Year of the Morel

Whoof!  This is the fifth time I've tried to post these photos!  Blogger has definitely become more "buggy" in the recent months.  And...I found out it doesn't like my newer camera since it doesn't save the formatting.  But, when I go to my older camera, it saves the formatting...what gives?  Must be a setting somewhere, all that means is that you'll have to crink your neck a little bit on the first set of photos.

So, enough time has gone by that I want to make this a photo post.  Actually, not much happened on the two morel outings to my homeland in the Clearwater...except picking a buncha mushrooms.  There were some rather large wildfires down there last year and while they were still smoking, I already had a plan to go down there, cross the river, and pick away!  The first trip was with Butch and we came out with a good score.  Skipping Memorial Day, I went back down on a solo trip the following weekend.  Let me tell you, it was all about production on that trip.  I left the house at 0630 on Friday and had camp set up, was two miles in, and was picking by 1100!  The next morning found me up at 0630 and on the trail by 0700, doing the same thing.

When Butch and I were down there I had him drop me off at the bridge one afternoon and found a dandy spot, one that was so good it made us get up at 0500 and pick until about 1030 the day we were to return home. 

Crossing one of the many downfalls on the "trail" in

I'm always intrigued by the ones growing in holes



A perfect morel

Alright, the game here is to see how many mushrooms you can find.  I counted while I was there and there ARE eight in there...




This was a fantastic flat!



Kinda look like little turds don't they?

Okay, the results of the first trip, with out cheating.  The photo some of you may have seen on Facebook that Sarah posted was this cooler...but with some water in the bottom.

Ooh, I found a GROVE of monsters...must have been a perfect environment next to the spring that everyone else who'd been in there must have missed!  That big dude on top was one of maybe 10 I found like that.

I had too many for my drying racks, so just spread them on a tarp...worked well as long as it was hot out.



Did I mention it rained on us pretty good?  All my gear drying...



Second trip, Friday night.  I found a makeshift table at another camp and poached it.  It became my cleaning / sorting table.

 

What I came out with the first day



Of course.  Oh, but pay attention to the colors.  Seriously, depending on where they were growing, they were greenish, pink, white (no kidding), and your classic yellow / brown.

  

The country I spent my days in

Pretty ain't it?

I've never eaten a coral mushroom.  I need to try that sometime.  Sure are interesting though.

I find this photo captivating

Growing under a log and in thick blowdown was a good place to look for "overlooked" mushrooms

The second day's terrace where I walked in countless circles, staring at the ground

Watching for falling snags?

My view from the photo-shoot site

I actually found this morel while walking back and forth from my camera!

Two days of production picking!  Discalimer:  To anyone interested, no, these are not for sale...that would be commercial-ish, which would be illegal without a commercial permit.

Happy tent next to Waw'aalamnime Creek

Drying the second trip's spoils.  I didn't have even CLOSE to enough room, so I used two tarps that time (plus the drying racks)

Tarp two

Pleasant end

Overall I came out of the first trip with two gallon ziplocks (dried.)  I don't even know what I got out of the second trip yet, they're all dried and hanging in a mesh bag in the shed.  However, it looks like they'll make another three or four gallons (plus?) dried.  Let's just say I think I'm done picking morels this year.  Oh, after the most recent trip and eating a lot of morels every night...I made some for Sarah when I got home.  I had one or two and said, "Nope, those are yours...I'm kinda mushroomed out."

It was a good run, but I'm ready for a nice, relaxed camping trip to just hang out...take photos, and fish.