Album of Little Skookum Inlet Field Trip

Selected photos by Rod Crawford and Laurel Ramseyer from our 11 March 2018 spider collecting trip to the south shore of Little Skookum Inlet, SW of Shelton, Mason County, Washington. Our main site turned out to be a developed, but seemingly unnamed park on lands of the Port Blakely Tree Farms which, like many timber companies, generously allows non-motorized access. It was quite a nice spot with varied habitats and we took 47-49 spider species, having much better luck than our fellow visitors who were all fishing on this gorgeous end-of-winter day. While the dew dried, we also spent some time at a nearby one-year-old clearcut.
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2016 aerial photo of unnamed park on Little Skookum Inlet, Mason County, Washington clearcut near unnamed park on Little Skookum Inlet, Mason County, Washington
Red dot: main site, red outline: new clearcut  (Mason County, 2016) Cut less than a year, and already planted!                © Rod Crawford
mossy maple trunks above unnamed park on Little Skookum Inlet, Mason County, Washington bigleaf maple leaf litter, above unnamed park on Little Skookum Inlet, Mason County, Washington
Maple trunks with moss          © Rod Crawford Blgleaf maple litter           © Rod Crawford
Rod Crawford sifting moss above unnamed park on Little Skookum Inlet, Mason County, Washington Polystichum munitum dominated understory near unnamed park on Little Skookum Inlet, Mason County, Washington
Rod sifting moss on forest floor          © Laurel Ramseyer Sword fern dominated understory           © Rod Crawford
Port Blakely Tree Farms entry sign, unnamed park on Little Skookum Inlet, Mason County, Washington shore and beach habitats, unnamed park on Little Skookum Inlet, Mason County, Washington
Walk-in spider collectors? No problem!     © Rod Crawford Very nice beach with good habitats             © Rod Crawford
woman fishing at unnamed park on Little Skookum Inlet, Mason County, Washington Little Skookum Inlet from unnamed park on Little Skookum Inlet, Mason County, Washington
Fisherwoman standing offshore      © Rod Crawford Little Skookum Inlet isn't very wide at this point          © Rod Crawford
madrona Arbutus menziesii branch on beach, unnamed park on Little Skookum Inlet, Mason County, Washington beach meadow habitat, unnamed park on Little Skookum Inlet, Mason County, Washington
Madrona looks very muscular       © Laurel Ramseyer Beach meadow habitat ready to sweep                 © Rod Crawford
Douglas-fir Pseudotsuga menziesii trunk on beach, unnamed park on Little Skookum Inlet, Mason County, Washington Douglas-fir foliage Pseudotsuga menziesii on beach, unnamed park on Little Skookum Inlet, Mason County, Washington
Doug-fir growing at top of beach          © Rod Crawford Beach fir foliage produced several species       © Laurel Ramseyer
Laurel Ramseyer heads down the beach, unnamed park on Little Skookum Inlet, Mason County, Washington large beach isopod Ligia pallasii, unnamed park on Little Skookum Inlet, Mason County, Washington
Laurel heads down the beach       © Rod Crawford Large isopod Ligia pallasii, uncommon in Puget Sound       © Laurel Ramseyer
Rod Crawford at picnic shelter, unnamed park on Little Skookum Inlet, Mason County, Washington beach at unnamed park on Little Skookum Inlet, Mason County, Washington
Rod beholds that El Dorado, a picnic table!      © Laurel Ramseyer Down the beach from the picnic shelter       © Rod Crawford
leaf litter and moss at base of bigleaf maple tree, unnamed park on Little Skookum Inlet, Mason County, Washington trees around lawn, unnamed park on Little Skookum Inlet, Mason County, Washington
Bigleaf maple, source of litter & moss      © Rod Crawford Assorted trees around edge of a sports lawn          © Rod Crawford
Douglas-fir cone, unnamed park on Little Skookum Inlet, Mason County, Washington male crab spider Xysticus pretiosus from fir cone, unnamed park on Little Skookum Inlet, Mason County, Washington
Laurel found limitless open cones      © Laurel Ramseyer One of the cone spiders, a male Xysticus pretiosus     © Laurel Ramseyer
house spider Achaearanea tepidariorum in picnic shelter, unnamed park on Little Skookum Inlet, Mason County, Washington leafless bigleaf maple (March 2018) at unnamed park on Little Skookum Inlet, Mason County, Washington
House spider in picnic shelter       © Laurel Ramseyer Reach for the sky!               © Rod Crawford
juvenile crab spider Ozyptila pacifica, unnamed park on Little Skookum Inlet, Mason County, Washington western hemlock foliage Tsuga heterophylla, unnamed park on Little Skookum Inlet, Mason County, Washington
Juvenile Ozyptila pacifica          © Rod Crawford Western hemlock foliage                 © Laurel Ramseyer
mouth of "Kitchen Creek," unnamed park on shore of Little Skookum Inlet, Mason County, Washington sword ferns Polystichum munitum hanging down bank, unnamed park on shore of Little Skookum Inlet, Mason County, Washington
Mouth of "Kitchen Creek" (no official name)    © Laurel Ramseyer Hanging ferns are often the most productive             © Rod Crawford
Laurel Ramseyer relaxing at picnic table, unnamed park on shore of Little Skookum Inlet, Mason County, Washington Rod Crawford sorting salal beat sample for spiders, unnamed park on shore of Little Skookum Inlet, Mason County, Washington
Laurel relaxes after tapping 150 cones       © Rod Crawford Rod examines the last salal beat sample            © Laurel Ramseyer

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This page last updated 16 March, 2018