Finding Huckleberries and Geocaches

[+W7WT]

Many many years ago we had a cabin on Lake Cushman. We like to cross over the bridge at the north end and follow the logging road up to a higher altitude. There was an area that had both the red and blue huckberries. Also use to fly fish in Spider Lake and I forget the other nearby lake. The water was so clear you could see the trout rising to take a dry fly. Dick

Edited August 23, 2007 by W7WT

[Love]

Here is a good article with photos of the various types of huckleberries. Looks like the ones we typically pick are the Cascade Huckleberry and the Mountain Huckleberry. I also didn't realize the the Mountain Huckleberry is Idaho's State fruit.

 

Article - Small Fruit Research at Sandpoint

 

Ooh, I like seeing cool stuff coming out of my hometown. I was going to say, if you ever head over to North Idaho, you'll have plenty of places to find huckleberries. I used to serve huckleberry margaritas at the mexican restaurant I worked at and those were fabulous!

 

My family always freezes huckleberries and then my dad makes huckleberry muffins or pancakes on Christmas morning. Yum!

[luckykoi]

I stayed at the campground near Falls View Canyon (GC10QPF) a few years ago. The entire campground was packed with monster red huckleberries. Just thought I'd add that location in for folks traveling in that neck of the woods.

 

I stayed there once too and still remember all those huckleberries..

[luckykoi]

Many many years ago we had a cabin on Lake Cushman. We like to cross over the bridge at the north end and follow the logging road up to a higher altitude. There was an area that had both the red and blue huckberries. Also use to fly fish in Spider Lake and I forget the other nearby lake. The water was so clear you could see the trout rising to take a dry fly. Dick

 

Hey that's where Ralph the bear used to live, I guess it was more then just those old mining caves that brought him up there.

Edited August 24, 2007 by luckykoi

[+W7WT]

You are right. I have the book around here somewhere. When Ajetpilot and I found the cache across from the author, we went over and had a nice conversation with him. He gave both of us a book. I really enjoyed reading it. Dick

[luckykoi]

You are right. I have the book around here somewhere. When Ajetpilot and I found the cache across from the author, we went over and had a nice conversation with him. He gave both of us a book. I really enjoyed reading it. Dick

 

After I found the cache I took my kids and husband over to see the all the neat stuff there and while I was there I checked on the cache and found a book there. The book had a note in it that said it was free for geocachers. What a fun book that was. There was even a short poem in the in the book that related to geocaching. I really should read the first one in the series too. As a someone who does a lot of hiking in the Olympics I realy enjoyed reading about all my hiking places in that book.

 

Eventually Ralph went up to live in the now empty Ranger Station at Dosewallips..

[luckykoi]

You are right. I have the book around here somewhere. When Ajetpilot and I found the cache across from the author, we went over and had a nice conversation with him. He gave both of us a book. I really enjoyed reading it. Dick

 

From that book "Council of Bears" by Pete Merrill

 

The Silent Stump

 

Just up the lane, not far at all

Bare passed the campground there.

You'll find the stump

Long dead and damply still.

Look,

Look there for signs of excavation

At about the point of bifurcation

Where the cache will be

That holds your holy grail.

Down among the sightless creatures

With less than pleasant earthy features.

You must search with groping hands,

Fumble,fumble blindly, friend,

Suceed, you must not fail

 

ok so maybe it's not that good but it's about geocaching..

[+The Navigatorz]

We did good today. We went to Huckleberry Patch Geo cache first and got a few, but then we went to our favorite spot at View Cache (by lucyandrickie) and did even better. I wonder if its because the hillside at View Cache faces South, whereas Huckleberry Patch hillside faces North. Anyway, we picked enough for several huckleberry pies. Beautiful view of Mt. Rainier today too.

[luckykoi]

We did good today. We went to Huckleberry Patch Geo cache first and got a few, but then we went to our favorite spot at View Cache (by lucyandrickie) and did even better. I wonder if its because the hillside at View Cache faces South, whereas Huckleberry Patch hillside faces North. Anyway, we picked enough for several huckleberry pies. Beautiful view of Mt. Rainier today too.

 

I'm making blackberry wine in my laundry room. I'll have to wait six months before I can drink it.

[+The Navigatorz]

Its that time of year again. I've decided I'm heading over to the Mt. St. Helens area this year to pick huckleberries (south of Randle and Packwood). Has anyone been there recently, and if so, how is the crop this year? Are they ready to be picked?

[+AndrewRJ]

Its that time of year again. I've decided I'm heading over to the Mt. St. Helens area this year to pick huckleberries (south of Randle and Packwood). Has anyone been there recently, and if so, how is the crop this year? Are they ready to be picked?

I just went thru that area, including Burley mountain and French Butte. Sorry to say I didn't see much on the bushes while I was up there.

 

Ask Hydnsek, she was up there a few days later and may be able to remember more.

[+hydnsek]

Its that time of year again. I've decided I'm heading over to the Mt. St. Helens area this year to pick huckleberries (south of Randle and Packwood). Has anyone been there recently, and if so, how is the crop this year? Are they ready to be picked?

I just went thru that area, including Burley mountain and French Butte. Sorry to say I didn't see much on the bushes while I was up there.

 

Ask Hydnsek, she was up there a few days later and may be able to remember more.

I didn't see any huckleberries around those lookout areas. But I wasn't really looking.

 

However, I think it's still too early - everything is about a month late this year, due to the late, heavy snows. I would expect huckleberries to be ripening in late August and continue into early September. (Unless someone has better intel?)

 

Besides the famous Huckleberry Patch Geo Cache area at Snoqualmie (popular with local pickers), I've noted a couple other great spots near caches:

 

- Roaring Ridge Lookout near Lake Keechelus - the path I took went through endless fields of ripe huckleberries. MMmmmmm. That was Sept. 7 last year, so I do think it's still early.

 

- Below Noble Knob on the trail to Greenwater Lakes, we found some of the hugest, lushest patches I've seen a couple years ago. A bit of a hike, tho....

Edited August 8, 2008 by hydnsek

[+mudsneaker]

All the red hucks I've seen so far this year have been rather small. The blackberies seem to be just now starting to ripen up, so ya, things are out of wack this year.