Oregon Hikers

Well the Commercial permits are now available for the huckleberry harvesting..
http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/news/2008/200 ... mits.shtml

...but I wonder where they are ready for them or the rest of us? I've seen a scant few in the upper Gorge trails...but last year at this time they were prime for pickin' in many places. Let us know if any of you discover some! P l e a s e?!

I saw a few in the Bull of the Woods this past weekend. They were tiny and not ripe. Most of the bushes were actually devoid of any sign of berries. I think this year may be a bad year for huckleberries?

I saw a bunch on Mount Hood but won't be ripe until September.

Timberline Trail below Paradise Park.

Timberline Trail above Top Spur Trail.

PCT from Barlow Pass up to Timberline Trail.

Timberline Trail from White River up to Mount Hood Meadows.

It looks like a sparse year for huckleberries in my experience so far. I was on Silver Star yesterday (Wednesday) and saw only a few - most on the side trail that parallels the main trail from Grouse Vista and goes up the east side of Pyramid Rock. They were at their peak and most delicious but there were not too many of them.

The largest and most delicious of all I've even found over the years exist in the upper black diamond run at Ski Bowl. (Just to the east of the upper lift.) They usually peak about this time but I haven't had a chance to get up there and see.

- Don

There were a few on the Cape Horn trail last weekend. This time last year we harvested a bucketfull near Chimney Rock just uphill of the Skamania mines road.

I collected about two pints of huckleberries today in the Silver Star area, they were sweet and tasty. The most were on the Sturgeon Rock trail, but I saw them on Grouse Vista and Tarbell trails, and lots of green berries at the higher elevations near the Silver Star summit. There also lots of ripe salmonberries as well as some thimbleberry and serviceberry.

I used my first aid kit for a container:

baker9903 wrote:I saw a few in the Bull of the Woods this past weekend. They were tiny and not ripe. Most of the bushes were actually devoid of any sign of berries. I think this year may be a bad year for huckleberries?

Yeah, we saw some today on the ridge between Whetstone Mountain and the Bagby Trail. There was probably enough to fill up a ziploc baggie but not much more (it was too hot to stop for long!). There were tons that weren't ready yet...give it a few weeks.