Wards Fall, Parrsboro and Nova Scotia

Drive to Nova Scotia
Today, July 17, we head out in light showers from PEI toward Nova Scotia. The rain lets up before we hit the border and we pay our $42 fee to cross the bridge. We ask the toll guy if locals have to pay that everytime they leave the island. He said yes. This seems horrifying. Talk about discouraging people from going elsewhere!
Nova Scotia seems somewhat like PEI, with hills and fields, at least on the northeastern side as we cross into the province. We head south to Parrsborro for a hike, hoping the weather will hold. It stays cloudy, but there isn’t any rain, and we stop at the local visitor center, the best public places in Canada we’ve found to use the restrooms. We also ask about the hike, Ward’s Falls, and are told that some jokester has turned the sign around so if we get to Lori’s shop, we should turn around (her name wasn’t Lori but I can’t remember the exact name).
The little town of Parrsboro is on the waterfront and has a little main street that looks like it’s mildly prosperous but many store fronts are closed and we are told there are only five restaurants in town. Ward’s Falls, our hike is on the east side of the city. We head to the trail and get mosquito repellent on. We finally have run into Mosquitos. We got an introduction to them in Mirimichi but they were getting worse day by day and we make sure to cover ourselves before heading into the woods.
The trail was named after a famous local person, but I don’t know anything about him. The trail starts in some tall grass and then heads into the deep, dark woods. The boys love it. They are running ahead, jumping over creeks and mud (and into it). There are lots and lots of bridges and the boys go “off road”, at least that’s what I call it as they try to find ways across the creek without using the bridge. They are mostly successful, enjoying the challenge and neither of them falling in. Asha does not join in.
The two mile trail out ends at a 15 foot fall. Rakesh quickly traverses the river at the bottom of the falls and we follow him, except for Vive who is in his tennis shoes that he wants to wear home tomorrow and doesn’t want to get sopping wet (they are already muddy). We take some great pictures of the falls and we eyeball a rope that’s been anchored to the wall for climbing further up. Vive might have risked it had he his hiking boots but I didn’t want the boys to do it without an adult. It was literally straight up. But, Justin did venture up the other slope, grabbing roots and tree branches and pulling himself up.
It was a great trail for two energetic boys. And the kids sang and played all the way back without any complaining.