May ended up wetter than normal (7+ inches compared to an average of 4.4 inches of rain). However, almost 6 inches of that fell during the first week of the month, so overall the bulk of the month seemed to be not too wet. The last few days have been a bit drizzly, but temperatures were warm enough that it was not unpleasant to be out.
I had a chance to get out with some folks yesterday up Indian River. One of the people was visiting Sitka to consider it as a possible location for school groups to use as a destination for educational/adventure travel. Apparently this is kind of a regular thing for some schools to do, not just from the United States, but from other countries as well. Although it did rain on us a bit, the walk was quite nice. I spent the walk visiting with and/or listening to others and did not end up taking any photos.
Today’s outing was a trip to Blue Lake road to do some invasive plant surveys. Once again it was overcast with occasional (light) showers. I was interested to see the lake is less than 5 feet from spilling. Unless we get a dry spell, I suspect the lake will spill within the next week or two.
There are now quite a few salmonberries ripe, and there were half a dozen folks picking at various places along the road. The recent rains have not done the ripe berries any favors, and I noticed at least a couple covered in mold, while others were starting to break down a bit. Another interesting thing that I had not noticed before was a bunch of insects on the ripest berries. Most were march flies (Bibio sp.) which seem to be especially common along Blue Lake road (something I’ve noticed in prior years as well), but I did also see a few beetles that I have had identified as Podabrus sp previously, but I think that genus is getting split up, so I suspect they are going to have a different name soon.