Salmon Express

Last Friday I had the day off. I don't get enough days off, but atleast I had a day to play. I made plans to spend time with Matt, we were going to hike up to Lower Dewey lake and float in a big raft while reading the new Harry Potter book. But plans changed. His sister was having a bad day and needed a little TLC time with her brother. Needless to say, I was a little disappointed that my day was going to be ruined as well, especially because there was good weather. It has been so cold, that I was overjoyed by the fact that I could wear shorts on my day off. So, somewhat grumpily, I made plans to spend the day by myself.

I told myself, "you are an independent person and you don't need to be with someone else to have fun!" So I looked at my TO DO list and decided that I would take advantage of the free tours provided by the National Park Service. I biked myself into town, went to the park ranger's headquarters and found out what tours they were giving that day. I was told the rangers started a tour every hour and there would be a special presentation about salmon at 3pm in the afternoon. I've never been very interested in fishing or really liked to eat salmon, but I do know the salmon are starting to spawn, so I could learn all about them and sound smart in front of my friends!

I started my day by hiking half way up to Lower Dewey lake. I decided to stop at a picturesque point. The hike has lots of stopping points (for those hikers who need a break :) and I decided to stop at one of those places and pull out my scriptures to read. I was sitting on a rock chair over looking the bay with it's many cruise ships at dock. I have found in life that I enjoy reading the scriptures the most when I'm outside. I get to see God's creations while I learn more about His plan. And I enjoyed it all the more, because the sun was shining too.

After a quiet moment of reflection I headed back into town to enjoy my free park ranger tour. The ranger took us on a Historical walk of the saloons of Skagway. I learned that in the days of 1898, Skagway was a party town with one school, one church, and 80 saloons! Most of these saloons weren't exactly legal, but they were here to make money. The tour was very nice and it was great to be out on my feet. Personally I love to take tours. Since I love History I find that I get a lot more about a place when I learn through a tour. I was able to get lots of interesting facts about the town and feel like a tourist for the day.

Then I grabbed a smoothie and walked back to the park ranger's headquarters. I don't presume to know a lot about animals, so I thought it might be fun to step out of my normal self and learn about a topic that I knew nothing about: SALMON. I decided to be a good student and listen carefully. I can now say, I know where salmon come from, why they are here, and where they are going. Their live really have a lot of spiritual metaphors. You see, they start their life in the river as little tiny eggs. Very few of them will survive because they might get stepped on or eaten. But those that do survive turn in to alevins then fries (these are their stages in life) or baby fish. They stay in the river water where they can grow up a little and then they move on and head out to sea. That's when they become an adult. After a few years they will once again return to their birth home in the river, which they find by smell. It is not an easy process to return home. They have to fight the river current, bypass pretators and they die in the process because they can no longer live in fresh water. Those that do make it will lay their eggs and die. As I said, it could be a spiritual thing. You see, we start in the pre-mortal life, where we must leave to come to earth (the big ocean), but with hopes to once again return to our home with God. Not everyone will be able to endure to the end, because it is a struggle, "many are called, but few are chosen." I found it all pretty interesting and sad to know that so few salmon every make it to lay their eggs. We played a game like we were salmon and I died in the first round. I couldn't even make it to the ocean!

Since I found myself with this new knowledge, I thought it only appropriate to bike over to the stream in search for the salmon who were enduring to the end. I sat down on a small foot bridge and watched and waited. To my surprise, I saw some. It was not easy. The water was moving fast and these fish were trying desperately to make it up the river so they could spawn. I will go back and look again, because it is early in the season, since I only saw a few. I will have to take a picture when they are swarming the river in their fight to continue life.

Then I ended the day when another leisurely stroll through a free sculpture and flower garden. I noticed they were growing strawberries in the garden and I was tempted to pick one, but after reading some of your comments about cherry picking, I decided against it and went home. Next week I'm going to take the ferry to Haines and go whale watching. I am so excited!