Of Blueberries and Waterfalls

What do blueberries and waterfalls have in common, you may ask?

I have a patch of blueberries that I planted 10 or 11 years ago. They produce enough to have them fresh for 6-8 weeks, leaving enough for freezer so that we enjoy blueberry pancakes and smoothies a few times a week for the rest of the year.

In a typical year they are done producing by late June. However, here it is mid July and today I was out in the patch picking blueberries for 3 hours. And there are quite a few still needing to get ripe. Why?

For the same reason that the waterfalls in Yosemite are more impressive now than they usually are in July: because of our above average snow pack (115%) and long, cold spring.

One of the more common questions I get from people planning a trip to Yosemite is, Will the waterfalls still be impressive in [then they give a date they are planning on coming]? As this years waterfalls show, how long they are going to be flowing strong is impossible to predict. Several factors are involved, such as snow pack and how quickly it warms up.

I tell people that if it's important to them that the waterfalls are going strong when they get to Yosemite they should come in May or early June. Come then and you are practically guaranteed fine waterfall displays.

But the blueberries are at my house :)