Hatchery Wackery

After a thirty-six year hiatus, Barb and I decided to revisit the local fish hatchery on Hwy. 88 a few miles east of Clements, CA. This is right below Commanche Dam on the Mokolumne River, where we enjoyed a church baptism event and picnic in 1975 or so. This is also the spot where thousands start a river tubing or raft trip down the river.

Angel was with us, so the adventure began. Beautiful spring-like weather. Not too many people out. We didn't see any caretakers or docents and you could take a self-guided tour of the place to see the hatchery, fish ladders and race tanks. And there was also a few gates (it's all fenced) that led to the river, where you could picnic, throw rocks and enjoy the kingfishers darting up and down the waterway.


Angel is a rockhound and spent most of her time picking up and examining anything that grabbed her fancy. Barbara chaperoned while I went on my merry way downstream at the water's edge to take pictures. Nothing spectacular, but we had a fun time . . . until we started back to the hatchery.

They lock the two gates to the paths to the river at 2:30 and my watch said 3:00. A 6' fence prevented us from getting back to the car and it looked like we were in a pickle.

I climbed the fence, leaving my camera with Angel, and ran/traipsed back to the hatchery to find someone to help. No one in the office. The door was locked. No one out working. A few families were still there, looking at the race holding runs. I went and retrieved an Army blanket from the car in case Barb would have to scale the razor sharp fence. Walking back, I checked the "Personnel Only" door to the hatchery building. Thankfully it was open and a lone caretaker was there, spraying brooms he had used to clean up with. I presented our plight and he said he'd be down to open the gate when he was done working in about 5 minutes. Great.

I walked back to find Barb wondering how this was going to play out. She saw the blanket and asked what it was for. "This is for you to sleep on tonight, sweetie." She wasn't amused.

The two prisoners were soon released and headed back to the car. Our next visit will be in the morning and we'll read ALL the signs.

You can see the rest of the pictures here.