When we were on vacation in northern Arkansas this past summer, we stumbled onto something we didn't know existed.
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We love to travel back roads cause you never know what you might find. As we were driving along we came to the Norfork dam and a campsite. We ventured into the campsite and then across the street we noticed this sign. But more than the sign, it was the sight of the bathrooms that caught my attention. If you travel back roads much you'll find there aren't as many of these as you might wish. (smile).
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Neither of us had ever been to a fish hatchery before so we decided to explore a bit. Plus the price of admission was too good. No charge! The first thing you notice are these tanks that seem to go on for ever.
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And as you can see they were filled to the brim with trout. I've never seen so many fish in my life.
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They were beautiful and some quite large. If you enlarge this pic you can see big daddy in the middle.
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These are the pumps that keep the water circulating. It was quite an operation they had. Also they had netting across the top to keep birds from having a tasty dinner.
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Here is where the little babies start out. This room was really cold.
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Look at all those babies. Can you imagine how many thousands are in here? And they have many tanks of these little guys.
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The hatchery was located on this creek. They had built this nice walk along deck to aid in fishing. It is a catch/release creek mostly for kids to learn how to trout fish.
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I really loved the creek and could have spent many hours there just watching and listening. It had lots of trout swimming around.
If you are ever in this part of Arkansas I would recommend checking it out. We had a great time while there.