Salmon Time
About a month ago (labor day weekend), I embarked on a quest to explore a decommissioned Forest Service road along the Dungeness River and set up camp in the old East Crossing campground. The road was an absolute thicket, passable, but barely so in some places. I held a stick in front of my face for miles to minimize my spiderweb accrual.
Thicket, occasionally opening up to scenery.
I do believe I eventually came to the site of the alleged campground, but aside from a single fire pit and a relatively cleared area, the forest seems to have swallowed much of it. Not a bad thing!
Lunch was enjoyed alongside a stretch of the Dungeness that I was excited to find teeming (by todays standards) with salmon. Pinks if I'm not wrong. I also have a video, but I'm paying for the cheap version of this site, so I can't include it. You can use your imagination!
Eagles had apparently also been enjoying lunch on the river. Doing their part to distribute fishy packages of nitrogen, phosphorous, and such to the surrounding ecosystem. A study found that trees grow more than 3 times faster along salmon-bearing rivers compared to those on rivers without salmon. And the salmon in turn benefit from the clean, shaded waterways provided by the big trees.
Yum.
One more labor day weekend post after this!
