Aug 17,18 – Sproule Falls And Nelson

The smoke is getting really bad here. Today in town was the first time that we could actually smell it. Thankfully at the campground it has not gotten that bad yet.

We have no hookups here so were are relying on the solar panels to charge the batteries each day. Even though it has been sunny, there is so much smoke that the panels can’t see enough sun. Luckily our site is just across the road from one of the few sites that does have power so rather than running the generator I asked if I could plug into his unused 15 amp outlet on his power pedestal. When a ranger came by I asked and they said it was OK. I just do it for about an hour each morning to give the batteries a boost and let the panels try and finish the job.

Yesterday was cloudy as well as smoky so it was extra gloomy . We just stayed around the campground and redid part of our hike from the other day. We walked along the beach and up the salmon channel and then home.

This time I was prepared to walk out in the water on the sand spit. I got out a long way before it started getting even remotely deep.

I tried to get Jennies attention but she was busy exploring.

Not too deep.

As I walked in she eventually looked up to take my picture.

Near the bottom of the salmon channel we noticed what looked like bear scat and then around the corner the trail was closed.

I don’t think they closed it far enough down. We followed a side trail that took us the long way around to the visitor’s center and the main viewing area. I guess the bear knows not to go up there.

Today there were 511 salmon in the channel. We watched for a while and finally caught one trying to make it up over one of the small falls.

He just crashed into the rock in front of him and fell back. Another one did make but he was too fast for a picture.

Today we started by going to a small falls near the highway west of Nelson.

Between Nelson and the campground we had seen this interesting house. I am not sure if it really is a boat or just built to look like one.

The only mention I saw of Sproule Falls was in one small blog post by someone local. There are certainly no signs about it anywhere.

You just have to know to park by a bridge over the creek and cross the road and find the unmarked trail.

If you can call it a trail.

We noticed one spot with a lot of hornets.

Then we came to this no trespassing sign.I guess that is why it is never officially mentioned. I was sure I could hear someone up there but we turned around anyway. Just as we did another group came up the path. They said that they had been to the falls many times and never had a problem so we just followed them in. It is only about 300 m from the parking area.

Another interesting falls. It seems like a huge rock face somehow got a giant crack in it. The rock was too jagged for it to have been worn away by the water.

There wasn't much water going through the crack but it was still quiet pretty..

Looking downstream

It is another case where the photospheres do a much better job. I took three from slightly different places.

Photosphere 1.

Photosphere 2.

Photosphere 3.

We headed back to town to check out the Saturday morning farmer’s market located near Cottonwood Falls from the other day.

All the usual stuff but not enough interesting food. It was not a bad size but only took us about 1/2 hour.

This lady was a really good face painter.

BTW, her mouth is closed. I always wonder if it is OK to take pictures of other people’s kids.

I think Nelson has a lot of New Agers / Hippies. Lots of booths with crystals and essential oils, A group was doing yoga in a empty spot with a lady quietly ringing a large bell over them.

Lots of booths like this

Later as we walked up main street looking for a restaurant for lunch we saw even more evidence.So many yoga studios.

Got to have at least one of these.

This kind of dress was not at all unusual.

It is nice to see an active downtown area. Most of the building are quite old and well maintained. I don't think we saw any empty storefronts.

We settled on a place that serves Chinese, Japanese and Thai food. We had some Thai curry, Chinese chow mien and some sushi We took a lot home.

The waitress told us to check out the alley behind the restaurant.

Nice parking spot.

We returned to the car at the visitor’s center parking lot. This is what a sunny afternoon in Nelson looks like.

Then back to the campground.