Huckleberry season in the Rocky Mountain region is most over for this year, but some folks are still picking in the Cascades in Oregon.
I ran across this delightful picking story that I want to share with you by John Rezell, Editor, OutdoorsNW :
Recipe for Huckleberry Bliss
… We’ve ventured high into the Cascades in search of August’s bounty of huckleberries, but early signs along the trail are spotty at best. Someone or something appears to have cleaned up….
About three miles up the trail the picking pace begins to accelerate as single dark purple huckleberries pop into view. At first it’s a lone berry or two that appear ripe on a bush. Then, suddenly, a whole bush explodes with ripe berries lighting up against the green leaves like fireworks….
I can’t describe the fulfillment that comes with plucking tiny berries from a bush, nor the eruption of taste buds that follows the burst of small pea-sized berry crunched between my teeth….
When we move to the next section I’m amazed at how quickly my brain zeroes in on huckleberries as our primary target. A single berry against the forest’s sea of green appears to pop out as if a lone spotlight casts upon it in a dark theater.
The rest of the forest blends into an idyllic background. I can almost hear a choir strike a heavenly chord on cue. Ahhhhh!!!…
