Vernooy Kill State Forest and Slide Mountain Wilderness

Good evening, friends,

This past week I returned to New York state because I guess I didn’t get enough camping and mushrooming when we were in the Adirondacks. I met up with Luke Sarrantonio, of Mycophilic, and a few other mushroom folks that we know through various mushroom festivals like Mycofest and Luke’s For the Love of Fungi. We spent the weekend camping in Vernooy Kill State Forest and looked for mushrooms in and around those woods.

The Yellow Unicorn Entoloma (Entoloma murrayi) found along the banks of the west branch of the Vernooy Kill.

I got in late Thursday, close to 10pm on a new moon, and it was quite dark. I was relieved to see a few headlamps when I got to the camping coordinates, located about ten minutes up a dirt road with very spotty phone service.

If you happened to be driving up that winding dirt road looking for the “dudes with long hair who drive 15+ year old Subarus with the check engine light on”, you’d coincidentally have also found the right place. I took inventory at one point during the weekend and realized I had the shortest hair, and mine tickles my shoulders. Also, for what it’s worth, I drove there and back, around ~400 miles, so you could say I did check the engine and it’s all good.

Friday afternoon we went out on foot into the surrounding state forest, ducking through pine plantations and skirting alongside beaver ponds. We found some interesting fungi, but perhaps the most uncommon find that day wasn’t a mushroom at all...

Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus)

Listed as Vulnerable in New York State, this snake has four different types of venom which are based on the geographic distribution of the species. Fortunately, they’re not known to be aggressive, but it was the inspiration for the Gadsden flag during the American Revolution.

We were cognizant these snakes were in the area and exercised caution around rocky outcrops, but we were surprised to find this one curled up on the forest floor. Interestingly, it’s the pregnant females that tend to bask more on rocks, while males and non-pregnant females tend to hang out on the forest floor.

Sphagnum Greyling (Sphagnurus paluster)

Entomophora sp.

Rowan, who is particularly adept at finding entomopathogenic fungi, found this fungally-digested fly on a blade of grass while we were at a swimming hole.

Saturday, after a dip in the swimming hole just down the river from where we camped, we set out for the Slide Mountain Wilderness. We had the lofty ambition to leave camp at 10AM, but the first time I looked at a clock that day was 12:30PM and we were maybe half way to the trailhead. It was that type of schedule all weekend, muy tranquilo.

It hadn’t rained much in the past two weeks — the same circumstances we’ve had on the Cape — but fortunately you couldn’t tell. There were plenty of mushrooms in the dense, moss-rich woods on the southern side of the Catskills tallest peak, Slide Mountain.

Trichoderma leucopus

We thought we'd stumbled upon an albino Cordyceps militaris, but upon excavation we found there was no insect host. Instead, I think we had a type of fungus that you would more commonly see as a mold on bread. This species of Trichoderma, however, appears to be a decomposer of organic material, and this long fruiting body is the teleomorph - the sexually reproductive organ. When we see mold on bread, that is typically the anamorph - the asexual reproductive stage of the fungus.

Variable Russula (Russula variata)

A robust, edible Russula with a cap that ranges across the color spectrum from purple to green and everything in between.

The Humpback (Cantharella umbonata)

My favorite mushroom find from the weekend, and a mushroom I’ve only seen once before. It’s thought that the fungus grows symbiotically with the surrounding moss (Polytrichum).

A Wonky Wood Frog (Lithobates sylvaticus)

Why are the back legs crossed? The frog hopped, so the legs are functional, but curiously they got twisted together. Perhaps the result of a disease, or a metamorphosis defect during the tadpole to frog transition?

I left Saturday night so that I could help table for the Cape Cod Mycological Society at the Barnstable County Fair the following day. It turned into quite the successful event as almost everyone who stopped by wanted to share a mushroom story or two, and we collected a lot of interested parties for the club. Now we just need some rain.

Anaïs, Nathan, and I with a handful of specimens we collected that morning, and what appears to be a sneaky product placement for Pepperidge Farm.

Upcoming Mushroom Events Which I’m Not Attending

There’s a lot of mushroom activity this month, and particularly this weekend. There’s the WV Mushroom Club annual foray down in Davis, WV, which I really want to get to one year, but unfortunately it won’t be this one. This will also be the first time in five years that I don’t spend the first weekend of August at Mycofest in Centre Hall, PA. Another bummer.

These festivals and forays are a great place to meet like-minded folks, and to get inspired about what folks are doing with mushrooms locally and internationally. I’m bummed to miss them, but I like to think I’m acting on some of the inspiration that I’ve accrued throughout the past four Mycofests. That’s certainly what this past weekend was, and what I’ll be doing this upcoming week.

Plus, my first choice for this upcoming weekend, if it were feasible, would be to head out to San Francisco for the Grateful Dead’s 60th Anniversary shows.

This Friday

I’m going down to New Haven to interview Dr. Lindsay Chimileski about her naturopathic medical practice in Hamden, CT. Lindsay is another regular of the mushroom festival/foray circuit, and I’m excited to sit down with her to find out what her practice is all about. We’re also doing a pop-up mushroom walk that evening, you can find out more info and sign up on her website here.

Further Down the Road, or '“Abajo del Camino” If You Will

¡Vamos a Puerto Rico! I’m fortunate enough to be a part of a cultural and fungal foray to Puerto Rico with Kurt Miller, Gabriela D’Elia, and John Michelotti. This is an expansion of a trip the four of us took back in March of 2022, and this time we’re hoping you’ll join us.

For more information you can visit the website and fill out a participant questionnaire here.

Laccaria sp. growing out of Polytrichum moss found in the Slide Mountain Wilderness.

All in all a great weekend of mushroom activities. It does feel like the last week of July is the unofficial start of the “dog days of summer”,

Aubrey

References:

1. https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/30746-Crotalus-horridus

2. Marie L.DaveyM.L. Davey and Randolph S.CurrahR.S. Currah. 2006. Interactions between mosses (Bryophyta) and fungi. Canadian Journal of Botany. 84(10): 1509-1519. https://doi.org/10.1139/b06-120