Salmon stream eases worldly woes

THERE’S NOTHING LIKE WATCHING salmon battle their way upstream to spawn to help take your mind off a disastrous national election.

Friday, with late-afternoon sunshine beckoning, I grabbed the camera, jumped in the car and headed out Delphi Road, southwest of Olympia, to McLane Creek Nature Trail, on the edge of Capitol State Forest. It was another step in my quest to get better acquainted with Olympia and Thurston County during my six-week housesitting sabbatical from Center Island.

McLane Creek feeds into Mud Bay, one of Puget Sound’s southernmost fingers, crossed by U.S. Highway 101 west of the state capital. The area is a lush and peaceful patch of forest, pond and stream any time of year. But on most November days the creek is asplash with hundreds of chum salmon with only one thing on their mind: making little salmon.

Indeed, you hear splashing well before the trail reaches the creek, because it’s a shallow stream that requires the big, determined fish to waggle their entire bodies to lunge ahead over pebbly shoals, sometimes zooming forward like a Seafair hydroplane. It adds a distinctive percussionary note to the lilting stream song.

Along the looping mile or so of boardwalk and trail, admire the fuzzy cattails edging a pond that teems with newts and waterfowl. Frogs chirp and hiccup in the forest understory and flowing ferns decorate the mossy trunks of towering maples.

A footbridge over the creek offers a prime salmon-viewing spot. You’ll see (and smell! ) both living and dead fish. By the time the big fish make it this far up the stream — almost three miles from the Sound — they are battered and exhausted. After the females lay their eggs and the males fertilize them with their milt, both die. Their rotting bodies feed other wildlife and fertilize the forest.

Spending an hour marveling at this phenomenon up close was a pleasant stress-reliever. If you need to get your mind off the troublesome future, I recommend it: Go find peace in nature.

Sunday, November 10, is the annual McLane Creek Chum Salmon and Cider Celebration, 11:30 a.m.- 2 p.m. Enjoy hot cider and snacks while learning from trained Salmon Stewards. There will be a craft activity for kids. Free admission; Discover Pass required. 5044 Delphi Road S.W., Olympia.