Nature Pictures from Trout Streams, Page 102

Big rainbow (estimated 25") in the middle Kenai River. Our drift boat guide (Jeff from Alaska Troutfitters) had a policy that he holds the fish instead of the clients, which felt weird to me but is completely understandable given the diverse clientele and the amount of pressure on these fish. Mishandling by inexperienced clients could add up to a lot of mortality.

This is "milky draba" or "milky whitlowgrass," Draba lactea.

There's a fish-cleaning table right IN the river at this landing. Driving out on the gravel bar is the norm, too. It was a good place to field-dress my sockeye salmon. Tossing the guts out into the river has them devoured by hungry gulls within seconds. That's illegal in many places, but in Alaska it's the preferred way of dealing with fish waste: these ecosystems are driven by dead salmon and fully equipped to deal with it.

It's kind of a crappy place to make one's home if you ask me, but this spider didn't ask.

Dwarf hawksbeard, Crepis nana.