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Thompson Pass Berry Report

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  • Thompson Pass Berry Report

    While we might buy our fish locally versus casting or dipping, berries are a different story. It's a power food and there is plenty of evidence to back it up and plenty of high prices at the store to temper their enjoyment. One should be gobbling them up by the handfuls or pouring a cup into whole wheat pancake batter before you leave home for some skiing. Thus I spent a sunny morning crawling about and picking away. This is our third haul with the weekend coming up, thus more picking along with some Pass hikes.

    Tabitha makes a wonderful fruit bar with them along with an occasional bread. There just handy for all sorts of things. But it's real hard to resist cramming a handful in your mouth as you sit on soft tundra pondering the last days of another Alaskan summer. The harvest this year seems real good for blueberries but the jury is still out on low bush cranberries. There more a September item anyway.

    The glaciers high above have melted about as much as they are this summer. Loveland Basin has lost quite a bit of ice but the surface still remains crevasse free for safe skiing. Typical first ski of the season zone. Give it a foot of snow and its good to go.

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    Another favorite ski shot, CatchersMitt, melts and reveals the glacier lines off the summit and down through The Notch.

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    Across the way…Schoolbus.

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    Back to berries……….

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    Pretty successful solo day trip finding deep berries in isolation and the sun stable. About 3/4 of a gallon.

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  • #2
    Yes! I want to see Salmon Berries from Mineral Creek. The big fat blonde ones

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    • #3
      Nice place for picking berries!

      Did any berries make it home?
      Go for adventure, take pix, but make certain to bring'em back alive!

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      • #4
        berry nice

        though I note that round here, they are no longer a luxury item at the grocer's

        smoothies are my new medicine

        I'm looking for different varieties of berries to plant around the yard..so far have blueberries, raspberries (red, black and gold), huckleberries (too mushy and big pits), currants (an underappreciated item) and chokecherries (for the birds?).

        do you have a homemade berry picker?

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        • #5
          These blueberries are low bush so they have to be picked by hand.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Valdez Telehead View Post
            These blueberries are low bush so they have to be picked by hand.
            Up Main we pick low with a "rake":


            Picked for pay as a second job up in the barrens. I used two one-hander rakes. The two-handers are a pain in the lumbar!
            Last edited by RobRoyMeans; 22 August 2014, 01:22 PM.
            Go for adventure, take pix, but make certain to bring'em back alive!

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            • #7
              I've used rakes but you end up with lots of debris and cleaning afterwards. Finger picking results are pretty clean as you can see above and I can be more selective in size and freshness. Main thing is don't pick when it's wet. Yesterday I went through and repicked the same area as 10 days ago and it had freshened up quite a bit and in size.

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              • #8
                Originally posted by Chugach001 View Post
                Yes! I want to see Salmon Berries from Mineral Creek. The big fat blonde ones
                Oh man one of my highlights is bowls full of Salmon berries on a float of the Charley (speaking of Eagle...)

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                • #9
                  Made me dig up some old pics...

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                  • #10
                    No bears in the berry patches?
                    "Nobody ever got my name right." - Me

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                    • #11
                      Elbo - now that's what I'm talking about. Looks great.

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                      • #12
                        Salmonberries are long gone and make for a good trail snack, but store or freeze poorly. I noted some nagoon berries popping up today in the highland tundra.

                        Picked 'blues today and found good density. Moved around a bit and picked here for the first time. South Odessey Gulley and Moonlight Basin await snow in the background. Wearing my BD knee pads as usual.
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                        One gallon.

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                        Four bags ready to freeze.

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                        • #13
                          Some friends little kids call them boobies. Makes them more fun to eat!

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                          • #14
                            Brings back more memories. When I lived on Ester Dome there was this old guy who made wine from wild berries and anything else that seemed like a good idea at the time. He was too old to pick enough berries for all the wine he made, so he paid us kids in wine for going out and picking berries for him. I scored a green tomato wine and a rhubarb wine. They were amazing. The green tomato was better than the best white wine I've ever had made from grapes and the rhubarb looked like a rose but was much drier and more complex than any rose made from grapes.

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                            • #15
                              Beem picking blue berries for nearly a month. The ground is smothered in them. Up today with Tabitha for a couple gallons. It was 50F blowing 25 so no bugs. Nice fall day.

                              Under Loveland
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                              Colors abound under blue sky.
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                              Meteorite hides behind Heidi.
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                              Never been there.
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