Braving the biting November rain and cold, a group of 15 students, staff and other community members piled into a van during the weekend to rummage in the forest for edible fungus as part of the Outdoor Program’s Fall Interpretive Series’ mushroom hunting outing.
Taking a scenic drive to Shotgun Creek, northeast of Eugene, participants went foraging through the forest to pick some of the many mushrooms Oregon has to offer.
With names like, “Candied Witches Butter,” “Elfin Dust” and “Rocket Fuel mushrooms,” the out-of-the-ordinary hobby may sound more like a fantasy book than a weekend activity.
Eugene resident Sandra Hubmann and George, her 11-year-old son, searched the forest floor on Saturday morning and left with a hefty bag of Chanterelle mushrooms.
“It’s just a blast,” Hubmann said. “We’ve lived here for eight years and this is the first time we’ve come out picking. Sure, it’s easy to buy them at PC, but this way, being out in the woods makes it so enjoyable.”
Chanterelle mushrooms are currently on sale for $5.99 a pound at PC Market of Choice.
Zhuobin Zhang and her husband, Hao Song, both originally from China, have lived in Oregon for less than a year and went on the trip as a first-time excursion to a North American forest.
“It’s so beautiful here,” Zhang said. “We just came from living in Japan and it’s so different. Here, there’s so much to see and do. It’s fun and exciting.”
Dan Shankle and his wife, Nancy, consider themselves mushroom enthusiasts and wanted to learn more about their hobby.
“We wanted to come on this trip primarily to learn how to find new areas,” Shankle said. “We usually only look for Chanterelles because they’re the easiest to identify, but here we looked for all sorts of new ones to learn more about different kinds of mushrooms. We discovered some cool purple mushrooms that are edible and now that we know how to identify the Cat’s Tongue mushrooms , we’re finding those all over the place.”
Dan Shankle, a retired radio personality and Eugene resident for 30 years, said he was so excited about the Outdoor Program that he and his wife immediately registered as Outdoor Program cooperative members.
“It’s been a real treat for us to discover that the University had a program like this available to the public,” Shankle said. “The facility is amazing and we’ve just been really impressed with the staff and resources available. We went to learn about mushrooms and found out about everything. I can guarantee that universities in Armpit, Idaho, and Pooptown, Nebraska, don’t have a program like this. It really is amazing.”
Trip Facility Director and mushroom hunting guide Ed Fredette has led the trip for the last three years.
“I’m not a mycologist. I’m no expert by any means,” Fredette said. “This is just a hobby that I enjoy doing and I enjoy sharing it with people.”
Fredette repeated the “golden rule” of mushroom hunting throughout the trip.
“When in doubt, throw it out,” Fredette said. “It’s a common myth that most wild mushrooms are poisonous. This isn’t true, but you still want to be 100 percent positive of your identification before consuming wild mushrooms.”
Although the Outdoor Program’s mushroom hunting trip has passed, the Cascade Mycological Society also has guided mushroom walks available to the public for a suggested donation of $3. Call (541) 747-1504 for more information about when and where the guided walks are held.
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