Ramblings of a Nature Lover: Foraging in the woods

Today my hike took a lot longer than it probably should have, but it was for a good reason!

I decided to walk the White Birch Trail, a two-mile loop trail at the Twelvemile Beach campground. It's got a trail guide and numbered posts, but it's hard to spot where it starts - I drove past it twice! The trail starts out at the level of the campground, which is a little above the lake level, but almost immediately it begins climbing up a steep bluff. This is actually the original shoreline of the enormous lake that formed after the glaciers melted/receded. (Keep in mind when I say "glaciers", I'm talking ice sheets thousands of miles wide and at least a MILE thick. That's a lot of water left over afterward!) The trail flattens out again on top, going through open pine forest with not a lot of undergrowth, except ferns - and berry bushes.

I had brought some containers with me in the car, remembering the serviceberry tree I had found near the picnic area a few weeks ago, in case there were any still growing, and I decided to carry one with me on the hike. I didn't find any serviceberry trees along the trail, but I did see a lot of blueberries and huckleberries. Black huckleberries look pretty much like blueberries, but they really are black, and a little bigger and rounder than the blueberries I've seen here. They have a slightly different flavor, and more noticeable seeds - not inedible, just hard enough to notice. Also, they grow on bushes that are about two feet high, making them much easier to pick! I did not pick every berry I saw, but I did stop any time I saw a bush or patch that had more than just a couple of berries. I was just starting to think that maybe I should pick up my pace a bit, when I found a whole big patch of huckleberries! By the time I was done with them, my quart container was about half full, and I decided to just walk the rest of the trail.

Not long after that, the pines gave way suddenly. The trail goes up over another rise, and suddenly the forest is completely different! Instead of pines, it is mostly huge white birch trees, big and bright. The dry forest floor is now covered with growth, and there is a thick understory of smaller trees. The light is different, shining through those bright green leaves, and through the denser forest. It looks very lush after the pine woods.

Bunchberries! Those little dogwood flowers make berries that are edible, but not really tasty.

Two types of maple - red maple and Norway maple, which is the big one.

Unknown flower!

The last section of the trail, descending back to the campground again, was very steep. Alarmingly steep. I was really nervous going down it. There weren't many roots or stones in the sandy soil to provide steps, so it was just going down a steep slope.

The trail isn't actually a loop - I had to walk along the campground road to get back to my car. This took a while, because I had found the serviceberry trees! I picked berries all the way back to the car, moving back and forth across the road. A few of the berries were a little dusty from being right by the road, but they still tasted all right!

All that dust really makes the spider webs stand out too!

Picking serviceberries is tricky - and sticky. The berries sometimes come off on their long stems, but more often they pull away from the stem because they are so soft. The branches are often high, but the trees are so flexible that you can pull on one branch to bring the next one within reach. Of course, I had to keep sampling the berries from each tree to make sure they tasted all right!

I filled up the container the rest of the way just before I got to the car, and then got another container and picked a bit more from that last tree. Then I drove around to the picnic area and got the last few there as well!

Finally, I was ready to leave - and to have lunch. It was after 2:30! Although I had been snacking along the way... I drove to the Sable Falls picnic area and had lunch there. I had originally planned to hike the Sable Falls trail as well, but since I had spent so much time already I decided to save it for another time. I drove the few more miles to Grand Marais, and walked along the rocky beach where I looked for agates earlier this summer. I wasn't really looking for agates this time, although I did find a couple of interesting looking rocks I'll have to check more closely. I scoop up some pebbles into a plastic bag, just as a representative sample of the beach here. It was nice out, and breezy, but I was getting a little hot. Two days in a row, I have waited too long for lunch, then gotten overheated walking along the shore!

When I got home I sorted out the berries. I got about a pint of blueberries and huckleberries, and a little over a pint of serviceberries. They were so pretty!