The summer I made a trip to the Berry fields that I first explored last year. The goal was to collect berries to eat some and dry the rest for our living history display. It had been more than a few years since we enjoyed a berry cobbler.
Our local paper noted the opening of the commercial berry picking season. We don’t pick commercially, but I figured the season opening would herald the ripening of the berries. I packed the dogs into the truck and my dear wife packed a picnic lunch and treats.
On the way to the Pacific Crest we stopped for a quick drive up the 4WD trail to one of my favorite mountain lakes. Two lakes have formed in shallow depressions in the lava base. The depressions fill with water from the local snow melt. You approach them from the north and below their water level so arrival is quite astonishing. There is no indication of a water body until you are on right on the shore. The north rim is only a foot or two above the water level, and is scarcely 50 feet wide.
By this time of the summer, the current Merganser brood was nearly old enough to venture out into the world. Here each lake is claimed by a single breeding pair. The couple on the large lake had a brood of four. We were quiet and the dogs, being terriers, had no desire to get next to the water, so the birds greeted us with a few calls and retreated to the far end of the shallow lake.
I enjoyed a cup of instant coffee while my wife drank her tea before we explored the lake edge for ripe berries. A mix of Alaska blueberries, huckleberries, and bilberries grow here. I had great success collecting berries the previous year; particularly on the ridge to the east and around a bog on the western shore of the lake. Sadly, none of the berry plants along the ridge or the northern shore were yielding very well. I’m guessing that the six months of snow cover last winter had stunted the crop.
After exploring the immediate area the erstwhile bushdogs stuck close to their water dish, seeking refuge from the warm sun under the truck. Given their short legs and wiry coats they are built for city life, so it was all for the best.
Our final excursion was to check the west side of the lake. There, a few acres of uncut subalpine fir and mountain hemlock surround a small bog. Last year the blueberries from here were big and wonderful.
This year there were very few and those were small. So we wandered through the large trees. To give an idea of scale to the photo here is the dear bride against one of the trees surrounding the bog.
An hour’s collecting only yielded about a cup and a half, so we decided to relocate to the fields. However I did collect a shelf fungus polypore to make into amadou; a form of char used to catch sparks for fire starting. I’ve had mixed results with these fungi and I’m not sure why; perhaps species, or maybe developmental stage. The goal is to dry the polypore and test for its spark catching ability. If the prepared fungus doesn’t catch sparks then char it. When prepared properly it will catch a spark as well as charred cotton. In addition the prepared polypore and be used to transport fire over great distances, as it smolders slowly; features making it well worth the effort to become familiar with.
The road passing the berry fields is mostly gravel yet there is a constant stream of traffic down it. We parked in the Pacific Crest Trailhead lot I used on a previous trip. Then I had spent over an hour filling a large trash bag with all sorts of trash and debris. I was heartened to see that there was still no trash. Perhaps the trash had accumulated was over many years.
We collected from the bushes on the south side of the road as those on the north were covered by a handshake agreement allocating them to the Indians. This sign informs all of us who weren’t there in 1932 of the agreement.
The berry plants are mostly under waist height and berries grow individually separated on stems. This means that there is a fair bit of work in collecting them. This image from Wikipedia gives an idea of what the leaves and fruit look like.
In these wide open berry fields the plants receive more sun than in the forest surrounding Merganser Lake–and I suspect the snow melts faster. For whatever reason, the plants were much more prolific on this site. We were able to gather our gallon of berries in a couple hours. They were still spaced out on each plant but there are more plants and the berries were larger.
We were able to collect enough berries for our needs and we got to do it under the sparkling midsummer skies of the Pacific Northwest. And, as a bonus, after the cold winter the mosquitoes were not as prolific as usual.