Note: The Kokanee Quest will end Jan. 31, 2019. All passports must be submitted before Feb. 10 to receive the pathtag prize.
The geocache is not at the posted coordinates, although it's a good place to park. The pullout parking for this cache holds 6-7 cars. There is paved access to the trail about 20 feet north of parking. The final cache is north along the trail, which is fun for rolling and strolling (aka biking and walking). Enjoy your visit!
When you look at George Davis Creek from the East Lake Sammamish Trail, you can see clear barriers to fish passage on both sides: "bird cage" structures, grates, and culverts designed to divert and manage high flows and prevent property damage downstream. So you may think that kokanee don't have a prayer of spawning in the creek. But you'd be wrong.
The creek was cut off from fish use for decades, but thanks to an innovative project that reconnected the stream to Lake Sammamish by channeling it under a residential property, kokanee are now spawning at the mouth of George Davis Creek. The Watershed Company worked with the property owners to reconstruct the stream channel and lake shoreline – and now the homeowners can watch kokanee spawn in their front yard.
The Kokanee Work Group is currently studying options to extend the spawning area upstream if barriers like the ones you see can be removed or modified without adversely impacting the surrounding properties.
Also check out the underwater Kokanee Cam, which shows kokanee returning to spawn in Ebright Creek.
To determine the correct cache coordinates, answer the questions below. Two answers you can find online, and two require you to visit George Davis Creek. Then substitute the numbers for the code letters in the final coordinate puzzle at the bottom.
Before You Go:
At the Creek: (Stage 1: N 47° 36.927 W 122° 04.089)
Note: The cache is NOT at this location.
- How many grated structures do you see upstream (road side)? C
- How many "Wetlands" signs are at the creek? D
Final: N 47° 3A.0D[A-C] W 122° 04.0AB
Substitute the numbers you got for A,B,C,D into the coordinate string above to determine the final latitude and longitude. [Brackets] are merely for grouping.
This cache was placed with the permission and support of King County and the City of Sammamish.
The Kokanee Quest series provides information on kokanee salmon, our local environment, and stewardship of the Lake Sammamish watershed.
- There are nine geocaches in the series, and all the names start with "KQ:" Bookmark list of caches.
- Download the passport and map.
- To get the final coordinates for each cache, you must correctly answer the questions on the cache page. (All nine geocaches are multi or puzzle caches.)
- To qualify for a prize, you must stamp the passport with the ink stamp inside each cache. The passport includes instructions for claiming your prize (250 available).
- A Discover Pass is required to park at the two Lake Sammamish State Park locations.
- Share your adventures with #KokaneeQuest.
Unlike other salmon, the Lake Sammamish kokanee salmon lives its entire life in fresh water. Kokanee spawn in tributary creeks, and their offspring migrate to the lake as they mature, then return to their home creeks as adults to spawn the next generation.
Historically, the kokanee filled a critical ecological role within the Lake Sammamish watershed and was an important food and cultural resource for local tribes. But this "little red fish" has experienced a dramatic decline, leading to near-extinction in recent years.
To address the kokanee's plight, citizens, landowners, nonprofit agencies, and local, state, tribal, and federal governments have united to restore native kokanee salmon populations and the ecological integrity of the greater Lake Sammamish basin. In 2013, this group received an Urban Wildlife Refuge Partnership (UWRP) designation from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, one of the first in the country.
The Kokanee Quest is sponsored by the Kokanee Work Group section of the Lake Sammamish UWRP, a consortium led by the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks (KC DNRP) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).
