Friday, August 16, 2013

HuckleBerry Rustlers Strike in Northern Idaho...

A new neighbor pulled into camp a few days ago. Karen of Back Porch View rolled her lil' Jet trailer into a spot below us in the Idaho woods.

*Welcome Klbexplores to the neighborhood*

She's one of those who firmly believes in the theory that art is a benefit to the day! Takes her a few minutes to get a proper camp set up.








Not so many can full-time in a lil' bitty Vintage Camper, and she's had some obstacles to climb over getting out here... but what Can I say? It's a fine job of doin' it!

The Priest Lake country, high in the Panhandle of Idaho, and close enough to smell Canada from here... has a bit of everything...


Priest Lake Idaho
*Priest Lake, Idaho*

Swimming, speed boats, jet skis... and for the culinary inclined drifters... Huckleberry Rustling...

Karen grew up round abouts here so she'd a few ideas on where to hunt the elusive mountain huckleberry. So we piled in her Explorer... ain't that a proper name for an RV'n drifters rig? ... and rolled up into the hills searching for berries in the direction of Petit Lake...




The forest service apparently has someone employed who thinks it great fun posting signs that have little connection with the actual direction of where you're headed. We commented that we're pretty sure there's guys back in the FS offices high Fivin' each other and sayin'; "I wonder how long it'll take THAT one to get UN-lost?"

.. so... we ended up getting a little tighter directions that didn't quite fit either the topo atlas OR the FS directions... or... their signs posted along the road.

The directions we got from OTHER back roaders (who made the same comments WE did) got us headed in the right direction... while the topo atlas that lacked half the roads was of marginal use.

Eventually we found a spot... hidden behind another evil road closed sign... 


You always have to ask yourself; "Self? what are they trying to hide from me?" :)

Then you walk past that sign a ways and standing on the lip of where the mountain falls away below you... There it is!... that elusive purple gold of the Northern Rockies... The Huckleberry...







Funny thing about the lil jewels is... they're hard to see from above. If you look at that picture, it's taken from below... you look down and see a few berries, and climb down to collect 'em up... and then when you turn to go back the whole hillside seems covered now that you're below 'em and can see 'em hiding under the leaves. ;)



*Wounded Huckleberry Rustler*
The three of us gathered up something around a half gallon of the Huckelberry mountain candies in twenty minutes or so and climbed back to the road to compare our haul...



HA! Guess who captured that fullest bag!

*Views of a Berry Rustler*





Well, we filled our need for Huckleberries... so continued our search for Petit lake where Karen had spent much time in her younger years... The forest svc has closed some roads... so it made the finding a lil more of an adventure...

... but with her persistent driving... and my map skills ;)... well... that guy on the side of the road helped a lil' bit. :) ... we found the place... and had ourselves a crackers and cheese lunch, sitting on a bench in a shady lil' grotto by the lake, watching the trout jump all over the whole dang thing...











So... what do you do with Huckleberries? Well... the first thing you do is have Karen go back to her kitchen in the woods and convert some of that mountain Huckleberry treasure to Huckleberry sauce and douse a bowl of Vanilla Ice Cream with it! HooYa!



 Thennnnn... the next morning... you take some more of those precious purple jewels... and...




Shape them into Huckleberry Pancakes... with Huckleberry Sauce!




NOT what you want to be cooking up if you're on some sort of a diet... unless of course you are possessed of the tremendous quantity of self control and discipline that I am adorned with. ;)

So... I've waited the allotted 12 minutes after breakfast... and with that properly executed disciplined self control... it's time for more ice CREAM!! ;)

Gaining in a Hurry... weight that is...
Brian

2 comments:

Donna K said...

Now you're talking!! Those huckleberry dishes appear to be epicurean delights. Nice that you met up with someone who knew where to go.

Anonymous said...

Your pictures are always awesome but the ice cream and pancakes have moved up to #1 and #2 in your photo files. I follow both of your blogs, which only increases my desire to hit the road.