Our homsechool group went on a field trip to the Issaquah salmon hatchery!  I was pleasantly surprised to discover taht there were still quite a few salmon on their "run".

It was raining, but not enough to ruin the visit. 

Here is a picture of a salmon trying to jump the barrier.  I think the other one is one that didn't make it.  (Either that, or it's a bunch of leaves and debris.)

The boys in their Northwest attire.  Behind them you can see the grates that block the "ladder" into the hatchery.  This is how they control how many salmon enter the pens for counting and spawning. (You can see a salmon jumping into the grate)

Not the greatest shot, but all the dark spots are salmon in the creek.  There are still so many!

Here are all the boys watching the fish in their spawning pen. (A, R, J, C, and C).  The two girls in our group are still babes in arms. (C and A).

A docent showing the kids a bag of salmon eggs.

This day was one of their 'Spawning Days'.  This is where they harvest the eggs from the females, "milk" the males, kill them, then place them in bins.  The salmon are placed through a metal detector to determine if they are a hatchery fish (they have a metal rod embedded in their nose and their adipose fin removed), or if they are wild.  We only saw hatchery fish enter the tubs.  The fish are placed on ice and sent to food banks.  The salmon below are male, because they have hooked noses.

Salmon Life Cycle

We learned that out of 8,000 eggs, only two survive to maturity.

Salmon are born in freshwater, swim to saltwater, where they grow up, then return to freshwater to spawn.

The lifespan on a salmon is 1 to 7 years, depending on the type.

Hay, Dad!  Does this picture spark any memories?