Taylor Creek (El Dorado County, California)

  

Each year in the early fall, the kokanee salmon start their spawning run from the cold waters of Lake Tahoe and make their way up Taylor Creek. Normally, this happens around the first week of October, but for some reason the salmon have been delayed this year. Over the past few weeks, I have made a couple of stops to see the run, but found either no or very few fish. Today, their numbers were a little better, but still not in the vast quantities I have seen in some previous years. Taylor Creek is a bastion for wildlife, even with the salmon being so late. 

From the visitor center, the Rainbow Trail weaves in and around the creek and offers some spectacular views of the creek, the wooded marsh surrounding the area, and of course, the wildlife that makes their home here. From the salmon, to a plethora of water fowl, to bears, to beavers, this area has a rich population.

On my stroll down the short trail, I see a few salmon schools in the clear water of the creek. There are also a number of ducks and other birds swimming and soaring on and around the cool flowing waters. While I don't see any bears this trip (probably due to the low salmon numbers at present), I do see sign of beaver constructions. The busy creatures have constructed a dam at some point, but the waters have broken through, possibly with intervention of the rangers. There area also a number of trees that have obviously been gnawed down by the mammalian engineers.

It's a little disappointing to see so few fish, but a nice stroll through the woods and the opportunity to see so much wild life makes the trip a success.