Trip Report: Flaming Geyser State Park

October 26th, 2019

On our second excursion, my brother and I went to Flaming Geyser State Park. When we were kids, our parents took us to this park many times to go on a short hike, try some fishing or to have a picnic. We thought it would be fun to take a stroll down memory lane and see if we could find any mushrooms in the process!

To be honest, we weren't expecting much and just decided to go on a whim, but we found some cool stuff on our trip!

Shaggy Mane (Coprinus comatus)

Shaggy Mane Coprinus comatus Flaming Geyser State Park WA Washington

Shaggy Mane, also known as Shaggy Ink Cap or Lawyer's Wig is a fairly common mushroom in Washington, but this was the first time we had found it. I've been told it can grow in a wide variety of places, but we found them by the base of some evergreen trees. As you may note in the photo, there were many fallen leaves in the area which we believe may have helped the mushroom develop early on. We chose not to harvest these mushrooms as they were definitely past their prime. In the photo, you may note that the bottom edge of the mushroom was black (inky) this means the mushroom probably isn't good for eating.

You want to find these mushrooms when they are very young, before the gills start to turn black. As always, consult multiple Mushroom Field Guides before harvesting any mushrooms.

Stropharia Ambigua

Stropharia Ambigua Flaming Geyser State Park WA Washington

This was the only time I have ever found Stropharia Ambigua. This mushroom appears in late fall usually under conifers. I think this is a beautiful mushroom, with it's shiny yellow cap, it almost looks like it is make out of candy and should be in Willy Wonka!

Red Jelly Fungi (Exidia Recisa?)

Red Jelly Fungi Exidia Recisa Flaming Geyser State Park WA Washington

Jelly Funguses are another common one you will find in Washington, but this was my first time encountering what we believe was Exidia Recisa. Believe it or not, Exidia Recisa is edible, but I think I would have to be pretty desperate before I would ever try it.

Cat's Tongue (Pseudohydnum gelatinosum)

Cat's Tongue Pseudohydnum gelatinosum Flaming Geyser State Park WA Washington Cat's Tongue Pseudohydnum gelatinosum Flaming Geyser State Park WA Washington

This was one of the highlights of the trip! I had never heard of "Cat's Tongue" before, but my brother spotted it while we were making our way through a particularly dense part of the forest. Even though we only found one, we chose to harvest this mushroom and candy it for a small treat, it was just like a gummy bear! This is called cats tongue because of the bumps on the underside of the mushroom, click the picture above for a close-up!

Mini Mushrooms (Unknown Species)

Mini Mushrooms Flaming Geyser State Park WA Washington Mini Mushrooms Flaming Geyser State Park WA Washington

I wanted to share this one just because of how weird it was, there were literally thousands of these mushrooms covering an entire portion of the trail we were on! We felt bad trampling them as we walked past, but I think these little guys have enought numbers to keep coming back strong.

Crown Coral (Artomyces pyxidata)

Crown Coral Artomyces pyxidata Flaming Geyser State Park WA Washington

This was another mushroom we ended up harvesting. Again, since we were harvesting in late October, these were a little past their prime (see the discoloration near the bottom). We still ended up eating them and while they weren't bad, I think I would like to try them a little earlier on next time as there was a slightly funky aftertaste that we weren't a huge fan of.

Future Harvesting Prospects

We had a lot of fun looking for mushrooms at Flaming Geyser, but honestly, they were few and far between. Flaming Geyser is a fairly small park with just over 4 miles of hiking trails and about 25 acres of open field. If you're already in the area or will be going to the park anyways, you might as well look around for some mushrooms, but if not I would probably skip it.