Salmon in Issaquah

(In the below pictures, you have to look very carefully in order to see the salmon in the stream and lying dead next to the ducks.)

I really like Issaquah cause it's so close to the mountains. The clouds collect here and linger around the tops of Squak and Tiger Mountains.

Issaquah Creek also runs through downtown and there's a fish hatchery just six blocks from my house. Here are photos from our family's trip to see the spawning salmon. The fish are forced to climb the fish ladder into the hatchery holding tanks, where they choose several hundred (maybe more, I'm not sure) fish for artificial spawning then allow the rest to continue on their way. The guide I spoke with said some of the fish spawned another 15-20 miles upstream from where we were. They had already climbed the fish ladder at the Ballard locks, swam through Lake Union and Lake Washington in Seattle, and several miles to the hatchery.


(My wife didn't want to be on the Internet, so I hope my stick drawing does her justice. Remind me never to be a courtroom artist.)