Album of Sloan Creek Road Field Trip

Selected photos by Rod Crawford from a 22 June 2013 spider collecting trip to Sloan Creek Road, about as close to the center of the Cascades as you can drive in Snohomish County. My second attempt with Larry McTigue to find a pitfall trapping site for grylloblattids, we succeeded this time! Only time will tell if the traps get anything. While Larry hiked, I spent the rest of the day collecting (what else) spiders in a semi-riparian forest, elevation 2400', with nobody else around, and got 33 species far from the nearest prior spider sample: a good day, despite the mosquitos.
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1998 aerial photo Big Four Mountain on first day of summer, Snohomish County, Washington
My sites in red on aerial photo      (USGS, 1998) We passed Big Four Mountain on the way        © Rod Crawford
Larry McTigue's truck on Sloan Creek Road 49 end, Snohomish County, Washington Sloan Peak from Sloan Creek Road 49 end, Snohomish County, Washington
Our chariot              © Rod Crawford Nice view of Sloan Peak from our parking spot          © Rod Crawford
outhouse, Sloan Creek Road 49 end, Snohomish County, Washington roadside grass field, Sloan Creek Road 49 end, Snohomish County, Washington
Three spider species in outhouse     © Rod Crawford We parked at this nice grassy field          © Rod Crawford
Larry McTigue wearing his anti-mosquito hiking suit, Sloan Creek Road 49 end, Snohomish County, Washington wild strawberry plants Fragaria sp. in field, Sloan Creek Road 49 end, Snohomish County, Washington
Larry in his anti-mosquito outfit      © Rod Crawford Here in the mountains, no berries anywhere near ripe     © Rod Crawford
red paintbrush, Castilleja sp., in field, Sloan Creek Road 49 end, Snohomish County, Washington boulders block decommissioned road, Sloan Creek Road 49 end, Snohomish County, Washington
Castilleja flowers in field      © Rod Crawford Rockpile, blocking road we'd intended to drive, provided habitat         © Rod Crawford
pitfall trap site in old growth cedar grove, upper Sloan Creek, Snohomish County, Washilngton vine maple Acer circinatum dominates clearcuts, Sloan Creek Road 49 end, Snohomish County, Washington
Pitfalls were set in cedar grove        © Rod Crawford Vine maple filled the old clearcuts            © Rod Crawford
leaf litter, Sloan Creek Road 49 end, Snohomish County, Washington typical near-riparian forest, Sloan Creek Road 49 end, Snohomish County, Washington
Leaf litter surprisingly good for summer   © Rod Crawford Typical riparian forest scene          © Rod Crawford
sitka columbine Aquilegia formosa, Sloan Creek Road 49 end, Snohomish County, Washington trail up decommissioned road, Sloan Creek Road 49 end, Snohomish County, Washington
Sitka columbine            © Rod Crawford Nameless trail up decommissioned road         © Rod Crawford
trail up decommissioned roadbed, Sloan Creek Road 49 end, Snohomish County, Washington lush verge herbage on decommissioned road, Sloan Creek Road 49 end, Snohomish County, Washington
Nameless trail goes on and on…          © Rod Crawford …half covered with super-lush verge herbage              © Rod Crawford
western hemlock foliage Tsuga heterophylla, Sloan Creek Road 49 end, Snohomish County, Washington grand fir foliage Abies grandis, Sloan Creek Road 49 end, Snohomish County, Washington
Western hemlock foliage          © Rod Crawford Grand fir foliage              © Rod Crawford
old growth western red cedar trunk Thuja plicata, Sloan Creek Road 49 end, Snohomish County, Washington forest floor herbs, Sloan Creek Road 49 end, Snohomish County, Washington
Old growth cedar trunk          © Rod Crawford Forest floor herbs              © Rod Crawford
Bald Eagle Peak trail crosses Sloan Creek, Snohomish County, Washington Sloan Creek, Sloan Creek Road 49 end, Snohomish County, Washington
Another trail crosses the creek here      © Rod Crawford Sloan Creek full of snow-melt               © Rod Crawford
devils club, Oplopanax horridum, Sloan Creek Road 49 end, Snohomish County, Washington sunset over Ebey and Spencer Islands, NE of Everett, Washington on 22 June 2013
Devil's club growing back near creek       © Rod Crawford The sun set over Ebey flats on our way home              © Rod Crawford

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This page last updated 27 October, 2013