Why I haven’t been posting recently:

Lava_lake_spit

That’s Lava Lake, an hour’s drive from my house, and a mere three-mile hike up. I had a campsite at the base of that spit. Wonderful water, fine rocks for warming up afterwards, but no internet access.

Here’s the view from the spit itself:

Lava_lake_fr

I have to apologize for the quality of these photos; neither I nor my computer program can match the quality of the subject. I intend to work on both.

H

These are Montana huckleberries. Such profusion is rare; two or three berries per bush is far more common, so the trick is finding a big patch of bearing bushes. I collected enough for one cobbler and one jar of jam.

It’s tempting to blame it all on husband Steve’s brothers, who visited for a week and who aren’t here to defend themselves, but that would be false, since they left over a week ago. However, since they got me out hiking for the first time this summer, and our hikes that week started me on a roll, I think I will blame them after all. Or thank them, because I really didn’t think my arthritic knees, which have been officially declared a cartilage-free zone, would put up with this sort of activity, but they’re better after each hike. The overnight—actual back-packing!—was a warm-up for a four-day trip up to another stunning lake, Pine Creek, which is a tougher five-mile hike up, including some traverses through high mountain meadows full of wild flowers. I’ll bring back some photos.

6 Responses to Why I haven’t been posting recently:

  1. Wow! That’s only an hour away from you? If I lived that close I’d NEVER EVER be home. Gorgeous. Of course, I bet others know of this place, too. Yes, more pics please for those of us who live in the “great” plains.

  2. Wow is indeed the word!
    Selfishly glad you are “back on the block” though.
    Love & Rockets
    GMx

  3. Option One: Lolling around (you were lolling for at least some of the time, I hope: it wasn’t all hearty hiking and stout footwear was it?) listening to the gentle lapping of water against pebbly shore
    or
    Option Two: Sitting in front of a computer screen blogging about weeds and hail.
    Tough choice.
    PS are those the huckleberries as in Moon River ? always wondered what they looked like.

  4. Looks wonderful.
    I’ve never seen Hucklberries before.
    Lucy
    PICTURES JUST PICTURES

  5. Well, Benjamin, as you can see by my spotty presence on the web recently, I’m not home all that much either.
    Thanks, GM. I’m not going to try to interpret “rockets.”
    It’s better than it looks, Eric. Welcome to the blog.
    Well, James, there was a lot of stout footwear involved, but I did a fair amount of lolling as well–largely so I could collect enough energy to make it down again.
    They’re a lot like blueberries, Lucy, and I think that in some places what are called huckleberries actually are blueberries.
    Kate

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