The 2014 Adams River Salmon Run

On October 23rd I join some Alberta friends for a trip up to Adams River to view the salmon run.  Every four years is a "dominant" run with millions of salmon expected to return and 2014 is one of these years.  The fall has been warm so the salmon are later than usual.  Even though it is late October, the wave of fish is peaking and we hope to see the river red with salmon.

The day is dreary, with intermittent drizzle setting a somber mood for our viewing of tens of thousands of crimson coloured Sockeye salmon waving their bodies to remain stationary in the creek, their green faces pointed upstream.  They are positioned in pairs, the males recognizable by a hump on their back and their long deformed snouts with razor-sharp teeth.

Silver scars mar their battle-weary bodies from their arduous journey upstream from the Pacific Ocean, into the Fraser River and up its tributaries to the very creek where they began.  Here they return to spawn, laying and fertilizing their round translucent pink eggs in the gravel. Of the 4,000 eggs that each female lays only two will survive and return in four years’ time to start the cycle again.  They will stay and guard their eggs for about 10 days and then drift into the shallows where they will die.  The sweet stench of dead Chinook salmon and earlier Sockeye hangs in the air. Their deformed, decomposing bodies are strewn along the shore or float motionless and bloated in the quiet pools of water.  This is not a killing field but the end of a four year life cycle that disintegrates and enriches the  land.

  A biologist wearing a floppy fish shaped hat holds his blood soaked hands above a gutted Sockeye, running his fingers over the orange flesh, pointing at the remaining eggs.  His sense of ease and knowledge draws us in and we see the slab of fish as a fascinating specimen.  He pulls out the fish's eye and pops out the perfectly round fish lens for us to examine.

Display of maturing salmon from egg to fry

  We return to our car feeling a mix of fascination and macabre, amazed at the force of survival of this cycle of life and death but wanting to wash our hands and escape from the lingering smell of fish.

The Last Days of Autumn

 

The last couple of weeks have been glorious. I've actually worn sandals and capris some days. The thermometer has not dipped to zero yet so the trees have continued to wear their brilliant yellow and orange leaves.

Some mornings there is mist in the valleys but often the sun melts it away and showers come and go as the cooler weather slides down over Terrace Mountain.

I finally picked the last of my tomatoes and raspberries a week ago.  I've planted spring bulbs and garlic and trimmed the roses.  The yard is ready for winter.







The late October rambles, hikes and bike rides with the Vernon Outdoor Club have again reminded me how special the North Okanagan is.  The occasional showers have cleansed the air after the long  and hot summer and the earth feels softer and smells alive again.  There is a fresh green hue over the hills.

View of Armstrong and the Spallumsheen Valley from Mount Rose Swanson

Just after Thanksgiving weekend we climbed up Rose Swanson, the treed mountain that sits just west of Armstrong.  It is named after the first Caucasian woman born in the interior of BC.  Rose was the daughter of Augustus and Catherine Schubert, two of the Overlanders who made the trek from Fort Gary via Edmonton and down the North Thompson Valley to Kamloops in search of gold.  Catherine was the only woman among 149 men.  She had three toddlers and was 5 months pregnant when the journey started.  The family ended up homesteading in the Armstrong area in 1862.  Rose married and had 13 children remaining in Armstrong until her death in 1942.
The forest trail loops up to several summits with rock outcrops.  The autumn sun shone warmly on us as we sat on the rocks eating our lunches.  We looked over the patchwork of green and rich brown fields in the  Spallumcheen Valley that stretches south.  Sunlight gleamed on Otter Lake and on the north fork of Okanagan Lake. It almost felt like a late summer day except for a freshness in the air and the show of autumn leaves.

Myra Bellevue Provincial Park

The following Sunday we hiked up to Crawford Lookout, in Myra Bellevue Provincial Park along the edge of the North Okanagan Highlands east of Kelowna. We walked among the stark black forest skeletons left behind by the 2003 fire that over look the eastern orchards, the urban sprawl of Kelowna and a smooth dark Lake Okanagan. Above us the hillside was decorated with patches of golden larch tucked within the green conifers.





A few days later we wind up a trail through bunch grass at the end of the Sunset Properties subdivision to sit on a huge granite shelf overlooking a still navy-blue Lake Okanagan.  There is a feeling of timelessness, a moment between seasons as the sun comes and goes between some thin clouds.  We ate lunch quietly, pensively taking in the view.

Having lunch overlooking Okanagan Lake on Sunset Properties hike

Our last Sunday hike for the season was, as it is every year, to Kalalmalka Park.  We parked at Cosen's Bay gate under a grey sky and start walking along Cosen's Bay trail.  Soon we head up a steep trail that takes us up to John's Jump.

Cosens Bay, Lake Kalamalka

 

   We look down at Cosen's Bay.  Despite all the hikes we have taken and all the views we have enjoyed, the view of Cosen's Bay always makes us pause.  The colour of the water is so unique, shades of turquoise  and green, and never quite the same.  The cottonwoods that fringe the beach have leaves so yellow they seem like lights along the edge of the lake. I never tire of this view.  We walk around to the other side of Rattlesnake Hill and stop for lunch sitting among the ripe grasses looking over to Middletown Mountain, Kal Beach and the apple orchards below us.

Lunch overlooking Coldstream

We can see the top of Silver Star Mountain dusted with some fresh snow.  We eat our lunches and chatter away. After 32 consecutive Sunday hikes this will be our last lunch-with-a-view together until next season. There is still one more ramble and one more bike trip.  The weather is good enough to continue but the season seems tired. It is time to take off the hiking boots and park the bikes.


I walked up past Davisons' Orchard this morning and just had to take one last picture of autumn, hard to believe today is November 3rd!

View of Okanagan Lake above Davison Orchard

Just now I have just checked the web cams up at Silver Star Mountain Resort and it is snowing!  The cumulative snow fall to date is 13 cm with a 4 cm base, not much but a beginning.  How's that for good timing?