Cape Breton Highlands
Coordinates: 46 ° 30 ′ 0 ″ N , 60 ° 45 ′ 0 ″ W.
The Cape Breton Highlands are a plateau in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia in the north of Cape Breton Island .
The plateau is surrounded by water with the Atlantic Ocean in the east, Cabot Strait in the north, the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the west and Bras d'Or Lake in the south. The height ranges from 350 m on the edge of the plateau to 532 m on White Hill , which is the highest point in Nova Scotia .
The landscape consists of chains of hills interspersed with deep river valleys and steep-walled canyons . In the southwest the plateau merges into wide, fertile valleys formed by glaciers. The interior and the southern edge are covered with moist, cool deciduous forest. Southern slopes over 300 m are mainly home to balsam firs . The northern and western edges of the plateau, especially at higher altitudes, resemble arctic tundra .
On the west coast, the highlands drop in steep cliffs into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, while on the east coast they merge into the Atlantic in gently sloping coastal plains and headlands.
In 1936, the federal government created the Cape Breton Highlands National Park in the northern third of the Highlands, a protected area of 950 km². The Cabot Trail runs along the coastal regions of the Highlands. There are a few smaller villages on the coast, but the interior of the Highlands is not accessible by public roads and is hardly populated.