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Magical Mushrooms: Big Basin photography DUW

Shiari

Shiari

Blutterer
Yesterday I dragged my severely out of shape self on a 6 to 7 mile up-and-down hike through Big Basin, a local state park famous for its incredible redwood trees. It's been an unusually cold spring here, so not as many flowers were in bloom as I would have liked.

But it had recently rained, and the fungi were out in force. And they were beautiful.

There will be many many many pictures. You have been warned.

My fungal friends came in a wide variety of colors, shapes, and textures. Amidst the dark greens, browns and blacks of the forest floor, this thing shone like a beacon.

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Some of the fungi were almost friendly looking, like this shelf fungus that looked inviting enough to pet. Interesting note: This was only growing on fallen oak branches, never on redwoods.

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Some of them made me hungry. I can't help it; every time I look at this thing it reminds me of toasted marshmallows. It is the *exact* color of a perfectly toasted 'mallow (if you don't like them on fire, like I do).

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These orange ones were growing on the side of a very old redwood log, hiding from the elements.

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Some of them ventured further out, and glowed in the early morning sun.

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Quite a few of the fungi were white in color, a truly glorious contrast to the dark tones around them. This particular little one was intriguing. It starts off life as a normal looking cap. Then it flattens out, like this.

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And then, the edges are either eaten or worn away, leaving behind a lacy/frilly design that is just lovely.

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My favorite fungus of the day though has to be this one. I was hiking up a bit higher in elevation, and there was a tree stump that was about as tall as I was, the remnant of a young redwood, likely destroyed by winds years ago. And in the rotted snag was a flash of white.

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Bold explorer, and beautiful to boot.

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I did, of course, see quite a few animals. Most of which I wasn't able to photograph. Like the young doe on the side of the road as I was driving in that calmly watched me as I went past. Or the various ravens and jays, mocking me from their perches a hundred feet in the air. And plenty of squirrels who were really good at staying on the *other* side of the tree from me.

But I managed to photograph a few.


This little Junco was perfectly polite about posing for a photograph.

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And of course, because it is Big Basin, there has to be a banana slug. It was shy about the camera, though.

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And Mr. Blue Belly and I had a bit of a conversation on Slippery Rock (which I now declare to be renamed 'Holy Mother of BEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!!') while I waiting for children to get off the geology I wanted to photograph. It went like this:

"Hello Mr. Blue Belly. I can see you."

"No you can't, for I am invisible."

"I'm fairly certain I see you quite well."

"You are hallucinating. You can't see me."

"Yes... yes, I can." *click*

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I also encountered a couple cryptopods.

This little guys was also on Slippery Rock with me. I am quite certain that is NOT a Steve.

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And this pretty bug was hiding on the new growth of a wood rose.

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While there weren't as many flowers as I had hoped, nor the varieties I was specifically interested in (the yellow irises and the woolly tulip as well as some orchids), there were enough to have some fun with.

This little blue beauty is from the drive over the mountains and down into the park. Drier terrain.

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These flowers were interspersed with a bunch of bright yellow almost-daisy things that were attracting hundreds and hundreds of bees. As I am allergic to bees, I tried to avoid those flowers and stuck to these instead. This did not, however, stop bees from landing on my shoulder. Or in my hair. Or bouncing off my face. :cry:

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I think the most common not-redwood and not-fern I saw along my hike was huckleberry bushes. They were lining the trails.

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Hopefully sometime when I return the berries will be ripe and I can try one for the first time.

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One flower there was no shortage of is the redwood violet. I would really like to try growing these at home someday. They are just charming.

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And a few of these Two-Eyed violets in the mix, for a splash of contrast.

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This is one of my favorites of the forest floor: the redwood sorrel. It's a beautiful and tasty little plant.

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And that was my hike through the redwoods!
 
Terrific photos. I have many of the same fungi here in SC and I took photos of a few in Costa Rica when I was there on a herping trip.
 
Thanks guys!

Meg, you should take some pictures of the fungi around you. I'd love to see them!
 
It's been raining here and it's warm so I should be seeing some around. I do have ones that grow on my turnout boards. The ones that get old and dry rotted get a fungi on it.
 
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