The Fungus AmongUs – Photography hike & possible mushroom ID hike with optional meal

Anyone up for a treasure hunt?

Ok, I know it’s last minute, but with all the rains we’ve had the past 10 days or so, our chances of finding some cool woodland treasures are pretty good.

Is it delicious? Can it kill you? Can some of them help the body fight cancer or regenerate nerves? No matter how you look at them, mushrooms are pretty amazing, and can make for great subjects of wildlife photos and a delicious addition to unique home-cooked meals. But eating the wrong one can kill you, and from what I’ve read, it’s a bad way to go.

*****Today, we’ll hope to identify some of the fungus amongus, but please don’t think that going on this hike will make you an expert. If you want to forage for wild foods, I fully encourage you, but you’ve GOT to put in a lot of hours of study, or… you could die. Seriously. You also must be sure to harvest responsibly and sustainably.*****

Blanket’s Creek is best known as one of the top mountain biking trails in the Southeast, but hiking is permitted. It’s maintained by SORBA, and you will need to drop $1 in the donation box to help them keep the trails in top shape. It’s a GREAT way to spend a dollar! This is where we'll meet up today.

Because it’s a mountain biking trail, that means bikes have the right of way. And THAT means you will need to be prepared to get the heck out of the way very fast. A collision with a mountain bike hurts A LOT.

Blanket’s Creek is also a fairly popular spot for the foraging of wild mushrooms, too. While I am by no means an expert, I’ve successfully identified (nobody died) lion’s mane, oyster mushrooms, turkey tail, American Caeser’s mushroom and others at this location while hiking or biking through the beautiful, well-maintained trails.

We’ll being our hike with a short warm up through Mosquito Flats where we’ll enjoy the short creekside hike to the Dwelling loop trailhead. On the way, we’ll hope to find some good photo ops for oyster, lion’s mane and honey mushrooms. Let’s plan on collecting pictures & happy memories only today, folks!

The Dwelling Loop is 4.2 miles, and includes nice rolling hills with some good, challenging climbs, so you’ll need to be in decent shape in order to keep up. We’ll be next to a lake or streams for part of the hike, and there is a lot of wildlife. The deer are not shy. The pace will be moderate to brisk, but if there’s a lot of great stuff to look at and take pictures of or chat about, we’ll be taking a bunch of breaks.

Also, I think I want a steak today… so feel free to join me at Longhorn afterward!