The weather was beautiful, and given the lack of recent rainfall, the group of about 30 attendees found a surprising number of fungi: 20 different species! Foraging is normally not allowed within the park, but the FFSC is granted permission to pick during our guided forays, as long as none of the mushrooms leave the park boundary. We are very grateful for the opportunity! Spring is in full bloom in the mountains, so in addition to finding fungi, the group of foragers encountered a wide variety of beautiful flowers and both edible and medicinal plants, all part of the unique and rich habitat of the sandhills in the Santa Cruz mountains. The sandhills are made up of what geologists call “Santa Margarita Sandstone”, which dates to 10 – 12 million years ago, when this part of the San Lorenzo Valley was underneath the ocean. The habitat is also great for finding mushrooms at Quail Hollow, as there’s a wide variety of trees including Redwood and Madrone. Pine and Live Oak can be found here as well, which are known to establish mycorrhizal associations with fungi which produce some of the most sought after mushrooms, Chanterelles and Porcini. Species List Below is a list of the species that we collected: Amanita gemmata Amanita muscaria Amanita novinupta Amanita velosa Amanita vernicoccora Annulohypoxylon thouarsianum Chlorophyllum brunneum Coltricia cinnamomea Coprinus sterquilinus Craterellus cinereus Ganoderma brownii Hygrocybe sp. Hypholoma fasciculare Inocybe sororia Tremella betulina Pluteus sp. Russula sp. Stereum hirsutum Suillus sp. Trametes versicolor Cass Fuentes FFSC Minister of Local Forays

... and TONS of mushrooms popping up all over! Herecium coralloides  (November 2014). Photo by Cassandra Fuentes Some of the highlights were beautiful clumps of Oysters, fresh Lion's Mane, Dyer’s Polypore, carpets of Mycenas, an impressive troop of Jack O’Lanterns, and ominously glowing Death Caps. Below is a partial list of species found; there were various Agaricus, possible Agrocybes, and LBM’s that weren't included (among others). Henry Cowell Habitat Walk Species List - 11.22.14 Agaricus benesii (red staining Agaricus group) Agaricus xanthodermus (phenol smelling Agaricus group) Amanita phalloides Amanita vaginata (group - Grisettes) Annulohypoxylon thouarsianum Aricularia aricula Astraeus hygrometricus Coprinus sterquilinus Cortinarius sp Ganoderma applanatum (group) Gomphidius oregonensis Gymnopus dryophilus Gymnopus quercophilus Herecium coralloides Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca Hypholoma fasciculare Lactarius rubrilacteus Lycoperdon perlatum Marasmius calhouniae Mycena capillaripes Mycena haematopus Mycena pura Omphalotus olivascens Phaeolus schwenitzi Phyllotoposis nidulans Pleurotus ostreatus Pluteus cervinus Ramaria sp Russula brevipes Russula cerolens Russula silvicola (group) Stereum hirsutum Suillus cearulesencse Suillus fusctotementosus Trametes versicolor Tremella aleuria Xerocomellus chrysenteron (and/or Xerocomellus truncates) Xerocomellus zelleri Xylaria hypoxylon Editor's note: Photos from this trip were originally posted on Google+, which was deprecated for personal use in 2019. If you have photos from this trip shared publicly elsewhere, feel free to let us know!

Craterellus cornucopioides . © Ron Lawrence (from mushroomobserver.org) Although there was frost on the ground, the weather was beautiful and the Black Trumpets were virtually everywhere! Everyone who attended went home with some Craterellus cornucopioides . Also spotted were beautiful Waxy Caps ( Hygrocybe flavescens and coccinea ), various Ramarias , Black Elfin Saddles ( Helvella dryophila group ), and Gyromitras ( infula ?), to name just a few. Hygrocybe (not from this foray). Photo by Hugh Smith A big thanks to the all the great folks who participated! - Cass Fuentes Minister of Local Forays Editor's note: The link to additional photos from this foray was broken, so the link was removed from this post. If you have an alternative link, feel free to let us know!

Antrodia sp.  (a small, large-pored species on Santa Cruz Mtn. manzanita). © Christian Schwarz I chose this time of the year because the fall mushroom assemblage is rapidly transitioning into the winter assemblage, briefly bumping up easily-seen diversity during the period of overlap. Hunting had to be spread out over 4 days (eleven hours), but I’m quite sure that all the mushrooms I encountered could have been found on either the 18th or the 21st. I ended up with 270 species (not all identified to species, but recognizable RTUs). To find out what was found in Santa Cruz County on that day in 2014, visit my post on Tumblr: A Pseudo-Big Day in Santa Cruz , Notes of a Mycophile

For the forager/gatherers in the group, I've come across huge patches of stinging nettles in gullies and along streams. Its not quite chanterelles and black trumpets, but none too shabby. Miners lettuce is also in abundance and still moving towards peak.

On Hwy 50 - South Fork American River - a friend with a cabin along the Hwy near Sierra at Tahoe told me they had no rain since a weekend in June. Apparently the storm on the ridge top where Wright's lake is located was an exception. A ranger at the Stanislaus Ranger Office on Hwy 108 said they also had heavy rain the same weekend of June and nothing since. The Sawmill area had a heavy deluge 2 weekends ago - streets had minor flooding. The ground was very wet in the areas I checked around sawmill. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with good Bolete spots there - so no luck for me. Markleeville also had a deluge from the same storms that hit the Sawmill. The State Park adjacent to Grover Hot Springs had only sprinkles - only a few miles up the canyon from Markleeville! The Leavitt Meadows campground host - Hwy 108- told me they were hard hit by the same storm system. Unfortunately the FS road into Leavitt Meadow was locked - smoke from the Rim Fire was appalling that day, so I didn't try to get around it. East side of the Sierras was soaked in spots while the western slopes look like they have been mostly dry since June - the exception - some western ridge tops have gotten an Occasional thunderstorm. Rim Fire smoke was extremely variable last weekend. It completely depended on wind direction. I camped Saturday night next to Sonora Pass and could not see the mountains or breathe! I would have driven straight home but I was exhausted. In the morning, it was all blue skies. No sign of smoke! Apparently, in the afternoon the winds pushed the smoke up to the ridge tops. At night the winds descended and took the smoke back to lower elevations. Sawmill is wet - good luck at Echo this weekend! Mark Gillespie

Although little rain had yet blessed the Sierras, over 35 species were found as we sought out moisture-hoarding locales. Several intrepid participants found enough boletes to fill their dehydrators, and, to many attendees’ delight, Ganoderma tsugae (reishi) were numerous and fresh. A special thank-you to our California Alpine Club hosts, Lee Yamada and Phyllis Cole. A very special thank-you to the following who held up the sky by providing substantial kitchen support throughout the weekend: Friday dinner: Jan Immer’s amazing enchiladas, beans and calabicitas complemented by Sandi Smith’s baked bean appetizer and Margaret Carpenter’s Ensalada Mexicana; Saturday breakfast: Hope and Milan Jukl’s awesome breakfast burrito bar; Saturday lunch: Lisa Leung, Sonata Chan and Margaret’s sandwich bar; Saturday dinner: Gene West’s porcini pasta dinner complemented by Sandi Smith’s brie appetizer and Vernetta McGuire’s Caesar salad; Sunday breakfast: Kitty Elvin and Sue Labiste’s bodacious bagel buffet; With a strong supporting cast of all mentioned above and Richard Rammer, Richard Lyness and Monise Sheehan. Thank you all! Wendy Wells Minister of Long Distance Forays