Nelson is about two hours drive east of Grand Forks and about 30 minutes drive east of Castlegar. It is situated beside the Kootenay Lake and has developed on a hillside.
We were told it was a really pretty city, with lots of heritage buildings ( and I see from looking at the web page about Nelson that there are 350 heritage buildings) and that we would love it there and find it to be a rreally beautiful place.
So on Thursday June 15th we set off about 9-15am with our two dogs on board. It was Bosun's first expedition and the longest journey he has so far done. Now that he has had his full injections he is fine to be around other dogs and go for walks in public places. We were looking forward to walking Nelson with Jaxx and Bosun.
The drive to Nelson along Highway 3 was great. We stopped in several places to take pictures of the impressive dams and waterfalls along the Kootenay River.
We drove into the centre of Nelson seeing some heritage buildings, some street side restaurants with outdoor seating, parking meters and street side parking but luckily we did not find anywhere to park. I say "luckliy" because if we had found somewhere to park we would have parked and immediately taken our dogs out to stretch their legs and walk on leash with us. However, when we did find a place eventually to park having driven round hoping to find a park or somewhere similar to walk, we were in a "visitor only" parking spot beside the road and opposite the information place. My husband went in while I gave the dogs a drink in the back of the car. I followed him in, having left the dogs in the back of the car. We found that we had come to a dog free city!!. There was an area, we were told and shown on the map where we could walk the dogs (off leash if we wished) by the airfield. We were told that all streets two blocks up from there were dog free.
We drove down to this area, (Cottonwood Creek) which did not seem to have a place to park near by. However we were desperate, so parked in the place there that said it was for the workers (where do people who walk their dogs normally park????) and took our dogs along to the walk by the Kootenay lake and beside the airfield. The first part of the walk was off leash, the second part on leash and the third part of the walk which we never got to, was No dogs allowed.
The walk was nice enough, but certainly not much of an off leash area for active dogs. It was basically a path with the airfield on one side and the river/ lake on the other. The lake was high and some of the area was underwater that would normaly be dry, as could be seen by the seats in that area, so that would give the dogs a bit more running room. We saw a two other dog walkers as we walked along. One of them chatted to us and was really friendly. He had three little dogs with him who were enjoying their off leash walk. He had lived in Nelson for 25 years and found it a nice place to live.
I wondered how people with dogs, without a car, would be able to get to a dog walking area if they were NOT allowed to walk their dog, even on a leash, along the streets? If you live in Nelson, and have the answers, please let me know!
We walked our dogs and decided to go back to Castlegar for lunch. We had NOT found Nelson an attractive place to explore. IF we had not had dogs with us, maybe, just maybe, we would have found it as we were told we would: a pretty, attractive, fun place to be. However, we are NOT likely to be visiting Nelson in the foreseeable future.