We were interested in doing the mushroom festival this year however it got cancelled due to the forest service refusing the permit or something like that. We are not sure. But at least they are still doing forays so we decide to join one on the Mogollon Rim. It is at a reasonable hour and the Mogollon Rim is close and maybe we can find some good mushrooms. We arrive a couple minutes late but people are still arriving so we wait a bit in the shade and then we take a photo near the banner and it is time to go.
There is a long drive on dirt roads to a spot where they saw mushrooms prior and then we descend on the forest looking for anything interesting. The group splits in a few smaller groups each following one expert and the groups are quite fluid with people changing groups and following different leaders all the time.
The most common mushroom here is the Slippery Jack, edible but not choice, not many people are collecting them. Mostly we look at them just for fun but no picking as we didn’t have the greatest experience last time.
We go on lots of side canyons trying to avoid the other mushroom hunters because they are picking everything before we can even get there. So we take the more wild side canyons and there we can find lots of interesting mushrooms but unfortunately nothing edible.
The most exciting mushroom we find is a weird reddish bolete that actually becomes bluish as soon as we break it a bit. It is not clear if it is poisonous or not but most like this are so we decide not to risk it. Especially as the experts also recommend against it.
And then after two stops it is time to say goodbye to the rest of the group and start on our own, we decide to look for a cache nearby and maybe avoid the heat of the day.
We first eat our snack lunch and then it is time to explore the trails, it seems we are going on a road but there is enough shade to avoid the worst of the heat, hopefully.
There are also a few ponds near the trail that are quite beautiful but even more interesting we find quite a few King Boletes, the choice mushroom of Arizona. So we start collecting on the way to the cache and mark a few groups for our way back so we don’t carry too much with us.
At the cache site we look for the cache for some time with no luck. However as it is quite hot we also stop for a while just relaxing near a pond until the mosquitoes chase us away.
On the way back we see a few interesting birds like Pine Siskins and even a baby deer who is having a really annoyed look when watching us before sauntering away. And then we pick up all the mushrooms and it is time to return to Phoenix, it is too hot to hike anymore and there are no clouds on the horizon to give us some relief.
The way back is mostly eventless before we reach the Phoenix area. Here, just as we turn off the highway we meet the famous herd of wild horses that we haven’t seen in a while. It is quite cool and we spend some time enjoying them before returning home after a beautiful day out.
