2015 Western Trip – Day 50 – Camp Sherman & Fish Hatchery

At breakfast the other day, we asked the restaurant hostess the three things she would recommend we do while here and she gave us the those she does when her family visit and the one we chose for this day was a drive in the forest to visit Camp Sherman and the Wizard Falls Fish Hatchery.

We weren’t sure what to expect from Camp Sherman, but it was basically just a small community in woods with a school, volunteer Fire Dept, small lodge, store/post office/gas station, and many campgrounds.  Here is a shot of the new and old gas station at the store.

From there we headed down stream to the hatchery which was constructed in 1947.  To access the hatchery we had to cross the stream with an obviously deep channel going under the bridge.

The hatchery is used for incubation and rearing of Atlantic salmon, brook trout, cutthroat trout, kokanee and rainbow trout to provide for recreational fishing program objectives, and the incubation and rearing of spring Chinook salmon as part of a reintroduction program in the upper Deschutes Basin.  I couldn’t understand why they would be doing Atlantic salmon until I discovered that they are stocked into a couple of local lakes.

There are several large tanks and a pond for some of the larger fish – first shot is fingerlings in a tank and second shot is what may be Cutthroat Trout in the pond.

The hatchery is located in a park like setting with picnic tables and fish feeding opportunities in the pond.

As we drove through the forest we found few areas that had not had at least a minor fire with the floor covered by ferns that were turning yellow.

When we got back to the campground, this monster was parked across from us.

Even though my BD was a couple of days off, we decided that this might be the best day to celebrate with some porterhouse steaks on the grill.  We sided them with some bacon wrapped grilled red potatoes.  I grilled the steaks to a medium rare, then cut off the fillets for the ladies and I ate one of the strips. 

It was a delicious BD meal and I enjoyed grilling again under the Oregon pines.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

9/11/15 event date