This month has produced some very good Huckleberries up in the hinterlands. (I was in a crop last week that was unbelievable right on the PCT here in Washington - nickel sized and bigger.)
I love nothing more about hiking than picking berries and have no self righteous qualms about responsible picking (so if you have some burr in yer tail about causal pickin', keep it to your self!) Picking berries is a great family hike for bonding and you gets to eats when you are done. Woowoo!

Kirk and I did an article for Washington Trails Magazine this month on Huckleberry recipes. The PDF for the recipes is online and can be found through this link:
http://www.wta.org/trail-news/signpost/huckleberry-bites

Double Ginger Huckleberry Cobbler

In a sandwich bag:
2/3 cup baking mix (i.e.:Bisquick®)
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp diced candied ginger
1/4 tsp dry ginger powder

In a snack bag:
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp corn starch
1/4 tsp True® Lime or Lemon powder

In camp:
Pick about 1 cup fresh Huckleberries, making sure stems are plucked off. That is about 4 handfuls of berries.

Add 1/4 cup cool water to the baking mix bag and knead gently till mixed. Seal and set aside.

Add 1 cup water to your pot and stir in the small sugar bag till dissolved. Add in the berries and bring the pot to a boil. Lower the flame on your stove to as low as it will go and quickly add in the prepared baking mix by dropping in spoonfuls on the hot berry mixture. Put on the pot's lid and simmer gently on low heat for 10 to 12 minutes or until the topping is done.

Edited by sarbar on 09/16/2009 21:18:57 MDT.

I can't get out until next week so could you please a few bushes for me, thanks.

Sooo... didja get enough for jam? I'll tradeja!

For those who don't know, Sar makes a kick as huckleberry jam every year. I'm down to my last jar...

Check! I told the bears to leave you some as well :-D

Di, I found Red Huckleberries and the tiny wild Blackberries - the little pinkie fingernail sized ones today. Oh wow!

blackberries. Lots and LOTS of blackberries...

We won't talk about the pears - lordy. Fruit overload.

Hoping tomorrow I will get into the fields off the PCT - J and I are going hiking if the rain clears. We are going cross country so the picking should be good. Do you remember a couple years ago where I slid on the side hill and had an HB branch go through my knee? There :-D The bushes were what, 6 feet tall?
Wish you had tomorrow off!

In the age old native tradition of a barter gathering I propose we meet up on Steven's Pass and I'll swap you a box of fresh organic apples for every pint of huckleberries. And I'll through in some fall raspberries ... 14 pears ... a quart of fresh salsa fresca ... and some bright shiny beads.
Did I mention my dog is named Huckleberry?
Oh well, guess I'll take a right turn at Smithbrook and pick my own.

Larry,

normally I'd totally take you up on that offer, but I have pears and apples and berries all coming out my ears right now! A whole tree of pears (about 10 gallons worth?) then a whole tree of Asian pear apples, which are ripening in my kitchen right now before I do anything with them... There's about 35+ cups of blackberries in the freezer.

btw - that area near smithbrook? LOADED with berries. Big fat juicy ones... but that was 3-4 weeks ago. I was just on the other side of the hill, on the PCT (and sadly no time to pick any) Have fun!

Larry, I like your thinking ;-)

I was thinking of heading up that way on sunday... I could bring jam and pears... but how do I get them back to Sarah?

Follow the trail of muffin crumbs, stop anybody with suspicious stained lips and fingers, look for tattered WTA magazines attached to bamboo trail wands, she CAN be found....

Oh yeah. We made jam yesterday all right. Two huge batches! Blueberry and Blackberry. NOM!

Yes, we did! 24 jars worth of tasty Blueberry and Blackberry jam :-D Yum! I even donated some of my hand picked beauties ;-)

Here's what I think...

OMG, I love it :-D

You make me sound like if you approach me in the berry bushes I will let out a mighty roar, beat my chest and rip the hiker to shreds.

Hehheh!!!! Just call me Momma Sar-Bear! Rowr!

Now I just need to teach Ford to climb the nearest tree with all the berries when other pickers approach :-D

PS: In all seriousness, if we happen to meet in person, I snagged a couple jars of our tasty blue and Huckleberry Jam that Di and I made! It was quite tasty and a jar would be yours!

Well maybe it's not quit revenge and maybe I'm not exactly a vibram rock monster but all this talk about berries and being stuck in the valley was too much.
I decided to take the long way via Smithbrook Rd. to do a traverse of Poet's Ridge from Irving Pass to Whittier Peak-Mt.Jonathon-Mt.David and back.
Many, many "Sarahs" had been up on Smithbrook because the berries, they be gone.
Eventually reaching the trail I noted a few possibilities for picking on the way out if I made it out before dark that is.
[please replace next paragraph with soundtrack of grunting and sweat hitting the dust]
I managed my return two days later and proceeded to pick about a half a bear cannister of huckleberries.
Since I didn't need to be back until the next day I camped along the Little Wenatchee River at Soda Springs.[had the whole place to myself]
Realizing I wouldn't be baking any huckleberry muffins soon and knowing I couldn't top Sarah's anyway I offer you the Soda Springs Huckleberry Lemonade,
Carbonated Water from Soda Springs source
Organic Lemonade Mix
8 Huckleberries - 4 crushed, 4 thrown on top
Carry down to Little Wenatchee River, sip until sun disappears behind the Cascades.

[Any Northwest families that are going to be near Lake Wenatchee should take their kids up to Soda Springs Primitive Campground, the cabonated mineral water bubbles out of a spring, just mix in a powdered drink mix.]

Edited by pyeyo on 09/23/2009 13:00:15 MDT.

LOVE the drink!
I have hiked that area and I didn't know about Soda Springs - I am so taking Ford there! He would love it :-D

Soda Springs is a primitive [pit toilet] no fee campsite and like everything in the Lake Wenatchee drainage very prone to las moscas y los mosquitos in the season.

It easily found about 9 miles up the Little Wenatchee River that is just a continuation of the road along Lake Wenatchee. There is an old growth forest trail that wends its way down to the river that is pretty neat. The carbonated springs are on your left just across from the campground info sign, there is a bench there where you can watch it bubble, pretty high mineral content, there is an explanation on the forest sign. Taste just like one of those fancy European bottled waters to me.

Nickel-sized huckleberries!? No way. Were they red ones or evergreen? (They had to be red if they were that size).

We have some huckleberry bushes on our property in the Puget Sound, some of which reach about 14 feet tall and they sometimes fruit all the way through December. 'Love 'em.

Larry, I need to get back over there. I don't often hike off of Hwy 2 since I moved South/East. Had a friend whose family had a rustic cabin on the lake. It was SO much fun to stay there - and the hiking, yeah, top notch!

On berries: there is something about HBerry plants that grow on the eastside, barely over the crest, in drainage's. They are often the best berry producers. Big dark berries that are so sweet.