The Fungus AmongUs: Elusive Morels

Finally! I found some! Lots, actually. YAY!

Based on my experience today in my neighborhood, I'm pretty optimistic about our chance here on Sunday. The park is only a few miles away and supports some of the same conditions. (Fingers crossed, everyone!)

Let’s meet in front of the dog park at Leita Thompson Memorial Park tomorrow at 10:25a.m. We’ll take a few minutes to get acquainted, and then we’ll hit the trails.

I’ve never found morels here, but there are a few places that are on my list to check. As such… this will be a bit different from most of my hikes. We’re going to take longer to look for these beauties (they are in stealth mode, I swear!), especially near water. That means that for the most part, our pace will be slower than normal, so we can take our time looking. I’m guessing we’ll spend 2-3 hours on our hunt, and we are not likely to cover more than 3 miles. (Nothing’s impossible... if we’re inspired, we may hike & hunt for longer… but anyone who needs to adhere to a timeline can; this is a very easy park to navigate.)

The terrain is mostly pretty gentle, but since we’ll be going off the main trail here and there, long pants and hiking poles are not a bad idea. Also, hats are good. Maybe a helmet or some body armor. Definitely wear a cape. (No, no cape.) Based on my experience today, and the morel's wicked sense of humor, be prepared to encounter poison ivy, spiders, deep leaf litter, thorny snake vines, and PLENTY of privet. Good times!

If you think you may want to take home and eat any of the morels we might find, PLEASE bring a PAPER bag or canvas bag to carry them home in. Plastic is bad.

I’m bringing my furbaby Vegas, and you can bring yours, too IF well socialized… but please, no retractable leashes, and be prepared to pick up & pack out any messes your furry BFF makes.

Let's also try to pick up some garbage along the way. We found quite a bit of it last weekend. Yuck. I'll bring some extra plastic bags, and if we have a volunteer or two to carry it, I'll carry your morels. :)

Finally... this park is adjacent to some private homes. In most instances, the property lines are marked with either a fence or a sign. Please be sure to stay inside the park at all times. (Note: There is one home with very unclear property lines and a VERY bored/aggressive owner, so we'll give that one home an extra wide berth.)

PS-Learn more here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morchella 

Located on Highway 92 near the SuperTarget.

If the weather is sucky (rainy/icy/cold/hail/snow/sleet/raining toads), the hike is off.

If you can't go, please remove yourself from registration, so someone else can go.