Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Fall Mushrooms on the Upper Big Quilcene!

How exciting, it's mushroom season again. We have not had our fall rains yet so I was not expecting to see these mushrooms today. These were all in a river drainage area that is moist from snow run off.

Today I hiked up to Marmot Pass on the Upper Big Quilcene trail. I went a bit beyond Marmot Pass and climbed up to a 6,700 foot peak. It's not the highest peak on Mount Buckhorn but there was a geocache there. The area was totally socked in by clouds with no view at all. What a shame after such a hike to not get to enjoy the view. I could see no reason to go to the highest peek other than to say I did it since there was no view today. I have been on the highest peak in the past and the view then was breathtaking.

I felt really dizzy weak on the way up and it took me 5 hours to go up but it only 2.5 hours to go down. I felt good at the end of the hike in spite of my troubles going up. My total time on the trail today was 8 hours. My elevation gain was 4,202 feet and mileage according to my GPS was 14.

Click on the pictures to make them bigger. My guesses as to what these are from Left to Right:
Scaly Chanterelle, A Russula?, a White colored Bolete with white spores, more russula, Chicken of the Woods, Young Lions , A strange looking polypore, Panther Amanita or maybe Amanita muscaria var. formosa, Puffballs, Underside of same White colored Bolete, close up of Chicken of the Woods undersides, A giant dead conk














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