Blueberries?

[Jgladstone124]

I'm thinking of heading up to Minnewaska next weekend. Do you think the wild blueberries will be starting to ripen yet? Has anybody started to see any on the trails yet?

[Old Girl Scout]

I think it's too soon for blueberries. They are usually ready to eat in August. There are different varieties such as high bush & low bush. I don't know if they all ripen at the same time, but I've never seen any this early.

[Christian]

The low bush berries were starting to ripen last sunday 6/15 in the old ski mini area. i found some ripe enough to eat but this weekend should be very good for picking.

[Mark Schaefer]

Some friends did a traverse of the Gunks last Saturday, June, 14 (Sam's Point to Spring Farm, Mohonk). They did encounter some early, ripe low bush blueberries. From the report I ascertained the photo below was taken along the High Peterskill Trail. I borrowed this photo from post 12 of their trip report:

[Howard]

Low bush Blueberries are too back breaking to pick in abundance unless your 3 years old. I'll wait until mid/end of July for the high-bush berries.

[Titia]

My guess is next weekend will be perfect. I was on the Millbrook trail and Gertrude's nose and there were tons of blueberries in green state. A few ready to eat.

[gunx]

We picked about a quart of lowbush blueberries yesterday.....

[jean]

there are plenty of low bush berries right now (june 30). i haven't visited the golf course, so i can't report on the high bush berries there

[Guest]

Thanks for the info.

Had some delicious blueberries yesterday on the trail from Lake Minnewaska to Millbrook Mtn.

Also, my older son saw a young black bear while biking on Castle Pt. trail. The bear fled immediately, off into the woods.

[Ridge70]

went from sam's point to lake awosting on june 28th and found a lot of blueberries around the cliffs after you pass verkeerderkill falls.

[Old Girl Scout]

On Mossy Glen path yesterday. High bushes heavily loaded with clumps of green berries. Not a blue one in sight. Any early blues probably picked daily, being so close to parking lot.

[Howard]

There are no more Blueberries left. We picked them all last Saturday.

[Ridge70]

I'm amazed at the amount of berries this year. They were not in abundance last year, nor as good. I guess it's from all the rain we've had this summer. I recall last year being drier.

There are still lots of berries left. Of course, in the more "populated" areas of the park they're going to be all picked. I was up at Awosting last Tuesday. I took the Castle Pt cwy and stopped about half a dozen times and got full handfuls of nice blue and huckleberries. I'm hoping to get up there soon and stock up for the winter.

[Dave McCarthy]

There are still great berries out there, as recently as a week ago. I must be getting old, because I can't remember exactly where I found them. It was either on one of the trails under Eagle Cliff, or along othe Old Minnewaska Trail, both in the Mohonk Preserve. I couldn't believe the bushes weren't picked clean.

[Jasonk]

Hey guys, I realize this is an older post but it's still coming up high on google for people searching for Minnewaska Blueberry Picking so I figured I'd update.

Was just up at Minnewaska this past weekend, July 9th- strange year for berries, I guess because of the unusual weather. Temps were in the 90's and not a cloud in the sky.

Hardly any lowbush berries left along blueberry run or the Peter's Kill, and what berries were there were stunted and dried. Very strange for so early in the season. Did find quite a few highbush blueberries, but only after bushwacking through the ridge quite a bit.

Found a smattering of lowbush along the Upper Awosting Carriageway, again very small fruits, but at least these were still ripe.

Went home with 5 quarts mixed berries and a case of sunburn, and will be back- a lot of the highbush still had maturing berries, I would guess we'll see more in the weeks to come... but it seems as if everything growing in the gunks is about 3 weeks ahead of schedule because of the hot, dry conditions.

If anyone's interested in learning more about the history of berry picking in the Shawangunks and Minnewaska, I wrote a short article you can check out at http://hudsonvalleyresort.blogspot.com/2012/07/sams-point-blueberry-picking-minnewaska.html

Happy hiking, and many berries!