Minreal Creek/Shoup Bay.

Time: 12:00-3:00
Date: Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Place: Mineral Creek Beach/ Shoup Bay Trail
Temperature: 50 to 55 dagrees
Climate: Mostly cloudy, Very breeze, some sun


plants
Chocolate Lilly
Rock Weed
Idotea
Sitka Valerian
Large Leaf Avens
Wild Geranium
Nagoonberry
Dogwood Bunchberry
Coastal Paintbrush
Sedge
Blue Flag
Tiny Mushroom
Dune Grass
Red Alder
Raspberry
Baby’s Breath
Beach Greens
Sea Lettuce
Lady Fern
Alaska Violet
Crow Parsnip
Wild Celery
Captive Valarian
Nagoon Berry
Corn Lilly
Wild Lilly Of The Valley
Elder Berry
Skunk Cabbage
Death Camas
Bog Candle
Sedge
Horse Tail
Red Fescue
Shooting Stars
Bracken Fern
Northern Yarrow
Beach Pea
Yellow Paintbrush
Cottonwood
Dandelions
A seed pod from an Iris.
Rockweed
Lichen
Dried Shelf Mushroom

Isopod:
Idotea
Decapod Crustacean:
Crab
Mollusc:
Snail
Blue Muscle (Bay Muscle)

Insects:
Bee
Mosquito
Gnats
Fly
Moth
Mites:
Spider Mite

animals
Vole running along the creek.
Tunnels, which are evidence of voles & mice.

(mechel)
This field trip came with a bonus; we got some exercise! We walked about 1 mile down Shoup Bay trail to the path which leads to the beach. Once on the beach, we walked out as far as we could to identify the organisms living in the water. We identified rockweed & few of the creatures that live around it, when the tide started coming in quickly. We explored the beach, turning over rocks & sticks to see if anything was living underneath. We found, a couple dead crabs, a shelf mushroom that had dried out & snail tracks. It was windy & cool on the beach so we headed back to the trail. As we walked up the trail the wind died down & you could feel the temperature rise.

We made couple stops along the trail to identify plants. We saw several “full grown” red alders. It’s amazing when you think about how the little sapling we saw in the bog last week grows into a big tree. As we were walking up the trail we stopped at the meadow, where we came across a few hikers & their dogs. They had two chows & a cocker spaniel with them. In the meadow I quickly identified red fescue, the years working for a lawn care company helped with that. I have to say, that I actually enjoy sitting on the ground identifying plants.

As we headed back toward the trail head, we stopped to identify a few more things & got a good look at a huge cottonwood tree, with lichens on it. I found this field trip to be very relaxing & hope everyone else did as well

(Jenica)
I was cold on this trip, I guess next time I will have dress warmer then I did. It was fun walking along the beach looking at all kids of different thing such as the list above says. We did see a lot of things on this trip, but a lot of it was something that we have already seen. But now it was all blooming which was pretty cool, because every flower we seen were beautiful. Next time I hope we see more new and better things.
(Me)
i enjoyed the trip eventhough it was cold an got sick from it. We Walked along the beach an saw alot of cool things that you wouldn't normaly notice.