Huckleberries

September has felt more like August this year. It must be the combination of hot weather and unemployment. But I'm definitely not complaining... it's like making up for the first few weeks of summer that I missed, but with huckleberries.

We headed towards Indian Heaven (southwest of Mount Adams) yesterday to scout out the best picking spot, and found a pretty good one. My favorite places are where you can just drop to the ground and pick huckleberries while sitting in the grass. (After checking for deer droppings, almost made that mistake yesterday).

We each picked just shy of a gallon... which is fairly impressive considering how huckleberries grow. They are very small and scattered all over the bush, not in nice little easy to pick clumps. It takes a lot of work. Not to mention you have to keep your eyes and ears on alert for hungry bears. (A couple of false alarms yesterday... turns out my mom can sound very bear-like when sampling berries).

I can't think of too many better ways to spend a sunny weekend in September than traveling through the gorge and being outside in the woods.