I took this picture of a dwarf huckleberry growing in Summit Meadow near Government Camp on Mt. Hood. Summit Meadow was a campsite for Oregon Trail pioneers travelling the Barlow Road to the Willamette Valley.
Several varieties of huckleberry are found in the Oregon and Washington Cascades. A few of them produce edible huckleberries in relatively large quantities. Huckleberries were a staple food for Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest.
This huckleberry shrub only grows about a foot high, but it provides lots of vivid fall color at in sunny openings in high altitude forests in the Cascades.
Ash Creek Images
Photographs of the West by Doug Gorsline
Dwarf Subalpine Huckleberry in Fall Color, Mt Hood National Forest.
