Berries, Bugs and Suns

Had a good weekend.  Got together with friends on Friday night, picked berries on Saturday, and took a solo hike today.  It was really nice.  I managed to get a gallon of salmonberries and happened upon blueberries and got a quarter of a gallon.  Plus, the sun has made appearances, so I got some Vitamin D in too.   

Tomorrow will mark week four of school already.  Enjoy the pictures from the week's end adventures.

Salmonberries.  This trip was spurred by a quick knock on the door, wanna go berry picking...  We had to stray from the over picked area near the road yesterday and ended up here.  I was low crawling through the alders just to get more berries.  Believe it or not but it is less work than bush whacking.  Getting low also offers the advantage of seeing dozens of berries concealed by the thick growth.  I also nabbed an abandoned bird's nest to show the kids tomorrow. 

Path on the return to the car from battle mountain/skinny butt today.  I took the long way around to avoid the eagles' nest on the way up, but tried my luck and made it back without incident.  Granted, the eaglets may be grown now, but after my scares in the past, I don't take chances anymore with the bird variety.

Halfway up looking back at the upper loop road area of the island.  It is starting to look like fall is creeping in.

Looking back towards dump road.  It was so peaceful but the bugs kept going for my face and getting stuck in my hair.

Cloudberry.  They taste like a combination of raspberry and something else.  I have only found them in clusters of two. 

I don't know what these berries are yet.  I ate two of them yesterday and I couldn't figure it out. 

Are these cranberries?  They hug the ground and are mixed in with patches of moss.  I ate one and decided the texture was similar to that of wintergreen.  Just in case, I grabbed a small plant with berries and put it in my pocket.  No worries Mother Bear.

Thought it was time to include a photo of myself.  You can't tell by this photo but the incline behind me was pretty steep.  I had my backpack off and it was braced against my legs to keep it from falling down the hill.  Prior to this, I had stripped down to a tank top but just couldn't take the bugs.  Hiking up this hill always proves to be unbearably hot, especially when the winds are calm.