Kennedy Creek Trail 004 by Davide Roe:

If you've never seen salmon spawning in the wild, head out to Kennedy Creek sometime in November. Free entertainment, at the very least.

From SPSSEG:

Welcome back the chum salmon of Kennedy Creek at the Kennedy Creek Salmon Trail beginning Saturday, November 1, 2008.

Kennedy Creek is one of the most productive salmon runs in South Puget Sound. Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to experience these wild salmon on the 1/2 mile, ADA accessible trail, with 11 viewing stations, interpretive signage, and volunteer guides.

The trail is FREE and open to the public from 10 am to 4 pm on the following days in November:

Weekends (11/01/08 - 11/30/08)
Day after Thanksgiving (11/28/08)
Veteran’s Day (11/11/08)

Today, folks from Mason Conservation District, Kennedy Creek Quarry, and Mason County Jail, along with yours truly, pruned vegetation, set up netting, and put up the signs for the Kennedy Creek Salmon Trail.

After some rain, it turned out to be a crisp, sunny fall day.  We were accompanied by the splashing of male chum salmon, who are already making their way up the creek to spawn.

Male salmon typically begin to arrive before females at the spawning site, a phenomenon which is called protandry (more typically associated with flowering plants).