"Between The Rocks"
Chinook Salmon
This fish traveled 900 River Miles to reach her natal spawning grounds in central Idaho. She emerged from the gravel of a fresh water stream, lived for a time in the river of her beginning and then moved out to other streams and rivers in her long journey to the ocean. She ran the gauntlet of ( 8 main-stem dams) in the Snake and Columbia River basins when she was not much longer than the length of your hand. She avoided countless predators such as hungry bull trout, birds and people along the way. She entered the slack water of the estuary and made the miraculous transformation that allowed her body to adapt from fresh water to salt water....no small task. She was now ready for the big blue; out into the vastness of the Pacific Ocean she swam. The pulse of her travels in the ocean is less well known to us, however her ability to avoid predators and find food were key to her success. She lived in the ocean for about 3 years and may have joined other schools of Chinook by way of Alaska and Japan. In her fifth year a great force began to pull at her, the taste and smell of her natal stream called her to come home. Once again she entered the estuary and made the miraculous change from saltwater to freshwater. Again she ran the gauntlet of (8 main-stem dams), fighting her way up the Columbia. She passed a hundred different streams with "similar" smells or other cues, tempting her to turn off course. But she stayed true, driven by a force so strong that to do otherwise would violate the fullness of her being at its most basic level. Finally she reached a small stretch of stream that "smelled" right, she is home. She paused to rest in the quiet water of a small pool and there "Between The Rocks" the last rays of afternoon sun filtered through the trees, striking her dorsal fin in fiery brilliance. What a privilege it was to witness her arrival.