Huckleberries, Fireweed and Monkshood

School starts for me in 10 days, so work, work work to be ready. Monday I spent the day at school working on things to get ready for it and I also wrote several articles for the newspapers I write for. Tuesday and today the huckleberries were calling me. This is the first time in four years that we have had an abundance of them and I need to get enough incase we have another bad four years.
Yesterday I picked from 7 until 3 and got three gallons of them. My sister, Carmen (only one of seven that I have - that will be another blog), and her two friends joined me today. I could only pick until noon because of school work. I got two gallons while the three of them stayed most of the day and picked 7 1/2 gallons. Here Carmen starts picking before dropping her pack and extra bucket in a good patch of huckleberries.
Yesterday after my back could not take any more bending over, I did some hiking and got some photos of some flowers. These Columbia Monkshoods have a story to tell. I imagine them as horses. This first picture kept reminding me of the song that says, "Back to back, belly to belly, it really doesn't matter to me." Some of you old duffers may remember it.

These three look as if they are in a horse race and one wins by a length.

This picture reminds me of an old fat horse that the owner cannot bear to send him to a glue factory. I was amazed at the different colors in the monkshood flowers along a small marshy area high in the mountains of the Heise area.

My last picture is that of Fireweed. I love the fireweed because they come out late in the summer and brighten up many old logging roads in the Targhee National Forest or can be found along many streams of the area.

I hope to get another five gallons of huckleberries. There are a few folks that cannot pick them anymore because of age, sickness or injuries. They need some, plus it is making my belly smaller and also keeps my girls canning.

By the way, today I shared my berry patch with a family of ruffed grouse. No pictures - just a memorable experience. Mom kept trying to keep the youn'uns away from me.

Aldous Lake

My wife went hiking in the Tetons this morning with her friends, so I decided I would go for a hike to get some material for a newspaper article. Jumping in the pickup with my camera, fishing rods, huckleberry picking equipment and enough food and drink for a week, this would classify as one of those "travels with an old fat bald man" that I sometimes write about.
Half a mile from the house I decided to head to Kilgore and hike to Aldous and Hancock Lakes. The trailhead is about an hour and 10 minutes from home.
This wild hair that I had was soon rewarded me with a wild hare. I hide behind a tree not far from the trailhead and soon he came sneeking out for some brunch. A snowshoe hare.
A couple who had lived 50 years in Rexburg, just 70 minutes away, came hiking up the trail for the second time in two days after finally discovering this hike.
"Everything was just too beautiful not to do it again," explained Fern, as we visited.
I let them pass by as I got busy taking pictures of flowers, insects and birds. Too beautiful to pass up.
As I hiked up the trail I located this Tortoiseshell butterfly hanging on pine tree. I believe it is a California Tortoiseshell.
After flushing a family of ruffed grouse, many juncos and sparrows, I made it to Aldous Lake. A family of Common Goldeneye ducks were working the weeds in the middle of the lake. A toad jumped into the water and Yellowstone cutthroats were dimpling the surface of the small shallow lake as I worked my way around the lake.

The lake was surrounded by meadows of mixed flowers as well as areas totally covered by a specie of flowers.

This group of Indian paintbrush was on next to the trail leading to Hancock Lake just another mile up the mountain. Both lakes were formed when mountain sides slid many years ago, blocking small streams and backing up the water. Slide Mountain is the landmark that can be seen from Kilgore and it forms Hancock Lake.

Just another day in the "wild" life of a man that enjoys the wildness of nature. Over 300 pictures taken, eating a few hands full of huckleberrys it was time to head home to pick raspberries, peas and squash. Oh, isn't life wonderful.

The next four days, I will be away from my blog as my wife and I are headed to St. George to hike Zion's National Park and to attend two theatre shows. We know it will be hot, but we survived it last year and probably will again this year.

Student Council training

Yesterday I spent from 8 a.m. until 10:30 p.m. with this year's Student Council at Madison High School. We had a great day planning for the opening of the school year. All were present except one who was on a cruise - family things are more important.
We did training for four hours and then we went to West Yellowstone for a "Bonding" trip to eat at Gusher's Pizza and then attended "Guys and Dolls" at the Playmill Theatre. It was all very enjoyable. Here is the group minus the vice president.


Here is Titan - the SBO president who will be very busy. I am the advisor to the group for the ninth year. I enjoy working with them - but will not do their jobs - just cancel anything that is not planned well. Titan has served on the SBO Council before as the Sophomore class president.

Huckleberrying and butterflies

On Friday and Saturday I went huckleberrying and hunting for better patches of huckleberries. I found some great patches in the Moody Creek/Heise area on Friday, but on Saturday I headed to Island Park to pick a patch of big berries I found on Wednesday.
On the way across Osbourne Bridge the sun was just rising coloring the fog and the trees appeared like ghosts in the fog. I had to stop and get a picture of the beautiful scene.

After picking two gallons of huckleberries, making five gallons for the week, I noticed a lot of butterflies amoung the flowers along the trail as I walked out. As I watched a female sulphur (pink edges of the wings) feeding on a Yarrow blossum, a male attached itself to her. After flying away they finally roosted on a pine tree where other sulphur males attempted to join the game.

There was a major migration of Fritillaries landing on the clover, goldenrod and yarrow plants along the way. This was a beautiful light colored one with darker one along the way. This was the lightest one I saw.

It was interesting to watch the the different butterflies feeding on the flowers. I noticed several times as they fed, bees and flies would actually attack them - always from behind. I was able to get several picturs of bees hitting the butterflies, sometimes knocking off part of their wings. I tried to find out, but I could not find any material why the bees would do that. Interesting insect behavior.

When I got to a patch of Fireweed, I found a host of bumblebees and Swallowtail butterflies feeding on them. All were so heavy that they would bend the flowers over so they were in the shade - not good for pictures. I got lucky and got this picture of the bumblebee just as it was lifting off the flower.

Just another wonderful day in the life of the school teacher who will start punishing students in four weeks. Wild In Idaho will have other great things to write about!!!! Stay posted.