Morel Mushrooms in Oregon

This is the time of year that requires your attention if your a serious morel hunter. Usually the first of May is the beginning but everything is late this year. This week Dan and I stumbled on a patch at one of our original places near GreenSprings Inn where we all spent several nights during Christmas about 10 years ago. We could see the Inn and our truck . . .we couldn't believe our eyes. We ended up crawling from clump to clump!!! In about 10 minutes we gathered 133 morels weighing 3 lbs! . . . I think it was the largest patch we had ever seen! and in about the area of 10 X 20 ft. Dan found the large one in the same general area all by itself. We are just about mushroomed out after being in the woods every day this week! The basket you see was our find the day after the 133!

Yesterday, Friday, May 21, we waited until noon so Adam could go with us after school. It was raining lightly in Ashland but we went anyway. Dan's, Adam, Lori and me. As we climbed up Dead Indian Road to our first stop the rain turned into snow. By now the trees and landscape were covered! We trudged thru about 1 inch of snow and soon moved on to the spot I wanted to try. We headed up the road for a short walk and Adam spotted two morels in the snow a few feet from the truck right side of the road!!!! We then climbed a small hill off the road and he hollered again. . .4 more IN THE SNOW! Then we all spotted a morel. . .with an inch of snow on the ground, they were extremely hard to see. . .I really didn't expect to find anything! We continued on to other spots and found mushrooms in the snow every time we stopped. We ended our trip after trudging thru up to 3 inches of snow in tennis shoes and wet feet, 3 hours later with 1 pound of cool morels! What a day. . .probably the most unusual mushroom day ever! And thanks to Adam's sharp high school eyes, mushroom success!!!! (The snow photos, with cell phone, therefore less quality)