Death and Pinks

Let's start with the death of some trees. These are Black Spruce,( Bog Spruce). They look dead even when they are still alive. They are so combustible that they can catch fire even when their roots are saturated with water.

Earlier this Summer a wildfire got started near the town of Willow. No one died but about 50 homes were burned to the ground. These burned trees are part of that fire.

On Wednesday Dan and I headed past Willow out to Goose Creek for some fishing. Dan fished, I wandered in the woods looking for interesting things to photograph.

Dan landed some Pink Salmon, also called, Humpback Salmon. They are not actually pink. They are called pinks because of the color of their flesh. The quality of their flesh is 4th out of 5 for Alaska salmon. I hate them all; fish are not my favorite food.

You can easily see why they are known as 'Humpies'. They are the smallest species of salmon. At this stage in their lives salmon do not eat and wont bite at the fishing lures. Fishermen snag them instead. 

Getting the hook out of the back is safer than getting the hook out of the fish's mouth.

Dan released the fish he caught even though they only had days, or even hours left to live.

Late in the breeding cycle salmon have very mushy flesh. Not too appealing.

This is not a koi. During the process of spawning salmon transfer all of their energy to the business of reproducing. They no longer produce the slime that protects their skin. That makes them vulnerable to the fungus that coats their skin. Yuck!

These poor fish are all used up.

The end is not a pretty sight. Be happy that you do not have to endure the smell.

Following up on the death theme. This poor Moose also added its decomposing flesh to the general stench along Goose Creek.

I don't know what kind of mushrooms these are; but they look like death to me.