We went mushroom picking with Mack!
It was our first time but Matt has done his research and Mack has done it before in Montana. Apparently people are very secretive about their morel picking spots and are not willing to share too much. We were totally really to come back empty handed but we were able to get quite a few!
We started off on a trail that is in a burnt area. We found a few tiny ones (size of my pinky finger tip) right on the trail, but after hiking up the trail for a couple of miles, we were not able to find any more. Our guess was that the area has been picked by other people already. Matt did find one pretty big one right near where we had lunch.
We switched to another place and I found an area that must have not been pick by other mushroom lovers. There were a few dozen good sized ones in an area about 12 square feet. We were able to find some here and there after that, but didn’t find another spot like that. We were very content though since we already have a small ziplock bag filled with mushrooms.
What we gathered after one morel hunting trip is this: they are mostly on flat ground, in shaded wooded areas where there are not a lot of grass or bushes. Burnt area is a good start and we just need to go somewhere other pickers have not been.
Mostly morels ended up in our belly the night of. Some sautéed with butter and garlic and some in creamy morel and asparagus pasta. The little ones were made into scrambled eggs for breakfast.
Other Mushrooms spotted:
Orange cup fungus
Flower Report:
Western trillium / White trillium
Yellow glacier lily