Fun Fungus and other Forest Finds

It had been way to long since I ventured out into the forest, so when Andrew recently suggested a trip to to the Salmon River I was all for it...

After a rainy start to September here in Portland, the month ended up quite dry, less than an inch of rain fell, .93" (average is 1.52"). So add that to a dry summer and I was concerned things would be quite crunchy up on the mountain, thankfully that wasn't the case, it was lush and green. I'd never been to this spot, the South Fork of the Salmon River, our first stop of the day. 

The rocky river bed, the huge boulder with trees growing on it, WOW. Not to bad Oregon!

Lots of moss...

And as you probably guessed from the title of the post, lots of mushrooms too.

And I had to get up close to check out the boulder/tree situation.

No doubt there will be a lot more water running through here in a few weeks.

I photographed this little grouping from one side...

And then the other.

Another "river" view.

This is such a bad photo I probably shouldn't have included it, but there's a little salamander (with a huge head) there in the moss...

More mushrooms...

Then I found a nice a sit-spot on a rock where I watched the water go by and waited for Andrew to finish up fishing this area.

Walking back to the car...

Now we've moved to a new spot, parking by the Salmon River Trail Head, where there were even more fungi.

And salmon! It's only fitting right, since we were on the Salmon River.

I wish I would have captured the one we saw a little later, he was so graceful and so fast.

Mahonia, growing right next to the river.

Of course it's always nice to have a contrast. Out of the mossy shady area into the rocky sunny one...

And there's still moss, just moss of a different sort, with Sedum spathulifolium.

And what I believe is Micranthes rufidula, aka rustyhair saxifrage. It was a great day out in the wilds, and we had so much fun we're doing it again this week!

The Bit at the End

Another post from the Juniper Level Botanic Garden that fits with the fungus theme; Mother Nature or AI?

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