Early May, 2000
characters was set. 14 people, floating the Middle Fork of the Salmon River for
a week in early May.
On the flight in, Dale was talking over the headset to the pilot, who
mentioned “a fire, last year, right along the river". Really? Where? Can we
reach it from our camp? All answers were yes! I pointed out the fire to Larry
(in the back seat) and told him with great excitement, "we will be camping near
those and they are last year’s fires." You could feel the excitement, even at
10,000 feet, as we flew over the fires...
As the group set up to put on the river and the camps were chosen for each
day, special care was taken to make sure we would be camping near the burn
site.
Two days into the trip, we came to our campsite (complete with hot
springs to warm our cold bodies, it was EARLY May after all), and a wonderful
view. Our first order of business was to "ferry" our raft across the river to the
burn (no small task given the high water), and we did this with expert intensity.
The short, yet difficult hike along the river to the site took about an hour.
Once in the burn area, we dropped our lunch packs, and set to lookin'. Within a
few short minutes, the first "found one!" came out from Susan. From that point,
the picking was on! We looked up hill and down and found a good amount of black
Morels, maybe 6 pounds.
After lunch, we decided to head down the ravine to the river area where
we had seen another burn area. Upon getting to the river, we found many more,
and they were big! At one point, Larry and Dale looked up at the same time to
see a patch with Two Monstrous Morels (5+ inches), and both simultaneously
exclaimed "WOW"....
As the day wore on, we reluctantly felt the need to return and headed to
the raft. After an even quicker ferry across the river, we arrived back at camp,
where folks were darn impressed by the haul. As we spread them over an entire
table, the "wow's" came in from the rest of the crew as they all returned to see
our bonanza! Over 15 pounds of Morels were collected that day.
It just so happens that "steak nite" was in order and a large pan of morels
were cooked for the eating pleasure of all. In retrospect, the river trip was
grand, but the one thing I will never forget is the great day of morel picking!
What a wonderful surprise to an already amazing vacation.
