Huckleberry festivals mark ripening of Idaho state fruit

WILD EDIBLES — The huckleberry harvest season is underway at lower elevations and the pleasure is working its way up the region’s mountainsides as the berries ripen. People and communities have taken note:

• The Priest Lake Huckleberry Festival is set for Saturday, July 19, at the Priest Lake Golf Course. The “HuckFest”  include artists, commercial businesses, food booths and music with proceeds supporting the all-volunteer Priest Lake Search & Rescue, Inc.
• The Schweitzer Mountain Huckleberry Festival is Aug. 3.

The berries are ripening at higher elevations this week, but the peak rage of ripe berries occurs in August. With my family in tow, I have to add hours to the hiking time into a Cabinet or Bitterroot mountains backpacking destination. It’s hard to walk past a booming patch of hucks.

High areas in the Selkirk Mountains, such as Roman Nose, provide good picking into September.