Mt Hood

My view of Mt Hood on my morning walk. 

  This was taken two weeks ago before the weather changed and Fall rushed in.

Honey Pot

This morning on my walk, I passed one of the houses under construction.  In front, was this Honey Pot.  If you look at the small sign on it, you will notice the sign on it declaring it "High Tech".   I was confused.  I looked inside.  Saw nothing unique.  Maybe I need to check more closely the next time I walk by it.

Bonneville Lock

Got a note from one of the volunteers.  The lock at Bonneville is not functioning.  The engineers have not figured out the problem yet.  Meanwhile the Visitor Center on the Oregon side is closed.  Evidently they do not want traffic to cross the bridge that crosses in front of the lock.

This photo is of the lock with out water.  You can see the manifold system that the water passes through when the lock fills and drains.  This is a view that is not seen very often. 
  I hope that they solve the problem soon.  No shipping is happening during this time.  No barges.
No commerce.

Last day at Bonneville

Today we pack up and leave.  It's been almost 4 months since we pulled in, May 6th if I remember correctly.  Wow the time passed quickly.  When we get to a new location our commitment will 2,3,or 4 months.   A long time, right?  There's a flurry of learning.  Meeting new people.  Adjusting to new time schedules.  Before you know it, you are buzzing along, you got most of it down.  Your feeling comfortable.  And then, yipes, you are almost to the end! 
    That happened again here.  We will miss this place.  A very nice facility.  Good folks to work with.  Interesting location.  LOVE to watch the barges cruise past our spot going in and out of the lock.  Those tug captains are amazing.
   And so we leave Bonneville.  To be home for four months.  At the end of September Randa has her surgery.   A new adventure begins.

The Lock

I spent time at the lock this afternoon.  An unusual barge combination came through.  You are looking at two barges lashed together.  They were loaded with equipment and a large amount of steel.  That structure you see on the barges coming into the lock is a section of a railroad bridge.  Look carefully and you will see a very tall crane as well.

We worked at the fish viewing building on the Washington side today.  This guy spent some time hanging on one of the windows of the fish ladder.  Do you feel like a dentist?

Carson Fish Hatchery

Wednesday Randa and I drove over the dam and east of Stevenson.  14 miles up the Wind River is the Carson National Fish Hatchery.  Some hatcheries are state-run.  This one is operated by the US Fish and Wildlife Dept.  Wednesday was the last day of the annual Chinook Salmon "harvest".  After being out in the ocean for 3-5 years, the salmon respond to the urge to return to the stream that they traveled down as fingerlings and spawn.  Scientists believe they can accomplish this remarkable feat using their acute sense of smell.  They can follow a scent to their original stream.
     This year 725 Spring Chinook Salmon returned to Tyee Creek, just off the Wind River to do just that.  They made their way up the fish ladder at the Carson Hatchery and milled around in the holding tanks waiting to spawn.  In the wild the female would make a nest (redd) and lay her eggs in it. The male would swim over it and release is sperm ( milt) to drift down and mix with the eggs to fertilize them.  The hatchery way is a bit more industrial.
     The holding tank is made smaller, the salmon are taken out, one at a time, euthanized and the females emptied of their eggs and the males milked of their milt.  One male, one female.  Milt and eggs and mix, fertilization occurs. eggs are stored in trays under close supervision, running water, correct temperatures and safe habitat.  18 months later the 5 inch fingerlings are released into Tyee Creek to travel down Wind River , the Columbia River, to the Pacific Ocean to do it all over again.

A female Chinook Salmon gives up her eggs, 4000 to 5000

   

  

After fertilization the milt and any blood is poured off.The fertilized eggs are poured into trays and labeled as to what fish and what date they were harvested

The Eggs are stored in the stacks of trays in this safe room where the salmon can become tiny fish.

   
 It's an amazing process, both the natural way and the hatchery way.  The natural way is, well, more natural, but the hatchery way is 10 times more successful.  Without hatcheries, Salmon would rapidly become extremely rare or probably, extinct.   Extinction is forever !