Woodsy

 

Lactarius & Mycena

I went looking for mushrooms this morning along a trail that I'd planned to hike on my last visit. Back then I'd changed my mind due to a forestry crew operating chainsaws along my route. All was quiet today, being a Saturday, but I kept thinking, "Wow!" as I hiked out through the newly thinned forest. The whole feel of the place is very different from anything I've experienced in around thirty years of hiking up there. I'm not complaining, mind you. Just saying. I'm actually looking forward to seeing how the forest floor develops over the next few years. Will all that new biomass create a fungal bonanza? I wondered if any of the mycology folks from SF State are studying the before-and-after of it all.

Amanitas and Friends Along the Simmons Trail

Slippery Jack Cap

Beneath the Cap

Puffball and Friends

Radiating with Mycena

With all the room available on the forest floor, these guys fight for space....

Wavy Gills

Twins

Acorn Pantry #1

Acorn Pantry #2

Acorn Woodpecker

Some of these fruitbodies were fairly fresh, while others on the log had already dried out. Not sure if this is a Fomitopsis sp. or what.

Moss & Lichen

I believe this is a variegated meadowhawk. It would rise up and hover as it nibbled on gnat-like insects that formed loose clouds in the sunshine just above the giant chain ferns in the wet draw near Cataract Creek where leopard lilies bloom in the summer.

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