Annual Huckleberry Picking Weekend

For the past five years we have gone huckleberry picking with the ABC family in Carson, WA on Labor Day weekend, and this year was no exception. We have had some years that have been just perfect picking years and then some years, not so perfect. This year was a bit of a mixture of both.

On our first day of huckleberry picking we were a little bit slow getting to our picking patch, but when we finally arrived, the picking was quite good. The berries were plentiful, delicious, and quite nice in size. So we were hoping for a couple more days of the same kind of picking ... what more could we ask for, right?

Well, the next day we woke up to some pretty nasty looking skies. We weren't quite sure what to make of it, but we decided to take our chances and venture our way up the mountain anyway. That definitely was a big mistake... it was so cold and rainy that our hands would freeze (even with fingerless gloves) making it hard to hold on to the berries, let alone pick and put them into our buckets. Oh well, I guess we will know better not to make the same mistake again next year.

Brooke was such a good sport about the whole thing... she would pick berries for a few minutes, then go to the car to read and draw pictures. I guess it helped that her mom threatened, that if she complained, they would give all the huckleberries they picked to us. Needless to say, she was a perfect child that day, no matter how bad the weather.

On our final day, we decide to venture to a new area we have never picked berries before. It is just a few miles west of Trout Lake, WA. To our complete surprise, the berry patches were by far the best and easiest we have ever picked! As our list of places to pick berries is now growing, it gives us more chances to find good berries in the years to come... Hooray!
On our way home, we drove past both Mt, Hood and Mt Adams, they were both quite picturesque, so we could not resist taking a couple of pictures.

Mt Hood

Mt Adams