Charlotte and I took a 2 night excursion to Cazadero last weekend. On day one we hiked around Salt Point State Park a bit, mostly rooting around for mushrooms in this forager's hot spot. There was much evidence of heavy human traffic on and around the main trail, including pieces of mushrooms discarded.
Here are some of the characters we encountered in the mixed forest of conifers, tan oak, and coastal redwoods:
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| Clavulinopsis laeticolor (Handsome Club) |
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| Some type of coral fungus |
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| Unknown mushroom beside interesting foliage, both growing on a decaying log. |
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| unknown |
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| unknown |
  Hygrocybes sp. (Waxcaps) were abundant in small groupings throughout our hike. |
. . . And here are three edible species that we found, although we weren't sure at the time. They are all apparently considered "chanterelles" of different ilks, and anybody at all familiar with chanterelles can kind of guess as much based on the unique pseudo-gills that they all have (smoother ridges on the undersides, rather than the narrow rows of blade-like gills possessed by typical mushrooms):
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| Gomphus clavatus (Pig's Ears) We found many fragments of these laying along the trails. It seemed to be the most abundantly harvested mushroom of the moment at this particular location. Also called "Violet Chanterelle" due to it's unique violet-colored underside (although not too visible in this particular picture) |
Craterellus calicornicopioides (California Black Trumpet) had almost completely smooth undersides. If I am properly identifying this one, it is supposedly a very choice edible specimen, and was also probably the most pristine edible mushroom we saw on this hike. Never the less, we didn't do any harvesting, just photographing.
Turbinellus floccosus (Scaly Chanterelle) was impressive in its size! We saw a few of these. While supposedly edible, I think the ones we saw were all past the ideal stage to be cooked and eaten. But I am really not sure - I don't know much about these species other than what my cursory research on the iNaturalist app has told me.
Wow, what an exciting day!
...More pictures of Day 2, including more mushrooms to come!
Beautiful pictures of the Wax Cups! Nice variety in your search, too! Fungi come into their prime much later down there than here.
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