My sister and I like to look for themes on our hikes. One year it was ferns, another maples, another blueberries, etc. Something that just keeps popping up along the way. On the Jordan River Pathway, it was Indian Pipe and it was mushrooms.
When you hike in late summer and there’s been enough rain, you’ll see a lot of them. Here are just some of the mushrooms and fungus that caught our eyes along the way.
Either Crown Coral or Cockscomb Coral; either way it’s edible, but we didn’t know that at the time. However, there are pink varieties of coral fungi that are poisonous, so don’t mess around with it if you don’t know what you’re doing.Likely Yellow Patches, but possibly Frost’s Amanita, which is poisonous. I wouldn’t take any chances.I thought this big mushroom looked like a chocolate chip scone. I had trouble identifying this one. Maybe it’s a Boletus subglabripes. If so, it would be edible. But I bet it doesn’t taste much like a scone.The next few photos are of Parasol Mushrooms.You can see how big they can get. Apparently they fruit in grass or open woodland.This was just a little one.The thing about these is that there are lookalikes that are poisonous, so again, I wouldn’t take my chances.I’m fairly sure this one was a Parasol Mushroom as well.Alison spotted a couple of these deep purple mushrooms, which neither of us had seen before. It’s called a Purple Cort and, though it looks anything but tasty to me, it is edible! With the added benefit that I don’t think you’re going to mistake this for some other variety that will kill you.Some variety of what are known as bracket fungi. Perhaps Bjerkandera adusta?These seem to me to be Gem-Studded Puffballs. Edible. Again, lookalikes may not be. Sensing a theme here? Maybe we should all just stick to the grocery store.Actually, I was taking a photo of the big ball of moss, but the yellow fungi in the background are a bonus. I’ve no idea what they are, though.
Erin Bartels 
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