Clouds took the sun away yesterday. But they won’t deliver the rain until tomorrow. Without rain gear, Aki and I are searching a narrow muskeg meadow for berries. This is a scouting, not a harvesting mission. Although I manage to find a handful of ripe berries to feed the little dog. 

            Birds, as obvious as mosquitos, flit and fly through the surrounding bushes. A dark-eyed junko and two juvenile robins land on the trail itself. The fly off when we approach to nearby trees. Some of the birds must be eating blues berries. The trail boards are spotted with blue-covered scat. 

            The trail leads to a beach, which is as empty as the sky is gray. Something starts slapping the water. When the slapping stops, a harbor seal swims past. It must be herding silver salmon heading toward the mouth of their spawning stream. Later we will cross the stream and spot a swirl in the water caused by a salmon’s dorsal fin. At one salmon escape the hunting seals.