Album of County Line Trailhead Field Trip

Selected photos by Rod Crawford from my 2 July 2013 spider collecting trip with Maia Kreis to sites near the Old Blewett Pass Road in the Stuart Range, eastern Cascades, Washington. We began on the ridge crest (4560' elevation) separating Kittitas and Chelan Counties, near the trailhead for the County Line Trail approached by a road definitely not for town cars! Here we got decent samples from conifers, dead wood and other habitats but the best specimen was an apparently new Nodocion species from under roadside stones. Later, we stopped at a lush, lower elevation meadow with big old Ponderosa pines, where the sweeping was slow going at first but eventually added 5 species for a total of 28.
READ TRIP NARRATIVE PHOTO ALBUM INDEX MAIN JOURNAL INDEX
2009 aerial photo, spider field site near trailhead of County Line Trail, Kittitas/Chelan County, Washington bad, rough road to trailhead of County Line Trail, Kittitas/Chelan County, Washington
Our field site on the county line       (Kittitas County, 2009) We had to be crazy to drive up this road!         © Rod Crawford
scratches in vehicle from rough road to County Line Trail, Kittitas/Chelan County, Washington rough road to trailhead of County Line Trail, Kittitas/Chelan County, Washington
Uh-oh, alders made road too narrow   © Rod Crawford Road continued rough right up to our site          © Rod Crawford
Maia Kreis ready to collect, near trailhead of County Line Trail, Kittitas/Chelan County, Washington road becoming a trail, near trailhead of County Line Trail, Kittitas/Chelan County, Washington
Maia ready to roll          © Rod Crawford Road slowly reverting to trail         © Rod Crawford
grassy roadside verge, near trailhead of County Line Trail, Kittitas/Chelan County, Washington herbaceous roadside verge, near trailhead of County Line Trail, Kittitas/Chelan County, Washington
Grassy roadside verge           © Rod Crawford Herbaceous roadside verge              © Rod Crawford
grand fir Abies grandis foliage, near trailhead of County Line Trail, Kittitas/Chelan County, Washington theridiid spider Theridion neomexicanum, near trailhead of County Line Trail, Kittitas/Chelan County, Washington
Grand fir foliage           © Rod Crawford Theridion neomexicanum             © Rod Crawford
Maia Kreis sorting tree beat sample, near trailhead of County Line Trail, Kittitas/Chelan County, Washington open, parklike habitat, near trailhead of County Line Trail, Kittitas/Chelan County, Washington
Maia sorting a beat sample        © Rod Crawford Open, park-like habitat            © Rod Crawford
Ceanothus velutinus flowers and leaves, near trailhead of County Line Trail, Kittitas/Chelan County, Washington Ceanothus velutinus shrubs, near trailhead of County Line Trail, Kittitas/Chelan County, Washington
Ceanothus flowers and leaves         © Rod Crawford Thicket of Ceanothus shrubs           © Rod Crawford
wild flowers, near trailhead of County Line Trail, Kittitas/Chelan County, Washington habitat resembling subalpine parkland, near trailhead of County Line Trail, Kittitas/Chelan County, Washington
Wild-flowers          © Rod Crawford Habitat resembling subalpine parkland        © Rod Crawford
Maia Kreis collecting spiders from dead wood, near trailhead of County Line Trail, Kittitas/Chelan County, Washington dead wood habitat, near trailhead of County Line Trail, Kittitas/Chelan County, Washington
Maia collecting from dead wood          © Rod Crawford Dead wood habitat was good               © Rod Crawford
conifer litter in forest, near trailhead of County Line Trail, Kittitas/Chelan County, Washington sifting conifer needle litter, near trailhead of County Line Trail, Kittitas/Chelan County, Washington
Conifer litter was a bit dry…         © Rod Crawford …but sifting it did add a few spider species            © Rod Crawford
carapace and forelegs of Nodocion sp., undescribed, Gnaphosidae, near trailhead of County Line Trail, Kittitas/Chelan counties, Washington rocky habitat of new Nodocion spider species, near trailhead of County Line Trail, Kittitas/Chelan counties, Washington
My brand-new Nodocion species        © Rod Crawford Rocky roadside habitat of the new Nodocion         © Rod Crawford
stony spider habitat, near trailhead of County Line Trail, Kittitas/Chelan counties, Washington early evening on parklike ridge crest, near trailhead of County Line Trail, Kittitas/Chelan counties, Washington
More rocks to search under            © Rod Crawford Late-afternoon shadows in the pseudo-parkland          © Rod Crawford

Our second site was a lush meadow with big pines (sorry, no cones seen) along the paved part of the Old Blewett Road.

aerial view, meadow on Old Blewett Highway, Kittitas County, Washington meadow on Old Blewett Highway, Kittitas County, Washington
Meadow from the air      (Kittitas County, 2009) Old gated road leads into the meadow              © Rod Crawford
Douglas-fir Pseudotsuga menziesii in pine forest, meadow on Old Blewett Highway, Kittitas County, Washington tall grass habitat, meadow on Old Blewett Highway, Kittitas County, Washington
Young firs under the pine            © Rod Crawford Meadow grass habitat                     © Rod Crawford
female crab spider Misumenops sierrensis, meadow on Old Blewett Highway, Kittitas County, Washington Columbia tiger lily
Female Misumenops sierrensis       © Rod Crawford Columbia tiger lilies            © Rod Crawford
herbaceous part of meadow on Old Blewett Highway, Kittitas County, Washington swale in lush meadow on Old Blewett Highway, Kittitas County, Washington
Herbaceous part of meadow        © Rod Crawford Arm of the meadow extends southward             © Rod Crawford
creek water, meadow on Old Blewett Highway, Kittitas County, Washington small unnamed brook draining meadow on Old Blewett Highway, Kittitas County, Washington
Creek water            © Rod Crawford Unnamed brook drains the meadow                     © Rod Crawford
twin giant Ponderosa pine trees, meadow on Old Blewett Highway, Kittitas County, Washington trunk of giant Ponderosa pine tree, meadow on Old Blewett Highway, Kittitas County, Washington
Twin giant pines            © Rod Crawford Trunk of the pine tree on the right                     © Rod Crawford
[Native Wildlife Gardening Home]     [Bug Information from The Scarabs]     [Bugs of the Month Home]

This page last updated 25 July, 2013