Those who have ever hunted morel mushrooms understand what a secretive and fun activity it can be. If you’re looking for advice on where to find them, good luck getting anyone to spill the beans on their spots. Mushroom hunting is a tight-lipped game.
Good luck getting anyone to spill the beans on their spots. Mushroom hunting is a tight-lipped game.
Known for their wonderful nutty flavor and amazing texture, these tasty little guys can go for up to $40 dollars a pound in certain places across the country. Lucky for us in the Pacific Northwest, we have some of the best terrain to find morels.
Before I get started on the story about this morel hunt, it’s important to say don’t ever eat anything you aren’t 100% sure is safe. Morels are pretty distinct in their looks, but they do have a close relative known as Gyromitra (False Morels, Calf Brains, etc.) These are poisonous. Some will say they can be cooked to a certain temp and eaten, but I’m not one of those people. As far as I can say, don’t eat them. Morels have a spongy like texture and are hollow in the middle. If you’re unsure, there are some great groups of experts that can confirm your finds before you eat. It’s always worth the research if you don’t know.
Back to the fun stuff! After plenty of map reading, a little bit of good weather, and some info around past forest fires, a friend and I decided to head into the hills to see if we couldn’t find any of these hidden gems.
Our journey started with miles of high mountain roads working toward GPS points we marked in hopes of finding some mushrooms.
After about an hour or so of bushwhacking and map checking we found the zone, plenty of downed trees and sure enough, that golden ticket. Small spongy mushrooms all over. We set our backpacks down, grabbed the mushroom sacks and went to picking.
Also, important tip, use cloth bags when picking, it allows moisture to stay at a minimum and spreads the spores as you’re picking to foster more growth.
We spent around four hours picking and came up with close to 15 pounds of mushrooms! It’s dirty work and you definitely are covered in mud, dust, soot if you’re in a fire zone, and hopefully not ticks (we lucked out and didn’t find any on us).
Tired and ready to head back, we discovered a little problem. We had set down our bags and marked it with our GPS. Of course the GPS pin had somehow shifted. We spent the next hour searching for our bags. After much back and forth, climbing, descending and ascending hills, we finally stumbled upon our gear and made for the truck.
Searching for morels is a challenging and fun activity. The actual best part is after you get home, clean them and toss those bad boys in some butter and garlic and enjoy.
Here’s the location of our hunt: 47°42’04.5″N 117°00’22.8″W
Here’s one of our favorite places to go: 47°38’44.7″N 116°45’51.5″W
Happy hunting!
By the Mushroom Man
