Kathryn’s Voyage Blog

Publish Date: Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Location: Mary Ann Cove, Baie Fine, Ontario, Canada
Coordinates: 46° 00.759′ N  81° 38.003′ W

Today I had the chance to pick wild blueberries for the first time in my life.Very cool! We met two

families anchored in MaryAnn Cove who offered to be our guides on the beautiful Frazier Hike along the Kilarney Ridge on the south side of Baie Fine.

The hike starts at the shore, and takes you through dense pine forest, moss covered white quartz slabs, fern groves on the forest floor, and then opens up to broad vistas  where you see across Frazier Bay, McGregor Bay,  and all the way up Baie Fine and beyond.

I heard there were wild blueberries in this area. Wild berry picking holds a rustic romance  for me after watching On Golden Pond, and reading Blueberries for Sal to Ayla.  Now we might actually have the chance to do pick some.

The Gamble Family and the Boisvert Family were willing tour guides, and as we neared the top they

pointed out the low bushes that held the tiny morsels.  I am glad Megan and Marilyn were there to point them out, as I don’t think I would have ever seen them.  The foliage looks nothing like the berry bushes I’m familiar with.   These plants just looked like plain, low ground cover, but push back the leaves slightly and there you find tiny clusters of berries.

We enjoyed two types of berries, the traditional wild blueberry and the Sasketune (?) berry, which is even smaller and darker.  Berry patches were scattered all over the mountain top, and we fond ourselves quickly addicted to the task of searching for berries.  The summer has been cool here, and the berries are late in ripening. However, there were berry treasures to be found if you were patient.

I quickly had Dave and Ayla drink the water out of  our  water bottle, so we had a container to gather these little jewels into.  I have no doubt that we ate more than twice the 16 ounces we collected.  After much deliberation,  we decided to enjoy them in the pure form over some yogurt . However, Ayla and I hope to gather another batch for blueberry muffins before we leave the area.

There must be something to the primitive stereotyping of men as “hunters” and the women as “gatherers”.   Among our group of ten, the women and children quickly fell to picking berries and merrily chatting, while the men stood on the mountain top surveying the land. Hundreds of years ago, I have no doubt they would have been planning the hunt; but today they talked of alternators and power consumption. 🙂

A hearty “Shout Out” to the Gamble and Boisvert Families for their kindness in showing us some of the secrets of this magical land.