David & Donna's Great Adventure: @Jackson Natl Fish Hatchery

Snake River Cutthroat Trout (11 months old)

If you managed to hit this site as a result of a search on the Jackson National Fish Hatchery, don't hesitate to come out and visit. Bring a picnic lunch. Bring your clean fishing gear & a Wyoming Fishing License and you can fish in the hatchery's pond. The hatchery is open 8 AM -5 PM each day. Tour guides are available from 9 AM - 5 PM each day through mid-September. Dogs are welcomed when on a leash. We expect the new batch of fish eggs to arrive near the end of May.

For the personal side: We arrived Monday, May 8th, and been busy until today. On the way here, we had a new hydraulic leak from a fitting that needed to be tightened. Probably worked loose bouncing along I-80. We noticed the leak when we felt the front of the trailer slowly dropping. (3rd time in 10 months for this one symptom.) Found the leak after dark when we'd stopped at Newton, IA for the night, so lots of fun around 10 - 11 PM that night. (On the good news side, the first wrench I pulled out of the toolbox to try and tightened the fitting fit perfectly - when does that ever happen??)

Next day traveling & Donna's not feeling well. That day's stop was one of our sit-a-day breaks in traveling (that is, a 2-night stop.) We made a trip to the emergency room in Lincoln, NE after we arrived and finished setting the trailer up for the night. Who knew bronchitis gave off the same symptoms as a heart issue? Off we go with a new prescription for an antibiotic and we keep going.

As mentioned earlier, we got here Monday, met the other couple that's working as tour guides. We received our National Fish & Wildlife shirts, sweater & jackets and started work the next morning. We're both dehydrated and still acclimating to the high elevation.

New highway hatchery signs are up. The hatchery has renovated a room to be a visitor center. It's nice and keeps the tour guides out of the weather. Previous years, we sat on the front porch of a cabin and met people as they arrived from the parking lot. Today, five TVs each playing a looped GoPro video of a single stage in the growth of the Snake River Cutthroat from egg to adult.

Two aquariums are also in the visitor center. One contains the Kendall Warm Springs Dace. Kendall Warm Springs is located in the headwaters of the Green River near Pincedale, WY and is considered an endangered environment. The dace (think minnows) are not endangered, but since their environment is considered endangered they are treated as endangered. The Jackson Hatchery was one of two hatcheries selected to learn how to raise & take care of the dace. That process started in 2018 and was completed while we volunteered here in 2021. So what to do with the dace? Put them in an aquarium and teach people about them. Primary predator for the dace are birds - think blue herons as an example.

The second aquarium shows some of the Snake River Cutthroat Trout that currently reside in the outside raceways. It's perfect for showing people what the fish (currently 11 months old) look like (see picture, above.)

The visitor center is still evolving. The goal is to make it as self-guiding as possible when tour guides are not available. Boards explaining hatchery operations need to be rearranged to make more sense or at least a more logical order. There are a significant number of pictures of the history of the hatchery that can be added. The path down from the visitor parking lot is now completely paved and has a rail fence to "guide" visitors along the preferred path. New information signs are up.

Outside, the split rail fence along the pond is gone. The cabin where tour guides use to sit is now moved to the northeast corner of the hatchery and "improved" to make a room for a volunteer eager enough to stay there. The overgrowth around the pond is gone. This first raceway to the west side of the hatchery contains the adult cutthroat trout. The cutthroat being raised for delivery are all located under tents with restricted access. (That's the aquarium's job to show people what they look like!) The area where the old hatchery administrative building use to stand is being considered for renovation where they plan to add three more full-hookup volunteer pads. This year's fish eggs are due in a couple of weeks.

Tour guides and one maintenance volunteer have arrived so far. Two more volunteer biologist are expected. There may be one more maintenance volunteer expected - just not sure. The hatchery's full-time maintenance position is currently open.

As I sit writing this blog entry, it's partly sunny, 57 with a 15 mph east wind. There's more snow on the Snow King Mountain than Donna & I have ever seen. Snow still remains on East Gros Ventre Butte. We're told this area has gotten the most snow this last winter than has ever been recorded. It looks it!

So that gets you up to date with us. Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us. Pictures of the hatchery and Snow King Mountain follow. More later.