Blueberry Picking

Almost every person who grew up in the Ignace area has picked fresh wild blueberries. The boreal forest produces some of the sweetest berries in the world. These antioxidant rich berries when picked and cleaned sell for a good price and are highly sought after by visitors and travelers. The picking season usually lasts from the beginning of July to the end of August. The best place to find these berries is in harvested forest sites accessible by logging roads. Added to this, just north of Sandbar Lake Provincial Park is a landscape dominated by boulders, an area that is surrounded by blueberries and some roadside raspberries.

Before venturing out for berries, it is advisable to become bearwise. Blueberry patches are a good place to encounter bears as they consume hundreds of pounds of blueberries late in the summer to store fat for the winter. While these animals are generally non-threatening, they are also known to be extremely dangerous.

Black bear enjoying a blueberry patch. Photo by Joe Lecuyer