Highlights Map
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Day 1: Arizona Mushroom Society outing
We start late Friday after work on our four hour drive to Alpine where we booked a cabin that we hope is more secluded. Unfortunately as we arrive we find out that our cabin and one more abut a RV camping area while the other cabins are further away. Still it is quite late already so we settle in, eat a late dinner from our provisions and it is time to sleep as tomorrow we have an early start.
In the morning we eat a quick breakfast, take in the surroundings and look with longing at the cabin further away and then it is off to the mushroom foray of the Arizona Mushroom Society.
We have chosen an accomodation that was as close as possible to our outing, it is only about 20 minutes by car and we make it to the starting point with time to spare.
It is surprising how many people are here given that supposedly it was a 10 people maximum but really on a mushroom field trip the size of the group doesn’t matter that much.
We are really surprised at the number of Aspen Boletes on this short stretch, when we see the first one we are quite excited but as you see your twentieth and your basket is full it just isn’t that exciting anymore. Besides Aspen boletes there are a lot of other mushrooms and the guides do their best to identify them.
Some of the most fun mushrooms we see are the club mushrooms, and as a bonus they are edible. Mica Cap however are not edible even though they are a lot more common than the club mushrooms.
The trail at first leads through an open forest at the edge of the meadow before passing through another meadow and then entering a denser forest.
As the habitats change, the mushrooms found also change keeping the guides busy and everyone occupied as they search for mushrooms up and down the trail.
After a couple hours it is time for a short picnic were we notice that storm clouds are rolling in. As the weather calls for 80% chance of rain that is not unexpected but still unwelcome.
Obviously with that much rain and so many mushrooms there are also quite a few flowers on the meadows and the strawberries also start to fruit which is great.
We are supposed to make a loop but as the weather worsens people peel off and return to the car and also everyone gets staggered. So after taking photos of a very courageous chipmunk and noticing we are now alone we also decide to return to the car back the way we came.
On the way back we find quite a few more mushrooms including a few lobster mushrooms while getting heavily rained on a stretch and even seeing a snake. We also meet up with the remainder of the group including one of the guides for the last leg of the return trip.
Given the rain we decide to try a museum next, Casa Malpais Museum in nearby Springerville. It is about a 30 minute drive and to our surprise even open. In fact we enter through a backdoor and wander a bit through the museum before we even find someone to tell them that we entered.
The section about the Anasazi is quite interesting with lots of pottery and information about the area that we enjoy quite a bit.
One part of the exhibit is a donation of furniture and paintings that occupy one room of this former school. In fact it seems that ,amy former schools have been repurposed now and have become museums, interesting.
And then there is a section showing how life was at the turn of the 20th century focused on households and showing a few interesting dresses along the way.
Now it is time for a late lunch, there aren’t many options here so luckily we already have one targeted. We eat some steak and it is quite good and re-energized we are ready for the evening.
We have a seminar with the Mushroom Society later in the evening but there is still enough time left so we decide to explore a small nearby wildlife area, Becker Lake, first. We have visited it prior also and we were impressed by the number of birds so a second visit is quite welcome.
It seems to rain all around us but right here the weather is good enough so we start on the trail enjoying the beautiful flowers all around us.
There is a lot more water than last time and fewer birds today. Still we see a cute blue grosbeak carrying way more food than it is supposed to and we laugh at it for a while before continuing on.
As we continue on the trail we can observe that the creek flooded the surrounding area in many places so we start to worry about the bridge ahead. We shouldn’t have worried though as it is quite sturdy and intact as we happily observe when we arrive at it.
As we return to the parking lot we notice something quite interesting and rare in our experience, a double rainbow. And it stays on the horizon for quite some time, almost half an hour as we make our way back through the sunflower fields to our car.
And now it is time to return back to Alpine to attend the seminar. On the way we make a short detour to a different section of the Casa Malpais Museum, this one an outdoor section which is closed but still interesting to see from the outside.
The seminar is surprisingly well attended and the tables which exhibit all the mushroom species that were found are a star attraction. Most are now labeled and people want to understand what they found and whether they are edible. This is true also for us of course :).
