Icicle River

Icicle is one of the most stunning areas in all of the Pacific Northwest. It is on the Eastern slopes of the Cascades, giving it an entirely different flora (both plant and fungal) than the Western side. Most of the year the surrounding mountaintops are snow-capped, with the brilliant white caps of the Icicle river below. Icicle road goes from 1200' at its start in Leavenworth to nearly 3000' at its end, just past a bridge-less river crossing that is sometimes a foot or so deep. This is enough elevation difference to see a huge variety of life in a very short span of road. There are also numerous official and unofficial campsites along the way. In the winter the upper end of Icicle will have a couple of feet of snow. Summers are hot, dusty, and have the crisp sort of dryness that makes you look thoughtfully at the charred fire scars that mark most of the larger trees. In the spring and fall, though, seasonal creeks spring every few hundred feet, and things are growing with the hurried splendor that they do in places with a short growing season. Flowers bloom all at once, and the mushrooms spring up nearly overnight and are gone again in a few days' time. This is one of the best areas for finding edible mushrooms, including the prized Matsutake.

Although you can hardly tell it from the photo, this is an Amanita muscaria, the fly agaric, the famous Alice in Wonderland mushroom. While the striking red and white variant is the best known, the mushroom actually varies in color from a nearly buff yellow to the brilliant reds and oranges it is famous for. I really like the way the light catches the gills in this shot. It was taken on 6-2-04.

A slightly out-of-focus shot of two classic A. muscaria. Other than their brilliant color, note that they aren't much different from other Amanitas in appearance. The white spots are simply remnants of the universal veil, although they do typically end up with a very even distribution over the cap in this species. Although often shown on posters in head shops and other pop culture references, it is more likely to make you sick than to make you hallucinate. This photo was taken on 9-29-04.

A clearer picture showing several of the color variations of Amanita muscaria in one mushroom. As you may have gathered, Amanita muscaria is a rather common mushroom. It will grow in both urban and forest habitats, and is probably most useful as a good indicator that Boletus edulis is probably growing nearby. This photo was taken on 10-13-03.

A. muscaria at Denny Creek

Other Amanita species at Deception Creek

This is a strange little mushroom that I have not yet identified, despite a couple of hours with various keys. It might be a stalked polypore, but is probably in one of the toothed fungus genera, Bankera, Phellodon, Sarcodon, Hydnum, or Hydnellum. These mushrooms are an excellent example of a mantra I repeat often to myself, deep in the forest on rainy days - Curiosity rarely goes unrewarded. These mushrooms looked like fairly ordinary LBJ's (little brown jobbies) from the top – but peeking underneath revealed something I have never seen before or since. This photo was taken 9-29-04.

This cluster is an excellent representation of the various appearances of Coprinus comatus, or the Shaggy Mane mushroom. In many ways, it is typical of the genus Coprinus, or inky caps. They get their name because the caps of the mushrooms literally dissolve into ink over the course of a few days. Several government documents around the time of the Declaration of Independence were written in mushroom ink. Sometimes the only hint of Shaggy Manes buried in the grass is the tall, bare stems with a sorry umbrella of black tissue, the size of a dime, perched on the top.

They are far more interesting to me, though, as an excellent edible mushroom. They are only good before they begin to turn to ink, though. If the gills are beginning to turn pinkish or black, they develop a slimy texture and lose their flavor. When fresh and white, though, the flavor is much like that of a button mushroom only far more intense.

While in many ways typical of the genus, Coprinus comatus will probably be reclassified to another genus soon, maybe one of its own. While most Coprinus contain a chemical which causes an unpleasant reaction when consumed within a few days of consuming alcohol (rendering them completely inedible, as far as I'm concerned – who can remember if they'd had a drink within the next or last few days?!) Coprinus comatus does not contain this chemical and is safe to consume with alcohol – in fact, a photo in the back of Arora suggests that battered and pan-fried Shaggy Manes are complimented well by red wine. In the interests of science, we repeated the experiment and found that it is, indeed, a fine (and harmless) combination.

This photo was taken on 9-29-04.

Another Coprinus at Mountainstar

Orange chanterelles are usually a Western, not Eastern, Washington find. They do grow in Eastern Washington, though, as shown here. This one does look a bit odd, being far fatter and fleshier than the typcial western variety (Cantharellus cibarius. It did not have a funnel-like structure, nor any sign of scales that would point toward it being a brightly colored example of Gomphus floccosus, the scaly (and often poisonous) chanterelle. I found it in a rather swampy area of Icicle on 10-20-04, which was right in the heart of the best mushroom season I've ever seen.

