HUNTING The fire that ripped through Washington’s eastern Blue Mountains in 2021 was not ordinary. This honey hole for blonde and brown morels is now ash. I’m hopeful it will produce morels galore from the burn, but the longevity of this cherry spot is no longer. However, it can still help you in your search. These old firs – especially grand firs – that morels favor are good starting points. Look for filtered light with good cover, swales on hillsides, and pine needle litter like this. Stay below 4,000 feet in April and stick to places that warm early. In May, the 4,000- to 5,000-foot mark in the Blues and other mountain ranges in Washington and Oregon is perfect. (JEFF HOLMES)
Get More Out Of Your Morel Hunts With the mushrooms emerging across the Northwest, a fanatic shares his advice for finding the coveted tasty treats – and a buttery recipe.
By Jeff Holmes
M
ore than 10 springs ago, unexpected 45 mile per hour winds kept friends and me from launching during an insane Snake River spring Chinook season after we’d already made the muchanticipated trip to Little Goose Dam. We sought alternatives, stashed my boat at a small-town tackle store, and looked for refuge from huge gusts and a treeless landscape.
Knowing there were morels in them thar hills – the Blue Mountains, in this case – we headed south up the Tucannon River into a landscape that five years prior had suffered the year’s worst wildfire in the Lower 48, 2005’s School Fire. We parked at a trailhead and took off walking with dogs for miles, stumbling into maybe a few pounds of morels and lots of lessons about where these valuable little fungi will and will not grow. That first day of morel picking,
wandering the spring woods and laughing with friends and howling with good dogs now since passed, is high on the list of my best outdoor memories. It was a day that lit a fire for me that now burns white hot. I love morel mushrooms. But I especially love the process. I love traveling across green spring landscapes to reach mountains where they erupt and then assessing the progression of spring and where the mushrooms might be popping. I like assessing nwsportsmanmag.com | APRIL 2022
Northwest Sportsman 161
