Fall Foray Snapshots

Uhh, uh, no, Sue, Really... I just wanted to tell you how good dinner was last night. Yea, really, it was really good. My roommate seemed to have a bit of indigestion, no, no. I think he was feeling pretty good. Good dinners, breakfasts, yep, everything was really good.

These are several pictures I (Bill Betts) took at our fall foray. I hope you enjoy. If you have a need for proper chronology start at the end of this blog entry and work up. That is the way I should have entered the pictures, but, I have other things that I must take the time to be perfect about. I think we had a fun time. A big thank you to Ginny for organizing, Sue for feeding us and Sir Bob for lending an aura of professionalism to the whole affair. Kathy, thanks for your hard work in identifying so many mushrooms and leading a class on how to key out mushrooms. Sorry about your car. Hope you made it home okay and everything has worked out well for you.

So all good parties must come to an end. A view of the sunset on Saturday night.

Hope and Ray contemplatng what needs to be done. You probably know that Hope and Orson authored the book on mushrooms that is the go to book for most of our members. Ray has a website for those that are interested, http://www.mnimagesonline.com/ Ray is a very fine nature photographer. Check out his site.

Andy and Jim enjoying a discussion about genetics. Well, they are a couple of genecists. Andy is from the Palouse Club.

Fran and Elinor taking a break. Elinor was our recorder. Turns out she had a pretty big job this year with some 140 identified mushrooms. Thanks, Elinor. And thanks Fran for being your usual sweet self.

Hope and Ginny relaxing. Sure is nice to have such knowledgeable people in our club for us newbies to learn a thing or two from.

Linda and Sir Bob enjoying a fine taste of ummmm....Oh, yes, McCall water. Good stuff. They seem pretty intent on enjoying that fine taste of McCall.

LaVerne and Dennie keying out some of their finds. Dennie has agreed to be my personal mentor on how to grow old gracefully. People don't come any better than this couple. I can hardly wait for the next meeting to renew our friendship. I hope that when I am 87 I am still out hunting mushrooms, enjoying it and not complaining about my aches and pains like Dennie.

Jim attended the Palouse Club's spring foray this past spring. He must have left a very good impression because I counted 8 Palouse Club members in attendance at our fall foray. I can tell you that their intent was more on collecting edible King Boletes than the science of mushrooms. Hard to argue that intention.

There is something about finding a prime King Bolete that brings out the joy in a person. You wonder why I like to hunt mushrooms with Reta? Well besides the fact that she has a great personality and makes delicious sandwiches, she has great eyes. Uhhh, eyesight that is. She found this King Bolete not a foot off the trail and that was on our way BACK to the trailhead.

The pileas about the size of a dime. So fragile that it split into many parts when I tried to pick it. The stipe really that green blue color. So dainty and I don't know the name.

Amanita anyone. Found these about 100 feet off the Twenty Mile Lakes Trail.

Reta picking a mushroom

Larry and Corolynn in rapt attention of the word from Mike.

The call to lunch did not go unheeded.

Colleen, Ann and Wendell comparing notes and strategies?

This table represents one day of collecting. The table will be crowded by Sunday morning.

Corolynn and Larry waking up to the second day of the foray.

This is what Jim found.

Carolyn and Jim looking over his find. Ray Marquart gliding through the background.

Elise was so excited by her treasures. She has a sack full of young King Boletes, heavy and hardly touched by the worms. She was walking near Hartley Creek about a half mile above Brundage Res. when she actually saw a King Bolete floating down the creek. Don't know how that happened. God giving a message to Elise? She picked that one out of the creek and then immediately found seven more. Some people. She also found the Chantrelles the next day.

Jason, Reta, Corolynn and Larry on his hands and knees digging out his huge find--a King Bolete. Jason, Corolynn and Larry are from the Palouse Club. Larry was rightfully very proud of his find, but it was really well worm-eaten. He ended up having to throw it away. Most of the boletes we found were within just ten to twenty feet of the road. How convenient. We sure walked a lot of miles for those boletes:) Really. We found them coming back to the pickup just a few feet from where we parked.

The way we started the mornings off at this year's foray.