'the man...

...who keeps the hook in the water the longest catches the most fish' were the words of wisdom from Glen proudly displaying his catch of Pink/Humpy salmon.

After yesterday's grey and misty day the morning beamed blue and sunny, perfect for a wander along the Whatcom Creek Salmon Art Trail.
Meaning noisy or rumbling water in the language of the Lummi Nation, for thousands of years Coast Salish people fished, canoed and camped at the mouth of the Whatcom River.
In 1852 the Lummi people and pioneers met at the Whatcom waterfall and what followed saw land deals, logging of forests, construction of a sawmill and the foundings of what was to become Bellingham. From 1900 onwards the creek was channeled, reconfigured, dredged, polluted and a sewage plant built along the lower creek.
In 1970 the old sewage plant was turned into a salmon hatchery, the first salmon released back into the creek in 1979.
Now revegetated with native plants and fruiting bushes (thimbleberries, beach strawberries and snowberries) signs illustrate and describe vegetation, stainless steel salmon leap boulders (extra)  and carved totems tell local stories.
Salmon now return upstream to where they were born to spawn including, at this time of year, Chinook, Sockeye and Glen's Pink salmon.

A carved bell on the trail bears the words' Our simplest wisdom is to follow the seabright salmon home' (extra) and over the next months Chinook, Sockeye and Pink will be joined by Chum and Coho Salmon and Steelhead Trout changing colour and shape as they find their way home.