10/28, Saturday, beautiful autumn weather: crisp and sunny, fall color in full swing. 19 of us (including the lead and a helper from Bark) met at Trader Joe's in Hollywood at 9am. This hike was originally scheduled on 10/8 (too early for mushrooms due to dry summer). We drove to a potential timber sale area by Clackamas River, a very pleasant drive with big trees in fall color lining the river bank. Mark, the leader, gave us a short talk on how important the trees are to mycorrhiza fungi. This is the goal for these outings, to promote the protection of forest in Mt Hood area. We were told the general area where we can wander off, so we don't get lost, and we were assigned a number. Then we were set loose. Met at the cars for lunch, and had a 2nd round of hunting afterwards. I found quite a lot of chanterelles (all golden) despite of the obvious signs that this area was already swept by shroomers recently. Fallen leaves and needles covered all the ground, so it's hard to see. I got bored after my bag got a bit heavy, so didn't bother to look for edibles after lunch, so not to crush the ones I already picked. I looked for other mushrooms, found 2 purple stemmed Zeller's bolete, nothing much otherwise. Mark was patient enough to go through your harvest to make sure that you don't take home bad specimen. One lady's chanterelles have stems covered with some white mold.
The walk isn't as educational as I hoped. So I probably won't be joining them next year. However, the car ride was fun. I was in the car with Tatiana whom I met before on trails, Julia (driver) and Tina (the youngest but the most knowledgable about mushrooms). Julia didn't find any mushroom (common with first timers), so she wants a chanterelle instead of gas money. I gave her two, and 4 to Mary in the evening. The photo above shows what's left. I got back in downtown by 4pm, which is nice. So I repackaged the harvest in two cardboard boxes. The next evening, I sauteed 3 chanterelle with shallot (Tatiana's suggestion) and fennel -- see photos, and put the two little bolete in soup. The rest I gave to Priyanka.
