Foray by Sue

SIMA had their spring foray during a rainy 100-year flood type weekend. All of our great pre-planning went out the window (or should I say down the river) with the adverse weather conditions. The trip planned to the Upper Payette Campground - out! Road closed due to flooding. Ditto to the Lick Creek run. That limited the hunting grounds. The weather also put a damper on some day trippers who hoped to come up on Friday for the main foray. Don't feel bad for staying home. Hunting, while productive, was miserable. Rain, wind, hail, and 30 seconds of sunshine just to tease us! For those of us who persevered, we were blessed with great food and great company. We had some day visitors from Pullman who were fun to visit with, as well as some new club members on their first official foray. Over 70 species were identified, with more than that collected! Saturday did bring some sunshine. About 15 club members or visitors went out to hunt morels and find some new specimens for the count. Bryan led a group from Bear Basin to Brundage Mt. Road. The first stop was very productive for morels, as everyone filled about 1/2 bag or basket with fresh, large morels. They were found in the grass in open areas, up high. The second stop showed the value of moving on down the road, as only a few were found. The limiting elevation was found when we went to the Goose Creek Trailhead parking, and found little guys. The group disbanded to go their separate ways then. I stopped at a promising piece of ground, near where Ann and Wendell had indicated they had done some productive picking. They were a bit modest. Two hours later, and 4 baskets later, Bryan and I went home to dry more morels! Thanks for the tip, guys. I hope everyone made it home OK, and Kathy found a way around the road closures today!