The rarer form of chanterelle in general, but the more common form at Icicle, is the white chanterelle, Cantharellus subalbidus. These two pictures show how similar they can be, but generally white chanterelles are stouter, with less cap like structure and more body. In my opinion the flavor of the white is superior to that of the golden kind, but they are undoubtedly similar. This photo was taken on 9-29-04, just a couple weeks before the photo of the golden above.

This photo illustrates both the more typical appearance of the white chanterelle, as well as the way you usually find them. The thing in the background that looks like a white rock mostly buried in the dirt is actually another white chanterelle. Sometimes all you will see is a mushrump, or slightly displaced heap of dirt pushed up by the erupting mushroom. Rarely, you'll find the golden ones displaying similarly evasive growth patterns, but it is standard procedure for the whites – at least in Icicle, which is the only place I've found them...

... and at least in '04, I found them there in abundance! I took this photo when I realized that I could get probably 50 or so mushrooms in one picture... plus the ones in the bucket. Remember that they fruit half-buried, and see if you can spot the white chanterelles in this picture. I'll put the same picture with the mushrooms marked at the bottom of this page. This photo was taken 9-29-04.

Chanterelles in Western Washington

Here, Eric sits by three clusters of honey mushrooms, Armillaria mellea. Actually, the species has recently been split into nine different North American species, based mostly on microscopic characteristics, but no one can argue that the honey mushroom is a species complex rather than a single uniform mushroom. They typically grow in large numbers, as shown in this photo, and are always found at the base of living trees (although I have found them at the base of a stump that I suppose was lively enough in the roots to attract honey mushrooms). They are parasitic, and will eventually kill their host tree. On the bright side, they are edible, with a texture like Shittake and a fairly generic woodsy flavor. This photo was taken during a break in the rain on 10-13-03.

A close up of a honey mushroom cluster. Note the fibrillose caps, and white stalks with tiny fibrils on them as well. One particular Armillaria mellea in Eastern Oregon may be the largest living thing on the planet. The mycelia spreads from tree root to tree root, and this fungus has apparently been doing just that for thousands of years, and has grown to occupy ten square kilometers of forest floor.

Honey mushrooms usually have a veil, but some don't. There are some that argue that honey mushrooms without a veil are poisonous, but since I have often found honey mushrooms with and without veils growing in the same cluster, I do not believe this to be the case. I have also heard some say that honey mushrooms growing under hemlock are toxic, while those growing on other trees are okay. Since honey mushrooms have recently been split into nine species, it may well be that one or more of those species contains something which is toxic to some people.

The mushrooms pictured here are typical for the species, if you can say such a thing about this species, but I have found ones that are short and stumpy, with wavy cap margins, and I would have mistaken them for some kind of Tricholoma had they not been growing in clusters at the base of trees.

Eric poses by another bumper crop of edible mushrooms – in this case, Lyophyllum decastes or the Fried Chicken Mushroom. They are recognizable on the basis of their habit more than their appearance – they tend to grow as shown here, in large crowded clusters on roadsides. In fact, they have such a habit of growing in places that are likely to be contaminated with gasoline, thrown mud, antifreeze, etc. that I know at least one mushroom hunter who has never tried them for fear of poisoning – with heavy metals rather than mushrooms! They also have a certain greasy appearance to the cap that is quite memorable once you've seen it. If prepared correctly, they are said to taste much like fried chicken. Sadly, these were so filthy that it was impossible to taste much more than dirt flavor. This photo was taken on 10-13-03.

Another easily-recognized mushroom is Gomphidius subroseus. It is a pretty shade of pink, but that is far from unique on the forest floor. A closer look, though, will reveal a slimy sheen to the cap. Pick the mushroom, and look for a slimy ring on the stalk, discolored grey to black by spores. Then try to pick off the slimy layer (pellicle) – if it's a Gomphidius, it will peel away fairly easily...

Another slimy little mushroom, pictured here on top of a dry member of a usually slimy genus. The mushroom in the foreground is a type of Hygrocybe, probably Hygrocybe singeri. This species is characterized by blackening when bruised, and you can see a bit of blackening starting at the end of the stalk where it was cut. The Hygrocybe genus is the genus of waxy caps, named because they often have a somewhat waxy appearance to the gills and cap. This feature is a little esoteric, though, and what truly distinguishes them can only be seen under the microscope: the cells in their cap line up in flat layers, like rows of books in a library. This is what gives them their waxy appearance, and also enables you to peel the gills apart into thin sheets.

The Suillus is Suillus cavipes, the hollow-stalked Suillus. More about this genus on the next page...

This photo was taken on 9-29-04.