It’s
was beautiful day at Ward Lake earlier today. Adri and I decided to go down the old Ward Lake
Road. We parked over by the bridge and Adri went off to run on the trail around the lake. We
only had about forty minutes till we had to pick up David from school. I
searched the bank near the large pond on the right-side of the dead end. After
not finding anything I walked across the bridge with my hands in my blue
hoodie keeping me warm. My hands ached badly today. The cold wind was taking some of the fun
out of the adventure but I didn't let it ruin my trip. I was afraid I might not
find anything with snow still present, but within a minute of walking down a
small little trail just past the bridge I found my first mushroom of the day.
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| Lemon cup |
Off
the tip of a fallen cedar needle, there was two lemon cup mushrooms. One larger
than the other it was like a father and his son. The mushrooms were so tiny it
made my small hands seem large. David would love to be out here with me finding
new things. I feel like a kid out here with a renewed interest in my surroundings.
I forgot how amazing it was out here.
I found the second mushroom while I was
still looking at the first one. All that was left was a near-transparent cap that had no gills
or stem and it was alone on the moss embankment. It had the diameter of a
fifty-cent piece and the cap had a height of about an inch. It appeared to had
been munched on by worms. I wonder if it was a species of bolete had been
affected by the weather. If I remember correctly boletes are generally edible though there are no transparent boletes to my knowledge.
 |
| Unidentified mushroom cap |
 |
| Unidentified mushroom cap |
I was only minutes into my trip and had found two
different species of fungi. I moved on from the moss embankment with a little
hop in my step. I was seconds away from singing Travis Tritt’s “Great Day to Be
Alive.” I passed a few
evergreen ferns and some other flora I couldn't identify about but all of it was
shades of dark green. The further from the trail I went the more snow there
was. It wasn’t enough to make a snow man only enough to make it look like a
thick frost. I made it to a fallen tree and found a species I believe I had
crossed in one of my mushroom books.
 |
| Hairy Stereum (Stereum hirsutum) |
 |
| Hairy Stereum (Stereum hirsutum) |
Could this be turkey tail fungi? It is
banded and had teeth-like gills This is the first fungus I have ever seen that
has teeth-like gills. I won’t know for sure until I get home. The tree is
covered in them, like scales on a fish, only a vertical fashion rather than a
fishy horizontal display. It is crazy how they look like a turkey’s tail
fanned-out. I spot a couple lemon cups on the same tree. I made my back to the
original trail I came down.
 |
| Unidentified Bracket Fungus |
 |
| Unidentified Bracket Fungus |
I wanted to head back to the road and start heading
for the lake to meet up with Adri so I started back-tracking my steps. I made
my way back to the road without any problems
and not without witnessing some lichen in my quest for mushrooms. I
decided to check the opposite side of the road this time. This side appeared to
have more dead leaves as ground cover. It was a brown mushy-fibrous blend and
a perfect fertilizer. I saw a couple standard bear bread on a tree until
something else caught my eye. On a tree near where I was looking there was
brown disks adhered to its surface. I have never seen these before. They have
to be related to bear bread but they were softer and more flimsy. I was tempted
to break one off but I chose not too. This has been an amazing day. I wonder
how many species I can find out here. The most frequent mushrooms I have been
finding are the lemon cups followed by the artist conk (a.k.a. bear bread)I won’t
have the time today but I am definitely coming out here again. I am so glad I
chose to research fungus.
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