mushroom-trails

[mushroom-trails]

Lithia Park. Dec. 8th. 2014

[mushroom-trails]

I finally went on a hike with the intent to find mushrooms. It had been too long. I don't know why this hobby dropped by the wayside over the last year. I still love the amazing world of fungi but life has been getting in the way I guess. Or maybe I just haven't made the time.

Anyways, I didn't go out with the intent to collect, just take some photographs. It was a beautiful wet day in one of my favorite areas along a creek. There were mushrooms everywhere.

Not pictured: my second ever Lions Mane! It was small but I will be keeping an eye out on that tree in future seasons as I have read it will grow back.

[mushroom-trails]

Found this infested log. March 2014.

[mushroom-trails]

If you are a fan of games and you are a fan of mushrooms then you need to get this game! Beautiful artwork and relaxing (but competitive) gameplay.

[mushroom-trails]

Oct. 2013

[mushroom-trails]

Different mushrooms, different days.

[mushroom-trails]

My sister and I morel hunting. Howard Prairie May 2013. 

[mushroom-trails]

Two mushrooms I found in September on the Oregon coast with my friend Lara. Plus a bonus snail!

[mushroom-trails]

Here I have two recently collected mushrooms and their corresponding spore prints. The first one is the ultra slimy Gomphidius oregonesis, found in Jacksonville and the second is the poisonous Paxillus involutus, found right outside in my front yard.

[mushroom-trails]

The rainy season is here and mushrooms are starting to pop up everywhere I turn. Over the last few days I went out hunting in Jacksonville with my friend Lara and once by myself. The second time I found a large amount of the edible Suillus caerulescens and the very cool looking Lactarius rubrilacteus or "Bleeding Milk Cap," which is the largest picture above.

I found one interesting little guy that was covered in a very sticky and slimy film but I could not identify it. The large white mushroom above is a Short-stemmed Russula, Russula brevipes, and is apparently edible but very bland.

In the end I didn't eat any of the mushrooms I found because most of them were very dirt and/or too old looking. I still don't fully trust myself with eating all wild mushrooms that I find and I feel better playing it safe.

[mushroom-trails]

Little unidentified mushrooms growing outside with our potted plants.

[mushroom-trails]

A sliced open cross-section of a crown cup (Sarcosphaera crassa). These were just barely pushing their way up out of the dirt.

[mushroom-trails]

Yesterday I went out with Joey D. to Howard Prairie and had tremendous success at finding all kinds of fungus. Yes! Finally found the collection of morels I have been hoping for.

We spent a good four hours scanning the ground and collecting. It's funny, but I've noticed that when I first start looking around it's hard to find anything, but once my eyes recognized that first morel they started popping out at me much quicker.

There are these beautiful white flowers, Trillium grandiflorum, or the white trillium, that apparently grow at the desired elevation for morels. It must be true because we were finding the flowers and the mushrooms all over the place.

We also found a lot of orange peel mushrooms (Aleuria aurantia),my first finding of some crown cups (Sarcosphaera crassa) partially buried under the dirt (not pictured here), and a few other fungi that I have yet to identify, including some bizarre black squishy mushroom that I think might be Sarcosoma mexicanum. It might be time to invest in a more comprehensive mushroom book so I can correctly identify everything I find!

Mushroom hunting has done an amazing job of getting me outside and really connecting with nature. There are so many cool things to see!

[mushroom-trails]

I went out on Friday to continue my search for fungus. Specifically, I was out looking for more delicious morels. Again I headed out to Jacksonville where I wandered the trails with my eyes glued to the ground.

I think it's just too dry out there right now for morels. The closest thing I found were these pinecones that look incredibly similar to a morel from a distance and grow out of the freakin' ground! Why must you mess with me so, Mother Nature?

I think Jacksonville would be good for early season morels or right after a good rain in the spring. We DID get a heavy downpour a few days ago, and I was hopeful because of this fact that I would find some, but they just aren't out there right now.

However, I did find a pair of spring coccora. One huge specimen standing it's ground and another hiding beneath it in the dirt.

[mushroom-trails]

Today I went back and collected the remaining amanitas that I found a few day ago in Jacksonville.

After going through all of the likely specimens in David Arora's book, "All That the Rain Promises, and More," I'm guessing that these mushrooms are most likely the spring coccora. These are related to amanita calyptroderma but do not yet have their own scientific name.

The key characteristics are:

Cap is dull white to pale yellow and gills and stalk are whitish.

Cap wit ha thick white cottony patch or "skullcap" of universal veil tissue (without warts).

Edge of cap striated (with many short radial lines or furrows), even when young.

Stalk center hollow but usually filled with a cotton or gel.

Partial veil present, at first covering the gills, then usually forming a skirt-like ring on upper stalk.

Universal veil white, enveloping the young mushroom, then forming a large, thick cup or sack (volva) at base of stalk.

So, it looks like we have a winner! These are edible, but I am not going to risk it at this point. I'm very cautious about the mushrooms I eat that I find in the wild...and I may never be brave enough to try any amanita. Still, these mushrooms are incredible looking and I am really glad I was able to find them.

[mushroom-trails]

Well, I'm convinced that at this point in the year Ashland is just too high in elevation for good morel hunting. So today I decided to head back to Jacksonville and explore a new trail system. Turned out to be a pretty good hike overall!

I explored the old gold mining area of the 1800s and early 1900s. It was hot, dry, and poison oak was everywhere, but I ended up finding two morels lower down on the cooler side of the hills!

One morel looked like it had been nibbled on so I left it behind, but the other one was brought home and fried up in extravagant style.

[mushroom-trails]

Headed out today to the trail systems on the south side of Ashland. Other than a few small mushrooms here and there, I didn't find much. That's ok, it was still a great day out there.

Then I headed up to Grizzly Peak further up the hills and came across a cool little green frog and what appear to be Snowbank False Morels. These are orange colored and "brainy" looking, and very similar looking to a False Morel, but with much shorter and much thicker stalks. They are apparently safe to eat, but False Morels are not, and being the novice that I am, I decided not to risk it!

There were also a handful of brittle looking shrooms growing out of some dung. Left by a bear or a cow maybe? I let them be, as I don't like getting poop on my hands.

Happy Earth Day!