This morning had no rain threats. The morning was nice: partly cloudy and cool. Today I brought my flannel shirt along as it is nice to wear in the morning up on the mountain. The morning was beautiful mountain weather: stillness punctuated with occasionally gusts of wind.
We easily found the spot again. We didn't need to use the dead branches that we had innocuously laid beside the road yesterday. Then off the road, down the mountain side and we quickly got down to business.
The berries bushes were so heavy that we didn't have to move around much in the beginning. Sit or kneel and pick, and pick, and pick! When I returned home I found my pants knees were stained purple from kneeling on berries. A problem was accidently stepping on berries. The bushes and berries were so low to the ground, that when moving downhill it was easy not to see the berries and therefore step on them. Also the huckleberry bushes were thick which made avoiding them hard to so.
Today four vehicles drove by on the road. Other huckleberry pickers! All but one vehicle drove down the road never to be seen again. The last car parked near Joyce's car. We don't know where they went as we made sure not to be seen from the road as the vehicles passed. More likely they went up the mountain as most people look up instead of down when looking for huckleberries.
When a teenager Joyce had worked five summer at the cherry warehouse in Kalispell. While over 70 now she hasn't lost her picking ability. She said she is slower now than before, but she put me to shame in picking. She picked much more than I. She helped me at the end so I would fill my pail and we could go. Joyce had an appointment to keep. I filled two paint can pails.
We left after noon but could have stayed longer as the patch went on and on. It is good Joyce had the appointment as I would have kept picking all day as I had trouble quitting.
A number of varieties of huckleberries: purple, blue, almost back, and red. All good. Joyce said this not a typical patch; it was a super patch.
Over the two days I believe I easily exceeded two gallons of berries. I have them in my refrigerator. I am too busy to make jam from them now. My freezer is full so I don't know what I am going to do with them for now (other to eat some as snacks).
This evening I checked my raspberry plants. I found a number of ripe raspberries. Even after sampling all the huckleberries today, my raspberries tasted great.
These early mornings are getting to me. After returning home I checked my gopher traps then had lunch. After lunch I fell asleep in my chair at the diner table. Even now I am having trouble staying awake... so if this post doesn't make sense in spots...
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