acadian forest, with forest birdsong along the route. The brook crosses granite, older metamorphosed igneous rock, and red sandstone and conglomerate, which helps explain the varied colours among the stones in its bed. Spring melt and storm flows move those stones around, so the brook’s details are part of the payoff as well as the waterfall.
Starting pointBegin at the MacIntosh Brook Campground and Day Use Area on the Cabot Trail.
Begin at the MacIntosh Brook Campground and Day Use Area on the Cabot Trail. The trail is short enough to leave time for a slower look at the stream and the bridges; from a bridge, include the rocky brook in the foreground to show the route’s woodland setting.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Cape Breton Highlands
180 sightingsMooseMost seen around 5 AMSighting map
60 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
48 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
29 sightingsGrey SealMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
14 sightingsCoyoteMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
10 sightingsWhite-tailed DeerMost seen around 6 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Cape Breton Highlands. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
