Northwest Fishing Reports

No worries... I'm not eating this stuff, but just wondering if anybody can identify these things??

(hang on.. working on some re-sizing)

I thought that last one looked a little "Chantrelle..?" but it also is too well rounded. In the disposal they went.

Had a great day hiking in towards Monte Cristo with my son, and using the new camera for the 1st time. Got a lot to learn on the camera. Looking forward to a class soon.
Mushrooms in the woods are OFF THE HOOK right now. There was stuff coming up EVERYWHERE.

no chantrelles there. can't see well enough to id. many times the area and other flora in the micro site are key to id. one piece of advice to keep your patch sprouting is to cut off the stem at ground level rather then pull them up. this will allow fresh ones to grow and nor kill the organism beneath the soil. they will often grow back overnight! enjoy your everbearing mushroom patch.

Need a shot of the stems and underside of caps to ID.

when trying to identify fungi you also want to get pictures of the gills, underside of the mushroom and the stem. The bottom one could be a false chantrelle which commonly grow around here. They will have a hollow stem rather than solid like a chantrelle. Its main distiguishing factor is it grows on decaying wood. The top ones cap almost looks like a bolete but you would have to show a picture of underneath the cap. The second is probably a species of russula which is the common toadstool, purple to white slimy caps. Get yourself a book on identifying fungi! Youll have a lot of fun finding and Identifying, its one of my favorite things to do this time of the year.

Thanks guys, ya, this was a very last minute photo take. Hurriedly. Just things I picked up in 30 seconds of walking. Next time I will really get into it with detail.

Bottom one looks like an early chanterelle, but impossible to tell without seeing the ridges under the cap.

If it's ridges instead of gills, it's a chanterelle. If it's gills, it's probably the jack O lantern mushroom, which will give you the worst diarrhea ever.

Top one looks like a deer mushroom, but can't tell without seeing the stem

Post your pics here for help with ID.
http://www.shroomery.org/forums/postlist.php/Board/3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There is a Wild Mushroom show at Magnuson Park in Seattle on Oct 12-13th . Its a great show. I went last year. Its very informative with live shrooms to see and ask about.Look nit up and see the correct time and days. I know its the right weekend. Im not sure how many days. I'll correct this when I see the sign .

Yes Racfish, I've been to that before. It's very cool.
Just as many of us are over the top crazy about fishing....those peoples are way over the top about their Fungi.
Informative event .

What a year for Chantrells. They are everywhere. Ive eaten them fresh,Ive frozen some,Ive dehydrated some,Were averaging 20 lbs each picking. Im now sidelined with a blown out knee but my room mate is now getting Matsutakis. Aka Pine mushrooms.Its been a fricking awesome year for shrooms.

Yeah this year has been amazing! Unfortunately its supposed to freeze tonight!

Ya, Chantrells were all the way down to $5.00 lb. at the grocery last night. As I looked at them I was thinking.... bye bye soon, getting cold out.

My roomate came home with over 20lbs of Matsutakis. They went way south on the white pass side of Rainier. These are very nice Matsutakis and at aprox 50 bucks a pound.

Found this in the front yard, 3 other pictures had files that were too large to download here.... oops, all 4 pictures are too large... resizing issue.. I really liked this thread... so many different fungi have popped up in the yard that I don't recall seeing in the past... Thanks for posting.

I'll find MS paint, Thanks Quad!

I'm sure this is poisonous but it just looks pretty cool. I don't recall seeing it in the yard before.

MarkFromSea wrote:Found this in the front yard, 3 other pictures had files that were too large to download here.... oops, all 4 pictures are too large...

Open pics in MS Paint. up top, hit resize.... shrink shrink shrink
Do share.

Thats in the amanita family. They are mildly poisonous and are used as a hallucinogenic. Also the mushrooms that mario eats.

They are the largest and most colorful that popped up this year in my yard. It shouldn't surprise me that they are "Alice in Wonderland" type... I'll just leave them be since they seem so decorative. Mario? That little guy in the game? LOL That's sorta funny! LOL These are huge! Thanks Schu!

Poisonous, most definitely yes in large doses. I was treated to taste of them a number of years back while experimenting with some of the rituals preformed by the indigenous cultures of North, Central and South America. The Amanita's were a common theme in many of their rituals. It's pretty easy to see how they would take away a profound religious experience and even more so when you start to toss a little Judeo-Christian theology into the mix. I must say I didn't really care for the physical side effects, which I'm told are more pronounced after drying and or cooking. The main psychoactive acid gets broken down when dried or heated. The salivating and sweating were enough of a detractor to keep me from enjoying any of the other effects. Is it as rough as peyote? I would say no but others in the group did go through a phase of barfing. I would have to say in general a good thing to stay away from. I would not recommend anyone partake of any psychoactive substances in any way shape or form, ever. However If one were inclined to try a fungal or botanical psychoactive experience I would be more inclined to roll with the little liberty caps (local) rather than any of the other psychoactive amines. This guy took some pretty good notes on his "trip", yet I don't agree with all of his conclusions and observations but they are as we say his:


Took estimated 7-9 grams. Took half a large cap within tea at 8PM. Tea was made by boiling water for three minutes in the microwave and then pouring the still very hot water over the cap and letting it steep for 10 minutes or so. Then filter through tea strainer. Took tea with milk. I wish I had some honey, because even though I love Soma, I dislike the taste, especially in a tea.

