Private Tour: Kokanee Salmon, Emerald Bay and more

The annual Kokanee Salmon Festival will take place October 3rd and 4th at the Taylor Creek Visitors Center,  a wonderful family event at Lake Tahoe. 

Throughout the month of October, your family can take a private photography tour of South Lake Tahoe, including a visit to Taylor Creek to see the Kokanee Salmon run.  This tour departs at 8:30a, from your South Lake Tahoe Hotel, and returns you to your hotel around 12:30p.

Back this year wil be the Salmon Feed, 5K, 10K and 1/2 Marathon Kokanee Trail Runs, 1/2k kids tadpole trot, creek-side interpretive programs, special events and programs in the amphitheater at the Taylor Creek Visitors' Center.  Click here for a map of the visitors' center and surrounding areas.

For more information about the Kokanee Trail Runs or to get a run application call (530) 577-0700, or Email: kokaneetrailruns@yahoo.com (applications are also available at the Visitor Center at Taylor Creek and the Supervisor's Office at 35 College Drive). Visit the Tahoe Mountain Milers website at www.tahoemtnmilers.org for event information and course map. Parking at the Snopark lot is limited and fills up quickly, runners are encouraged to park at Camp Richardson and car pool to the Snopark parking lot, or arrange to be dropped off. To register, call Renee Gorevin at (530) 577-0700. Volunteers are needed during the day of the race to help out with registration, timing, parking and to help staff aid stations. Contact Renee Gorevin if you would like to help.

Ever wonder how the Kokanee Salmon got there name? The American Indians living along the Fraser River in Canada gave the Kokanee its name. Kokanee means “red fish.” They are non-anadromous salmon meaning that they live their entire lives in fresh water. Kokanee are much smaller than ocean going salmon due to limited sources of food in fresh water lakes. The average size of an adult is 14 inches.

Did you know the Kokanee Salmon are not indiginous to Lake Tahoe? Kokanee were “accidentally” introduced into Lake Tahoe in 1944 from holding ponds that overflowed at the old Tahoe City Fish Hatchery. Three years after their accidental introduction the salmon returned to Tahoe City to spawn. Knowing that the Kokanee would survive in Lake Tahoe, it was decided that the hatchery would do a yearly planting of fingerlings in the tributary streams. These plantings began in 1949. Today, California Department of Fish and Game continues to plant fingerlings in Taylor Creek to maintain a healthy population. Kokanee Salmon are a land-locked form of the Sockeye Salmon that are native to the marine and fresh waters of the Pacific Northwest.