Where I Go: Foraging for Wild Mushrooms
Chanterelles in the Market? $24.99 Per Pound. In the Forest? Priceless
Sandwiched between shitakes and oyster mushrooms, I spot them: the golden treasures of the forest. Piled indecorously in a standard box that fits a standard shelf, they’re selling at a standard price, $24.99 per pound. Chanterelles cost more by weight than New York steaks and sockeye salmon. I move on. They aren’t worth the cost.
Two weeks later, I race across a steep hillside in Olympic National Park, picking through downed trees as fallen branches scrape my hands and my boots wobble uneasily in the soft forest earth. I’m making a …
