THE Trip - Day 10 (Help On A Journey)

Sometimes a desired location is just too far to comfortably make the drive in one day…so the distance gets divided.  This leads to an early stopover for the day and suddenly the question becomes “what are we going to do here”.   Out comes the AAA Tour Book for suggestions and then you log into TripAdvisor for some fellow traveler ideas.  Ta-Da…the next thing you know – you have a plan.

We ended our drive shortly after lunch in Tumwater, WA, about 3 miles from the State Capitol of Washington in Olympia.  Not far from our hotel was the Tumwater Falls Historic Park.  The Deschutes River flows through this city park that lies in a valley right in the middle of town. The park serves two purposes ---1) being a well used city park; and 2) providing the Department of Fish and Wildlife with a location to help salmon make their journey up stream.

So far this trip, fresh seafood, including salmon, has been a mainstay of our dining all along the coast of Oregon and Washington promises to have a seafood bounty for us as well.  The idea of helping salmon make their journey seemed worth checking out while we were in the city. 

Over the years, while the city was growing in the mid-1800’s, it used the flow of water from the river and the power of the three small waterfalls for milling grain, running sawmills, and generating power.  These industries have since been replaced by modern, larger facilities and the land has been designated a park.  But the stream had been diverted and altered enough that the salmon could not use the waterfalls in order to go upstream and spawn.  So ‘fish ladders’ have been added to the river around the falls to assist the salmon in their journey.  This also provides the Department of Fish and Wildlife with the opportunity to collect some of the salmon for use in the hatcheries to ensure that there will continue to be a healthy supply of wild salmon.

Fish ladders beside the creek

 

While we walked around the park trail following the stream on both sides, we looked and didn’t see any salmon making their way upstream.    Since the spawning activity starts later in September and through October, we weren’t surprised, but will keep our eyes open as we make our return trip later this month.

Dennis and I discussed the whole topic of whether man should be adjusting nature…but I feel that a helping hand or ladder, in this case, is always a good thing.