PORT ANGELES – All the Sol Duc summer coho (silver salmon) needed was a little bit of rain.
Days after the Friends of Olympic National Park were forced to cancel a salmon viewing event at the park’s Sol Duc Salmon Cascades, the silvers finally arrived.
“There’s a bunch of fish there below the Cascades just kind of staging,” Olympic National Park fisheries technician Phil Kennedy said.
“You can see them scaling the rocks.
“It’s a pretty high velocity right now, so as the river drops they will really start shooting up there.”
Park fisheries biologist Sam Brenkman estimated there were 300 coho in the pool below the Salmon Cascades on Wednesday.
There should be even more in the coming weeks as the coho near the end of a 57-mile journey from the Pacific Ocean to the Cascades.
Once they get over the collection of boulders, the fish will spawn in an area about five miles below Sol Duc Falls, Brenkman said.
“The conditions are really good right now,” he said.
“This is an excellent viewing opportunity. It’s pretty spectacular.”
The Cascades are located 28 miles west of Port Angeles.
Head south off of U.S. Highway 101 at milepost 219 into Olympia National Park (usual entry fees apply) on Sol Duc Hot Springs Road.
Six miles down the road you’ll find the well-marked parking area for the cascades.
Bring your camera, but not your fishing rod; the Salmon Cascades are closed to fishing.
