Rainbird Trail

        Rainbird Trail offers a variety of mushrooms I haven’t found elsewhere. Of course the mushrooms I had found out here before, were during my Natural History of Alaska class last semester. I know I won’t find the same variety as last time like the a slimy-capped mushroom or the angel wings because it might be to early, but I will find some mushrooms. It is a beautiful day and I just got out of my Lifespan Development class and since the trail is right next to the school I thought I might take a gander. I check the spot where we saw the coral fungi but there is nothing there. The trail was brighter then the last time I was here. The grass is starting to peek up from its dirt bed. The small grassy spot is littered with dog crap its like a green and brown Pollock painting. The Bridge and trail are bright and new. The wood on the bridge is bright yellow like it had been freshly cut and the d-1 gravel cut a path through the hillside even splitting and re-emerging at the first hill’s end.  

        

I couldn’t go to far up the trail because of the time but I took what little time I had to scour the forest floor. I slowly turned my head moving my eyes constantly in search or any color besides green. My head continues moved side to side to scan the forest floor like a typewriter moving back to the beginning after every line. I used two large trees as my outside boundries for my search. I find the usually lemon cups I have found at every site that I have checked. After not finding anything out of the ordinary I head back to the base of the trail just behind the college campus. 

        Just before I left the trail, light browns and crème colors jumped out in a background of bright green the top of a stump. Even the newly found fungi was turning green from the constant growth caused by the rain. This appeared to be the same species I found at Ward Lake that I thought was turkey tail fungi but it turned out to be hairy stereum (Stereum hirsutum). Further down the stump, closer to the base, there was a fungi that I had never seen. It looked like eleven off-white umbrellas grew out from the rotting stump. Everyday is a new adventure and every adventure I find something I hadn’t seen before. I am amazed by the variety of fungi that I have found already. I was afraid when this assignment first started that I wouldn’t be able to find and fungi outside this time of year but the mission has been a complete success. It has reinvigorated my love for nature and has sparked an interest in mushroom foraging. More importantly, I am determined to find a truffle.