The American River runs out of the Sierras, into the Sacramento River, and to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Along the banks of the American River, was a sawmill owned by John Sutter. At this site in 1848, an employee named James Marshall, found several flakes of gold that precipitated the California Gold Rush.
We were excited to find out that the American River is on of only a dozen rivers that sustain a salmon run. In October, California's native King Salmon (Chinook) return to the river from the Pacific Ocean to migrate upstream to spawning grounds.
A bikepath runs East from Sacramento, up to the Nimbus Dam at Lake Natoma. On Sunday, we decided to bike some of the path, and visit the Nimbus Fish Hatchery. . .
We threw our bikes (great bikes - thanks to the Needle'rents) into the back of our (very handy - thanks to Mike and Sue) CRV and drove East.
Unfortunately, we took no pictures of our ride. Our destination was the Fish Hatchery, where we learned that they raise and release Chinook salmon and Steelhead trout (both anadromous):
The feedtruck - note the feeding frenzy:
Chinook fins reminded us of the Manta Rays we saw off the Point Reyes shore:
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