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BIRD FEST MUSHROOM WALK
The Morro Bay Winter Bird Fest included a guided mushroom walk this year (mid-January). Dennis Sheridan led our group through the Cambria pines to find and identify the local 'shrooms.
Looks like old Amanitas	Salamander family
A younger sample of Amanita muscaria (mascara) -- poisonous
Dawn holds the King Bolete (porcini) -- we ate the one on the right -- yummy!
An emerging Amanita?	Pine Spikes -- edible
Mike finds a giant Bolete	Dawn is in mushroom heaven
Part of our bounty for the day (some are poisonous)
An impromptu exhibit back at Bird Fest headquarters
EAST/WEST RANCH
In late January, we mushroomed and walked the bluff trail at East/West Ranch in Cambria. Dawn and Jeff have 'shroomed for 5 years, so they were our guides.
Amanita muscaria (mascara) is called Fly Agaric because it was used to make a fly poison at one time
A real tree-hugger -- one tree hugs another in the forest of East/West Ranch
The ranch, now open to the public, extends from the forest to the ocean (note Hearst Castle atop the mountain in the photo at right)
Looking for those life birds
Geno and Jeff check out one of the sculptural benches along the trail
Photo op time
Last-chance 'shrooming on the way back to the trailhead (these are poisonous, though)
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