Craw-Cray-Fish-Dad

Day 307: Feeling the need to exercise the muscles I missed on yesterday's kayak outing, I decided to go for a short (15-mile) bike ride on the Foothills rail-trail today. The stretch from Orting to South Prairie is a pleasant ride through farmland and wetland, and the few intersections with driveways and cross-streets require only looking both ways for safety in contrast to the frequent signalled crossings you will encounter on the way north from downtown. With hot weather contributing to the equation, South Prairie seemed a reasonable destination.

There's not much to South Prairie, just a few streets of houses, a mini-mart/gas station, a fire department building, two espresso stands and a lovely little park with old wooden picnic tables and tall trees to offer shade. The trail ends at the park, its eventual extension still tied up in right-of-way negotiation with private property owners. There is a bridge to nowhere across South Prairie Creek, a memory of the old railroad.

I was perched at a picnic table when I first observed a man and very young girl (his granddaughter, perhaps) exploring the exposed rocks in the creek bed. Occasionally, the man would roll a melon-sized rock aside from its spot in a pool, then stand like a watchful heron, dipping quickly with his hand into the water. The signs were clear to me: he was searching for crawdads. When I saw that he had finally captured one, I stepped down the bank and asked if I could take a picture.

Like the lobsters they resemble, crawdads...crayfish...crawfish are delicious. The problem lies in catching enough for a feed. The only meat is in the tail, but it is juicy and buttery and may be served with or without sauce. The little critters are numerous in most lakes and streams in the area, but the Washington Dept. of Fish and Game regulates the "catch" with respect to native/non-native species, size and sex. You almost need a degree in fisheries biology to tell one from the other, but I believe this is the native Signal Crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) which in many locations is classified equally as an invasive species. Go figure!