The presentation is interesting and focused on Psilocybin mushrooms also known as Magic Mushrooms. This we didn’t know and that they could be found almost anywhere. After the general section it becomes a lot more technical with details on each individual species and given that we are tired we decide to leave early. Of course we have to take a few of the mushroom dishes with us that are offered by the society, they will be our dinner and breakfast. And we certainly hope there are no Psilocybin mushrooms inside :).
Day 2: Our long delayed Escudilla climb
We wake up early in the morning and after a summary breakfast we walk a bit the grounds of the compound. There are a few robins but the highlights are the chipmunks which are quite used to the people and like to play around in a stack of pipes and wood beams.
We have been at the trailhead a couple times before with no luck as the weather was always too bad. Today it is also not looking that good but at least it is not raining at the trailhead so we decide to try the ascent.
The trail starts easy enough with a gentle climb through the forest with lots of mushrooms all around us. We stop many times to look at them and even pick a few but we leave most of them for our return.
Soon we enter the wilderness area, it is so wild that the sign marking the entrance has been actually eaten by a tree. Here we also enter the area which was impacted by the fires, we can see lots of fallen trees but there are still a lot standing which is nice. It is however quite spooky especially as we are the only people on the trail besides one more car at the trailhead.
Aspen boletes are everywhere, we thought the day prior there were a lot of them but here there is an embarassment of riches. We cannot obviously pick them all nor do we want to as there are way too many for any reasonable attempt of cooking.
Soon the trail starts to climb more seriously with a few switchbacks through an area that seems to be a regrowth after the big fire a few years ago. The views however are starting to get obscured by the new growth which has been quite significant, which is good of course.
Besides mushrooms there are also of course lots of flowers, we like most the owlclaws which are quite beautifully yellow.
The climb ends on an exposed meadow, from here we can see the dark clouds all around us but there is no rain yet in our area so on we go, even faster than before to make the peak in time before any storm.
However we still have to be careful as there are snakes even here, like an innocent Wandering Garter Snake that we almost step on. There are few birds though on this stretch, we see only a few dark eyed juncos flying from tree to tree.
The trail in this section is a former road, likely at some point there was a road going up to the firewatch tower, but now the road is in disuse and has become a trail.
The mushrooms here are different fro the ones in the forest but we are moving as fast as we can so we don’t have that much time to identify them as the previous day. Of course ruby porcini’s are an exception, you have to stop for them as they are probably the best tasting mushrooms in Arizona.
The trail continues slightly uphill to a crest before descending slightly right after the final climb. At this point the weather is becoming worse by the minutes, we can see the rain clouds all around us but they seem to be moving in parallel with us and we hope our luck will hold.
As we start on our final ascent we can see our goal, the firetower on top of the peak, in the distance. However what we don’t like is that the tree cover is gone completely, we are completely exposed in the case of lightning. As far as we can see however there is no lightning from these clouds so we hurry towards the tower.
The rain catches up about half way up the final climb and we take out rain ponchos for the last part of the climb. At this point it feels it really doesn’t matter if we return or go forward and with no lightning it really doesn’t seem it would matter.
And then just as we arrive at the tower lightning strikes, it is loud like a bomb and we almost fall to our knees as it is sooo unexpected. Luckily the lightning hit the lightning rod from the tower but we can feel the electricity in the air and the sound was also very impressive. So now we start descending as fast as we can to get to the uncertain protection of the treeline.
And then as soon as we reach the treeline the rain subsides at least right on top of us so we have some time to collect mushrooms in the lower elevations which is quite nice. We even find chanterelles which is always a highlight of any mushroom foray. And then we are back at the car, eat our lunch, which are leftover from our lunch the day prior at the restaurant, and then it is time for the long way home to Phoenix.
We are reallly happy with our mushroom harvest and the fact that we were finally able to climb Escudilla but are quite annoyed that even today we were not able to escape bad weather, not a lot you can do about it really. And so ends our nice weekend trip to the area, looking forward to our return next year.
