Buzz's Marine Life of Puget Sound

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

North Cascades

Today's post is off the marine life topic......but adding it because it's been a great hiking past few days in the North Cascades and so I'm having to rave about it somewhere.....

Currently Washington State is dry....very dry since July 22nd. But there have been some lightning storms on the east side of the Cascades so over 200 fires are currently burning east of the Cascades.
Smoke is heavy over the mountains and Mt. Rainier is not visible from Seattle, nor are any of the other Cascade mountains. Warm dry weather is forecast for the next 10 days.......at least.
So what's so great about hiking in the smoke with no visibility???? Good question. Our hikes were to the north of where most of the smoke was so we had mostly clear skies....as well as excellent hiking temperatures.
Two hikes are covered here...both begin at Rainy Pass on the North Cascade highway about 175 driving miles from Seattle. The first images are from Maple Pass, a 7 miles RT hike to the south of Rainy Pass and the second is Cutthroat Pass a 10 mile RT hike to the north of Rainy Pass on the Pacific Crest Trail. Maple Pass about 2 hours up from trail-head, 1500 ft. elevation gain. Cutthroat Pass about 2.5 hours up from trail-head with 2000 ft. elevation gain (very gradual elevation gain).

Note: The California Sea Lions are back in Puget Sound for the Fall-Winter season....

MAPLE PASS

Lake Ann

Author

Gretchen

Gretchen (Seaweed Queen)

CUTTHROAT PASS

Gretchen

Larch starting to turn color

Ah...where better to be?

Cutthroat Pass PCT

Gretchen's mid hike pedicure

Friday, August 10, 2012

Last Good Low Tides of Summer

The beginning of August saw the last good low tides of the summer of 2012 in Seattle. Next good low tides will have to wait until November...and they will come at night...with the new moon, so it will be quite dark....and likely wet.
The last good tide series did turn up some interesting critters....Giant Pacific Octopus, a solitary translucent tunicate (sea squirt) and a rather unusual color Black-clawed Crab that forgot to live up to its name, a number of Spinyhead Sculpin males guarding eggs, a juvenile C-O Sole (really a flounder), Bryozoan colony and a strange cluster of Butter Clams lying on the surface.
Finally a very laid back Bald Eagle and some summer scenery from Alki Beach. Hope you are all enjoying summer as much as we are..... or winter for you down south of the equator.

Black-clawed Crab

Giant Pacific Octopus

Spinyhead Sculpin Male with eggs

Juv. C-O Sole

Bryozoan on Kelp

Butter Clams

Anchor Park Sunset - Alki

Alki Sunset

A better place to read

Laid back Bald Eagle

Morning Fog Seattle

Monday, July 16, 2012

Noctiluca scintillans
Often confusingly called the "Red Tide" and associated with PSP (paralytic shellfish poisoning) Noctiluca is non-toxic and not responsible for PSP.
Population explosions of Noctiluca occur each spring and summer in Puget Sound and 2012 is no different except that the volume of Noctiluca appears to be larger than usual.

Check out this link for more detailed information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noctiluca_scintillans

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Tongue Point and Schmitz Park

The lowest tides of the season required us to visit Tongue Point Marine Reserve on the Olympic Peninsula. Rain fell steadily on Western Washington on June 4th and 5th....except on Tongue Point which hid from it all in the Olympic rain shadow. A few drops fell in the 4th but not enough to even put out a match. On June 6th the low tide uncovered much less diversity at Schmitz Park than it did at Tongue Point but turned up some individuals that made up for it.
The next good low tide series will arrive July 1st and run through July 6th.   So if you have Seattle on your schedule I recommend you put one of the following beaches on your must visit list.   Alki Beach Park (Constellation Marine Reserve) south of Alki Light House. Golden Gardens Park (north end of beach), Carkeek Park (north end of beach), Lincoln Park (south end of beach). If on the Olympic Pen.
of course it's Tongue Point Marine Reserve (at Salt Creek Recreation Area) 12 miles west of Port Angeles...don't forget to take in Hurricane Ridge (which can be done on the same day as the beach). Check the tide tables for time and plan to arrive at the beach 2 hours before low tide.
I also recommend Togas for lunch in Port Angeles at west end of town for excellent food.
Gretchen (wife) was in seaweed heaven at Tongue Point (not surprising since she is a seaweed expert) and the species diversity is to die for. She will be offering a seaweed class (what to collect and what to eat) on July 1st.   (more info on this later).
A warning: If you camp at Salt Creek Recreation Area (great camping spot) watch out for Raccoons as they will rob you blind and when the police ask you for a description of the thieves you just have to say,
"I don't know they were wearing masks".

In a totally different vein, my motorcycle (which is dearly loved) has gone to a new home. So until my new ride arrives I'll have to borrow Gretchen's. So the new motorcycle shed has much more space now and all the human powered bikes have space to relax. Looks like rain today.....so maybe it's a good day for a movie.....Prometheus perhaps.

Images below are mine and Gretchen's.....hers are the good ones (except for the first one which needs work)