Salmon Run, Part I

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The day couldn’t have been more beautiful.

The clouds were high in the air.

The colours on the trees and bushes were magnificent.

The promise of seeing the salmon run was in the air.  We drove along the Trans-Canada Highway, marvelling at the beauty in every turn, as only adults can, who have driven this rute many times and know so many of the vistas head.

Stacey and Matthew Wood were driving towards the Adams Lake Salmon Run. 

Michelle and Adam Wood were joining them there. Richard and Miranda Johnson also had a full car of children and had left for the park an hour ahead of the rest of us. David Wood, Moiya and I also joined the group and we met up first at one of the several picnic tables set up in the entrance area of the former Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park. The park is now named Tsútswecw Provincial Park (pronounced “choo-chwek”) meaning “Many Rivers” in Secwepemctsín.

Photo by Moiya Wood

There are two trails travelled more than others in this park.

One is down to the flats by the river, and the other is to the look out.

Richard, Miranda, Michael, Alice and Betty had already been down to the river and were back beginning to eat their lunch when the rest of us arrived.

Moiya pulled out her cooler full of turkey sandwiches. The past seems to be travelling with us, for she had used that old recipe given to us first by Billie Bates. Billie didn’t really take credit for the recipe. “I got it off of the back of a bag of flour”, she said, “and I learned how to roll the buns, one in each hand, when I worked in a bakery for a while. Both traditions have been handed down and though I sometimes tell people they can buy buns just as good at the Coop, that is not exactly true. There is just nothing like the taste of those buns when Moiya makes them.  Vegetables and sandwiches consumed, and our parties broke up, all to visit the same sites in the park, although at different times.

The beginning of a wonderful journey as we watched the salmon lay their eggs.

Arta