Shoup Bay trail, the beach & meadow.

6/10/09 12:30pm - 3:45pm

Cloudy, the temperature was around 60 degrees on the trail. It was windy along the beach with a temperature between 45-50 degrees.

Plants:

Dune Grass

Red Alder

Raspberry

Chocolate Lilly

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

Fungus:

Small Mushrooms

Dried Shelf Mushroom

Isopod:

Idotea

Decapod Crustacean:

Crab

Mollusc:

Snail

Blue Muscle (Bay Muscle)

Insects:

Bee

Mosquito

Gnats

Fly

Moth

Mites:

Spider Mite

Mammals:

Humans

Dogs

Vole running along the creek.

Tunnels, which are evidence of voles & mice.

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.