...blueberry blues



THE ROUTE:  Upper Russian Lakes Trail
DISTANCE:  4.4 miles RT
TERRAIN:  Gentle rolling trail,  some mud, bridges over streams.

The Hufford girls at the trailhead.

The Hufford girls on a bridge with their shadows.

Blueberry bush leaves eaten away.

A single blueberry.  Not in the best of shape.

The curved bridge over the stream where we took a break before turning around.  We have visited this bridge many times and it used to sag as as well.  The forest service has been busy trying to repair it.  You can see the Hufford girls lounging on the other side if you look closely.

The view from our turn around point.  That's Cooper Mountain in the background.

The berries we were able to pick...about four tablespoons worth... in a plastic bag.

We pick blueberries every summer.  Lots of them.  But, this summer has been different.  We found some nice blueberry patches on Ptarmigan Lake Trail in mid-July, but we haven't had much luck since.  And it's all due to a small green caterpillar that has eaten its way through practically all the blueberries on the Kenai Peninsula, and throughout southcentral Alaska for that matter.

So, today we thought we would take a hike to one of our favorite berry picking trails and see what we could find.  There are always more berries than we can ever pick on this trail and we thought there might be a chance that we would find a spot where the berries had escaped the caterpillars.

We were wrong.

Normally the bushes along the trail are drooping under the weight of an abundance of juicy berries and berry filled bear scat is common.  Not this year.  There were no berries and no scat.  Just a bunch of blueberry bushes with holes in the leaves.  The bears are in trouble if they depend on berries to fatten up.

The afternoon wasn't an entire loss however.  We did chat with a couple in their early 80's for about thirty minutes.  They told us about their cabin on Kenai Lake and their trips to Costa Rica and Kona to watch birds.  They were also keenly interested in Laura and Emily as they had two grand daughters adopted from Korea.  Then, there was a group of backpackers that visited with us as we took a break.  They had spent the weekend at the Aspen Flats cabin.  And, there were some mountain bikers that said "hi" as they rode past.  Of course, Gabby had a wonderful time running down the trail and through the woods following her nose and then checking back in with us to see if we would offer her a treat--which we did with great frequency.  I should also mention that the weather was perfect for the end of August.  It was sunny and the temperature was around 65 degrees.  It wasn't a bad afternoon, the lack of blueberries notwithstanding.

We got back to the truck and drove for home trying to think of what we could have for dinner.  Laura sheepishly suggested that we stop at McDonald's for Oreo McFlurries and call it good.  To her surprise her parents agreed!  After all, what better way is there to get rid of the...blueberry blues?

...a couple hikes and a kayak trip

Gabby and I went for a hike out to the Finger Lakes just off Swanson River Road on 7/31/11.  It was an easy six mile round trip stroll through the woods.  I think many animals use this road as a highway as there was lots of sign on it.

Finger Lakes Trail was actually...well...a road.

At the trails end there were some welcoming signs.  Gabby and I turned around here.

Then we drove out Skilak Loop Road in search of Pack Lake.  I had seen it on the map but had never taken the time to find it as there are no established trails.  (I left the GPS coordinates of the 'trailhead' on the map above if you ever want to go there yourself.  It's worth it.)

In fact, from the road the trailhead looks like the photo above.  It would be easy to miss.

Here's a close-up view of the trailhead marker.

So, I tapped the screen on my GPS to create a waypoint on Pack Lake.  Then I used the compass function to point in the direction of the waypoint.  The red arrow is pointing directly at Pack Lake in the photo above, although I can't see the lake by any means.

Eventually, after following the arrow, I ended up here...Pack Lake.  It's a beautiful lake that is probably only visited by a handful of humans every year.  In fact, there was no sign of human activity whatsoever.  Not even footprints.  It was a nice place with loons and lots of other water birds.

This map shows the track of my kayak circumnavigation of Suneva Lake on 8/1/11.  Access to the lake is difficult as I had to slide Kestrel down a steep embankment to the water.  I slipped and fell twice losing my right shoe in a hidden hole.  After some digging and bad words, I found it and put it back on my foot.  It is exactly five miles around the lake.

Once on the water things got better.  There was a family of four loons that followed me around for a while.  They didn't get close but they certainly seemed interested in my red kayak.

This old snowmachine is in the process of becoming part of the landscape at the edge of Suneva Lake.

Vegetation growing in the lake.