For the past few years, about this time of the season, we've gone down to a nice, kinda secret, quiet spot on Oak Creek to harvest blackberries. This year we went too early and harvested maybe 12 ripe berries in all. The rest were all still small and green, weeks away from being ready.
Fortunately, we did arrive right after a rain, so the air was misty and cool and the creek clear and cold. We waded around for a bit and then drove down to Sedona for lunch.
We'll go again in a few weeks, sometime mid-August, I think. The berries in our secret spot should be ripe by then.