8/6/19 - Day 39 - Skeena River Challenge

Can you see the two men standing
on the rocks?
On the Yellowhead Highway is a town named Whitset. We had noticed a neat waterfall on the Skeena River as we made our way north, but hadn't wanted to stop at that time. We made that a lunch stop on our way south. Wow, more than a neat view!

We soon realized that some of the First Nations people were using dipnets to catch fish in the falls by standing on rocks along the waterfall. As we watched, a man climbed down the rocks above the foaming cauldron and peered into the water. We don't know if he actually saw the fish there, or just looked for some indication in the swirling water.
Then he reached the pole down into the swirling water and held it a few seconds before hand-over-hand pulling the net back up to the rocks he stood on. Most of the time he had four to six fish in the net. A few times he had a lot more fish than that evidetly because he  had to struggle to carry the squirming fish. The man would carrry them back up to the top of the rock and transfer them into a large basin another fellow was holding. The second person carried them to a third group who had a trough and some clipboards.

We read an information board telling that the Wet-suet-en people have been studying the fish run. They use a seine net lower in the river to collect fish to put tags on. When they dip fish at this waterfall, if they get a tagged one, they measure them, record the information, and release the fish above the waterfall.

It was very interesting to watch, but even if I was wearing the climbing harness these guys had on, I don't think I would want to stand on the edge of that waterfall! We are glad they are working to maintain the fish run though.
Skeena River gorge
below the waterfall

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 1 – Searching for Some Sunshine

Image
We headed south from Olympia, driving through gloomy rain showers until we were well east of Portland, Oregon. Our destination? The Total Eclipse of the sun in Texas, which will occur on April 8th. That will give us about 9 days to travel the 3,000+ miles. I always forget the interesting geology that is exposed in the Columbia River gorge. The varying shapes of the basalt columns kept my interest for miles on end. Especially this time of year, spring, there were many waterfalls spraying the cliffs, and Multnomah Falls was roaring! Our first night was spent at a Harvest Host location in Echo, Oregon. The host was Echo Ridge Cellars. They have a nice flat gravel lot for Harvest Host guests.   The wines sold are pressed from their vineyard which is about 3 miles away. The building itself is my favorite part. They have restored and updated an old grain elevator. The inside of the elevator was left exposed so visitors can see the construction. It is very solid 2x6 boards stacked flat, rat
Read more

Day 9 – Side Trip to the Border

Image
With an extra day before our reservation at Lake Brownwood State Park for the eclipse, we debated where to go. Pat suggested a side trip down to Del Rio and/or Eagle Pass at the US-Mexican border which had been in the news of late. After looking over our maps, we decided to just go take a look at it. (Our apologies, this blog is longer than our normal ones, but it was a very interesting excursion) We drove down Hwy 277 through relatively flat terrain. There was scrub brush and cactus for miles and miles. When news reporters talk about illegal immigrants disappearing into the brush, we could easily see how that could be. Someone could be just feet away from the edge of the road and not be seen. The two-lane road was a good road with regular passing lanes. The further south we went the sparser the traffic became. It was kind of eerie and we wondered at times if we should be heading down there.   “Was this really a good idea?” However, curiosity kept us going. About thirty miles fro
Read more

Day Two – Diamonds and Daydreams

Image
We found our next camp along the shore of Diamond Lake with the towering Mt. Thielson keeping watch over us. A cloudy first day gave us some rainbows and puffy pink clouds. It seemed to us that the mountain looked an awful lot like the mountain that The Grinch lives in, so we kept watch for him. This was a great campground and our site was right on the lake. During the day, we had frequent visitors in the form of gray jays, squirrels, ducks, and geese. Later that night, the sparks from our campfire flew away into the black night and brought back with them a brilliant sunrise. As the sun rose behind Mt. Thielson, first there was a glimmer, then there was a silvery rim, and finally the sun rose, a white diamond above the black mountain.  The suns rays spread more diamonds across the lake surface.  What a beautiful way to start our day.
Read more