A Berry Picking Mission
Photos & Story by Carmen
I’ve had a bee in my bonnet to go on a blueberry picking adventure this year. We sometimes pick blueberries as a side activity while camping or hiking, but this year I was on a mission. I think it started when my sister told me she’d heard our blueberries had more antioxidants because of growing in the long daylight. I can easily believe this, because I can taste that our carrots have twice the sugar content of carrots grown Outside (Outside: outside Alaska, usually referring to the contiguous 48 states).
Besides, Alaskans know that from here on, every weekend may be the last weekend of summer. The air has that crispness, even on warm days, that signals the approach of autumn.The sun makes a smaller arc across the sky. The pressure is on to enjoyevery morsel of daylight. Accordingly, my daughter Hilary and I took off with our two dogs, Spanky and Mr. Lebowski, on the last Friday evening of August for Byer’s Lake Campground in Denali State Park. Unlike early summer’s endless daylight, the sun had set when we stopped to look at Mt. McKinley from the Chultina River overlook at mile 135 of the Parks Highway. From there, it wasn’t far too Byers Lake at mile 147.
On the Ermine Hill Trail
We were greeted with a beautiful sunny morning on Saturday. We grabbed our berry containers and headed for the Ermine Hill trailhead at mile 156.5, part of an extensive trail system in Denali State Park. The park is home to many grizzly bears, none of whom we were interested in meeting. I freely admit to being scared of bears, but we had taken precautions. We signed in at the registration station with our car license number and expected return time. We counted on the bears being down at Lower Byers Creek feeding on salmon. I’d read in Larry Kanuit’s Alaska Bear Tales that there’s never been a bear attack on a group of four or more people, so we were counting on the two dogs to stand in and make us a group of four. I carried bear mace, and as a last resort, my daughter wore a pistol.
The Ermine Hill Trail wanders down a hillside through mixed birch and spruce forest, with ferns, berry bushes, Labrador tea, alders, willows, mares tail and more. There are some open areas of grass and fireweed, though the fireweed were blown already so that they looked like pink and white feather dusters. Alaskan lore says that when the top of the fireweed blooms, the first frost is only two weeks away. You can see the spent fireweed behind Hilary and Mr. Lebowski.
At the bottom, the trail follows a placid creek (Upper Byers Creek, I think) where Spanky enjoyed a drink (notice the flower growing on the mossy rock) and crosses cascading Giardia Creek before switchbacking up Ermine Hill. I’d been on this trail before but for today’s mission we only walked out about a mile.
The berrypicking adventure was delightful but backbreaking. I have a wonderful blueberry cheesecake recipe I got in the seventies from my friend Susie (see below). We have an unwritten rule in my family that the blueberry cheesecake can only be made with berries we’ve picked ourselves, and if we pick berries, blueberry cheesecake must be made before berries can be spared for any other use. I hoped this trip we’d have leftover berries to freeze, but ended up just making a double-batch of cheesecake so I had some to share.
Highbush Cranberries at Byers Lake
Back at the campground, I couldn’t resist the highbush cranberries. They were so abundant in the campground, that we picked twice as many berries in half the time. The tall bushes required no bending, either, and the berries were beautiful bright red. The only catch is that they are extremely tart and they have a large flat stone so the juice must be extracted and strained through cheesecloth for use. I used a recipe from the University of Alaska Cooperative Extension Service; with enough sugar added, the jelly is great. Then I experimented with adding grape juice to a batch and cherry pie filling to another. Both were great successes!
The wonderful weekend gave us another memory of sunny summer fun to treasure during the upcoming dark and cold months of winter.
Susie's Blueberry Cheesecake
Cheese Filling
28 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
Blueberry Topping
2-3 cups blueberries
sugar to taste (about 3/4 cup)
cornstarch to thicken (about 2 tbsp.)
Make graham cracker crust pie shell in large, deep 10-inch pie pan. Bake crust according to instructions. Mix all filling ingredients and pour into shell. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes. Top with blueberry topping. Chill well before serving. Enjoy!
Here are the jelly recipes I used/invented:
Highbush Cranberry Jelly5 cups high bush cranberry juice Mix the berries and sugar. Over high heat, bring to a full rolling boil. Add the pectin. Return to full rolling boil and boil for 1 minutes. Quickly skim off the foam and pour into jars. Skim any foam you missed before and clean jar tops. |
HighCran-Grape Jelly3 cups high bush cranberry juice Mix the berries, grape juice and sugar. Over high heat, bring to a full rolling boil. Add the pectin. Return to full rolling boil and boil for 1 minutes. Quickly skim off the foam and pour into jars. Skim any foam you missed before and clean jar tops. |
HighCran-Cherry Jelly1-1/4 cups high bush cranberry juice Put berry juice and cherry pie filling in blender. Blend for about 1 second to chop up cherries. Pour into pan with sugar. Over high heat, bring to a full rolling boil. Add the pectin. Return to full rolling boil and boil for 1 minutes. Quickly skim off the foam and pour into jars. Skim any foam you missed before and clean jar tops. |