salmon hatchery

This morning, it was freezing cold but it was going to be one of our first opportunities to watch the Chinook salmon running at the hatchery so we bundled up and braved the cold.

Every fall the salmon return to Issaquah. And so, too, do thousands of young students, who come to see these magnificent fish return from their grueling journey at sea, to fight against the current and spawn in Issaquah Creek.

 From the hatchery bridge, we could see the adult salmon digging their redds (nests) and spawning in Issaquah Creek. We also got an up-close, nose-to-nose view of the salmon from the hatchery’s glassed-in fish ladder.