A Tuolumne River Mystery for the Fish Experts

Paging my fish expert friends...what are these fish? I realize the pictures aren't great, since they were across the river from me and I couldn't get much of an angle on them. They were rather big, between 1 to 2 feet long, I'm guessing.

I cannot even pretend to be any kind of an expert on the fish of the Tuolumne River, but I can't help but wonder if these are Chinook Salmon. They were bunched up on the far shoreline, and seemed to be competing for space among the pebbles and rocks in the shallow water. There was a lot of splashing and chasing.

But the thing is, there apparently hasn't been a springtime salmon run in a long time around these parts. But I did find an intriguing statement on a NOAA website: "Recently, ‘spring-running’ Chinook salmon have been observed in the Stanislaus and Tuolumne rivers. Some scientists believe this means a very small population of self-sustaining (i.e., capable of reproducing without hatchery influence) CV spring-run Chinook salmon may exist in the Stanislaus and Tuolumne rivers". So I am curious...I would be so thrilled to know that salmon might be back on the river.

I know I'm expressing my ignorance, so someone please gently correct me and identify these fish if you can! I appreciate the assistance.

Dreams of Summer: Your Time Machine Malfunctioned. Where and When Are You?

The DeLorean was working just fine when you entered Oct. 21, 2015 and hit 88 miles per hour, but you must have hit one of the gravitational waves they just discovered (that's the rumor anyway), and the car went careening through time and space. You land and when you open the door, this is the scene that greets you. And there's no Yoda, and no Luke Skywalker either (how many movie references can I squeeze in tonight?).

So, where and when are you?

A few clues: It's an American national park, and the park doesn't look much like this at all any more...

We are continuing on our journey of last summer...answers will be forthcoming!