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THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 2020 • B1
The allure
of landscapes
Leadbetter Point State Park is a
place for refl ection, nature viewing
By DAVID CAMPICHE
M
y friend Steve Romero is one of
those undeterred guys who steps
off a trail and plunges into the deep
underbrush in pursuit of wild ingredients:
fi ddlehead ferns, watercress and the allu-
sive wild oyster mushroom. He steps for-
ward gleefully, his heart beating rapidly.
“I am home,” he thinks. The word
bushwhack comes to mind.
“Hurry up,” he says, “I’ve blazed a
trail and back there a few hundred yards I
found a dead alder tree loaded with oyster
mushrooms.”
Off we go, two souls on a pilgrimage.
The deep forest creates a trance. The air
is fragrant but seems a bit short of breath.
So is the light, thin, that is — fractured
and ladled out in small, delicate servings.
The ground is thick underfoot, damp and
crowded with a patchwork of bramble.
False solomon seal pokes upward like a
soft carpet.
I c ount the ferns. F our varieties. Five.
Six.
Salmonberry bushes, not yet ripe,
crowd against us like an outcropping of
humans on a New York City subway plat-
form. H uckleberry idles, the fruit’s blos-
som still months away. The tall majestic
trees are mostly alder, spruce and pine.
On the dead alder stumps lay pale-white
oyster mushrooms called so because of
their color, shape and sublime taste.
We trudge on, cautiously stepping
between the verdant plants, careful not to
break a limb or branch. Perhaps this is a
territorial instinct or the ancient precau-
tion of remaining hidden from the gleam-
ing eyes of a predator.
The sun lilts south. The days are still
short but not as drastic as during winter.
Under the green scattering, nearly black
after the rainfall are thousands of falling
needles. Fluttering, gathering, rotting.
Unlike the spread of concrete and asphalt,
this is the natural way of the planet. With
decay comes life.
Steve is a city kid who built a home
in Oysterville, Washington, and adapted
to the natural world in his backyard like
a badger seeking shelter under a decayed
stump or a tunnel wedged into clay and
duff.
In Steve’s backpack is a pair of shears.
Along the way he clears away some of
the gorse. Yes, he is trailblazing in a sense.
Truth be told, that lovely yellow-clad
bush with sharp spines is quickly invad-
ing the fragile ecosystem of Leadbetter
Point State Park and the Long Beach Pen-
insula. Park rangers spend a lot of time
attacking the pest. They may be losing the
battle.
Our two families have been quaran-
tined for a couple of months. Steve and
I arrived in separate cars. The only other
mammal we see is a sow bear.
“Thirty feet away,” he says. The bear
seems indifferent and we slowly slink
away.
I am glad to be here, bear or no bear. I
feel the release of so much pent-up energy,
and a fair amount of anxiety, to boot. I am
thinking, you too can take a walk into the
green lush world of our backcountry, the
out-bush of the Long Beach Peninsula.
Photos by David Campiche
See Park, Page B4
TOP: A row of wild oyster mushrooms. ABOVE: Steve Romero gathers oyster mushrooms
on a decayed alder log.