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2014 was mostly a miserable year for mushrooming as a result of the continuing drought.  However, in the Fall we finally got some moisture, resulting in some interesting finds.

This year we did NOT see any Cantharellus cascadensis.

But I included many pictures for two reasons: one, because we wdid not make many other trips this year, and two, because I wanted to try my new, much more versatile and higher resolution camera, a Nikon L830.

I also added a second mushroom movie to the site, mymushroommovie2.wmv (PCs) and mymushroommovie2.mp4 (Macs), with guitar music by David West.

Findings,  October - December, 2014 (top) 

Monday and Tuesday, October 27 and 28, 2014: On Monday, Cecelia and I looked around in the forest locally at 3200 ft. looking for some Fall Boletes or white Chanterelles. We saw nothing at all at that spot.

However, up at 4400 ft. we were able to find and pick about 2 pounds of white Chanterelles (a bit soggy after the recent light rains) and a bunch of nice Oyster mushrooms.

We had been told that the area was recently visited by several mushroom hunters, but we saw no signs of them having been there.

We also spotted a few Gomphus floccosus (or bonarii), a few small and colorful Lepiota, and two species of Suillus, one species slimy and the other dry, possibly S. brevipes and B. fuscotomentosus (poor man's slippery jack)

And as always, several Russula brevipes.

Nice to see ANYTHING after such a long dry spell.

The chanterelles were used that evening in a cream of squash-chanterelle soup, with curry and coconut milk. The Oysters were served in a spicy stir fry, a few days later.

On Tuesday, we had a visit from our young friend Chris Albion and his son Ash. He wanted to go up with us up to a place near a spring at 5100 ft.
After some walking, we actually began seeing some mushrooms, which included a yellow Ramaria species that I have never noticed before, a boletus that Chris felt was a Boletus badius, a dark-brown spored Cortinarius heavy veil  fragments, an unusually flat fungal growth on a conifer, a tree dweller that looked like a bright yellow Gymnopilus, and several Gomphus, including what looked like G. clavatus, or Pig’s Ears. Chris even spotted what he thought could have been an over-the-hill Boletus edulis.

I thought the one that looked like a G. clavatus, actually tasted pretty good and had a nice texture.

Ramaria sp. Cortinarius sp.	Ash with a possible Boletus badius	Gymnopolis?
Gomphus floccosus (a scaly chanterelle)	Gomphus bonarii (another type of scaly chanterelle)	Gomphus clavatus (Pig's Ears)?

November 7, 2014:   Not many reports lately, but the recent rains have showed some promise. I recently had met the retired science teacher from Greenville, who had contacted me for help in mushroom identification. I had convinced him to get a copy of Demystified.   More recently, shortly after the book arrived, we made arrangement for a few trips into the forest.  

I was delighted to be able to practice my ID skill with a newbie, especially one who knew much more botany than I. The first two trips were locally at 3600 ft. and 4500 ft., and the second two were at 4000 ft. and 6000 ft..  

On the of first two trips, we saw mostly tiny mushrooms, so I had him drive me up to a little higher spot, hoping to find white chanterelles and/or queen boletes. That day, we saw some Strobilurea, Mycena, Collybia, tree ears (a first for me at that area), Gomphidius glutinosus, Chroogomphus vinicolor, Suillus, white chanterelles, and oyster mushrooms, among others, but no queen boletes.  

On the next two trips, we were even more surprised by the diversion. We found Lactarius deliciosus, L, rubrilacteus, a much larger Suillus, Gomphidius roseus, Phaeolus schweinitzii, Armillaria albolanaripes, and unidentified species of the honey mushroom, and even picked a few Boletus edulis. This were a very pleasant surprise because the area had previously been well-picked by the time we got there.  

I found the first edulis while talking about finding them under a particular bush, and lo and behold!  

Below are thumbnails from the first visits, and below that are thumbnails from the second visits.

Clavaria vermicularis (Fairy Fingers)	Collybia sp.	Close-up of a sliced Rhizopogon sp.
Small but beautiful
Later that day, about 4500 ft:
Lepiota?	Pleurotus ostreatus (Oyster Mushrooms)	Collybia sp.
Strobilurus trullisatus (fir cone Strobilurus)	Some Auricularia auricula (Tree Ears) on a log	Two Tree Ears placed on top of the log
One Tree Ear in hand	Lots of tiny mushrooms	Tiniest mushrooms
The next visit, around 4000 ft.:
Lactarius rubrilacteus (red latex)	Lepiota?	Armillaria albolanaripes (sheathed Armillaria)
Armillaria albolanaripes close-up	A very large Suillus sp.	A very large Suillus upturned
Later the same day, around 6000 ft.:
Large Gomphidius glutinosus (Hideous Gomphidius)	Boletus or Sullus?	Immature Phaeolus?
Phaeolus schweinitzii (Dyer's Polypore)	Gomphidius roseus	Boletus edulis in bush (Porcini)
More beautiful tiny mushrooms	Armillaria sp. in creek side	Beautiful yellow mushrooms

Featured Mushroom, the Dead Man's Fist (Scleroderma polyrhizum)((top)

This mushroom is rarely found by us, is not very attractive, but it is interesting mainly  because of its common name, as is the Dead Man's Foot

More info and pictures at http://www.mushroomexpert.com/scleroderma_polyrhizum.html

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