About 9:30PM, I ate another 1/2 of a dried cap. This was a medium sized cap. Feeling pretty good by 10:00 High by 11:00 PM. Then chewed the last bit (around 1/5th of a medium cap) around 11:30 PM. The last bit seemed to be what pushed me over the edge. Again, total consumption estimated at 7 to 9 grams, from three seperate dried mushrooms, all caps.

Some observations from my notes taken at the time:
The world is PULSING with energy. Each item in the room is alternately expanding/contracting (PULSING), with life and energy. Colors are very intense and vivid and the light seems to penetrate everything. Objects have an inner glow much as I remember seeing things when I was a child. Lighting seems like that within the Big Top, at the Circus. This is a very high energy buzz; intellectual, religious, physical.

Work (I am painting the ceiling of a very large room) is effortless. I feel invincible, -- not violent at all, but very strong. I am experiencing minor twitching convulsions but they assist in the work. (I am used to this from previous Soma experiences). I urinated but did not drink it (which I have done in the past.) I am so high that I don’t feel necessary to extend or enhance this trip. Tried to turn off my cellphone, but can’t figure out how (I had the sudden urge to conserve the battery.)

This is the greatest drug in the world! I feel God pulsing through my muscles. Just realized “anyone can dance to every song because the beat is God. The pulse of energy that emanates through everything is God. I am dancing with God, literally. God is a mushroom, or rather — God created the mushroom so that man could participte in God’s consciousness.”

Here began a long period of time where the word “God” was continually repeated in my mind — although it took a long time subjectively before “I” realized it. The situation was that I was sitting on the couch downstairs with this tremendous buzz going on — everything in the universe was just buzzing with energy and I was on the verge of feeling overwhelmed (had to sit down) when all the sudden I realized, that the sound of the buzz was the word “God”. The meaning of the phrase “in the beginning was the word and the word was God” becomes crystal clear to me. I had become one with God. I’m not talking about a sublime intellectual experience, this was the most astounding, powerful, awe inspiring experience I have ever had.

I’m not a scholar on Soma (although I’ve read a half dozen books on the topic), but this was, I believe a “peak” religious experience. I can easily imagine how people in ancient times would be in awe of this mushroom. I had the distinct sense that the mushroom was identifying itself, through my consciousness, as God.

After this (which was probably 5 or 6 hours into the trip), I began to have heavier convulsions (twitching), and resumed painting. However, I was dropping the paint roller at a fairly regular interval. I began to notice that the convulsions were cycling through my body and started to worry, just a bit that they would affect my heart. For example, my hand would twitch then my feet, then my arms... I was afraid that my heart would stop when its “turn” came up.

But after my legs buckled and I did not fall -- I recovered very quickly, I stopped worring about that... I also knew — because generally my memory was good — that this mushroom isn’t a killer. Au contraire, it is my protector and my counselor. Another idea — mentioned above -- is that somehow Soma is God’s means of experiencing, through man’s mind, the joy of being. Hard to describe, but I had the distinct impression that somehow, “God” is only able to experience existence vicariously. Somehow human beings (and other sentient beings) are the lenses through which God views existence. The mushroom is the catalyst.

For some reason, the timeframe of 350 million years kept running through my mind — this may be from one of Terence McKenna’s books, but the idea that Soma is very, very ancient, was in my head.

I also went through short periods of time where I was just standing and swaying, looking around, and getting off on the trip. Not heavy visuals (e.g., no walls melting, etc...) but one interesting feature was seeing the electrons (or something?) within the air in front and all around me. They were very very tiny multicolored points, almost like gnats, but lots of them... flying around. Similar to the “stars” one sees with a bump to the head. Very strange. I knew at this point that I was totally stoned and decided I was done with painting the ceiling. Also, I knocked the radio on the floor and couldn't figure out how to get it working again. Definately impaired (grin.)

Finally at 3:00 I went to bed. I was glad that I had stopped when I did as far as not taking more. I had a somewhat similar experience 20 years ago (on cubensis), but that was more of a “bad” trip with things melting, and many negative fears intruding on the buzz. This experience was generally (99%) positive, with little or no fear. The twitching seems to be a component of the Soma buzz for me, so I’m not fearful of that effect. I would certainly not drive or operate heavy equipment on a trip like this (even a paint roller was too much at the later stages). Also, this would be an incredible experience, I believe, outside, in nature.

In hindsite, I should have walked outside and looked around, but it was 3:00 AM, and I was covered in paint, and the dogs would have woken up, etc.

All in all, an astounding trip! I still had another dose left, maybe another 9 grams. One large full cap and 2/5ths of another cap. That will be a intense trip, but the question, for me at this point, is when? This stuff is so strong, it’s not something I would do ever day, or even every week. One other tip, from Donald Teeter's works, is: don't drink carbonated beverages with Soma. I found out the hard way, that doing so will often lead to nausea. As it is, I drink milk with the shrooms, and rarely, if ever experience nausea (again-- no carbonated beverages.) Take care folks, and respect Soma.

I saw Amanitas up in Stevens Pass. My friend said they are just as Shu wrote. They are hallucingenic but only if extracted correctly. Were going for more Matsutakis this weekend. The guys I go with are in their mid twenties. I dont venture far from the van. They really go for serious hikes.When I tried the real Peyote buttons I didnt like the sweating the puking and all that. I stick to edible shrooms only. I always feel Im getting to old to try stuff like that nowadays.