One of the Colorado Mycological Society foray’s this summer was led by Michael Burke Heim on Sunday, June 23rd.

A large group of both members and non-members met early in the day at the Stegosaurus parking lot off of I-70 to carpool from there to a location designated by Michael.

After caravaning to a pre-designated spot in Bailey, the group proceeded to a beautiful area of the Lost Creek Wilderness in Pike National Forest covered in Pine forest.

The temperatures had still been dropping to around 40F overnight and the skies were cloudy and threatening when we first arrived, but luckily the weather cooperated and it was closer to 75F in the middle of the day. It did rain – good for the mushrooms – but drops did not start falling until minutes after the event was over. The foray leader couldn’t have timed it more perfectly!

After a brief introduction to basic mushroom hunting practices, collecting etiquette, etc. which several
members had advice to contribute on, we set out to collect. There was a lot fruiting! After first coming across an assortment of bottles littering the forest floor, I found fungal specimens just
minutes into the foray.

Group members found quite a variety on the day.
Including but not limited to:
(in no particular order)
Polypores
Jelly fungi
Earthstars
Morels
Oysters
Cortinarius
Agaricus
Suillus (probably lakei)
And more.

After hunting for a short while, the group reconvened nearby the trailhead/parking lot area to review the finds of the day and to discuss things like, some basics of mycology identification skills, recommended field guides, how to use a dichotomous key, and more. Thanks, Michael for so many great tips and helpful foraging advice!

Report by:
Trina Lynn Wilson
CMS Member
July 27, 2019

See the full report with pictures below.