Trip Report: Leavenworth Area

May 23rd, 2020

On this trip, my wife and I went on a day trip to the Leavenworth area to search for more Morels! We are climbers and have been going to Leavenworth for years to climb and appreciate the beautiful mountain scenery that Leavenworth has to offer. Before we were interested in mushroom hunting, I had actually seen Morels while out climbing, but just ignored them because I didn't know what a prize they were! This time we were on a mission, no climbing, no goofing around (okay maybe a little goofing around) just searching for mushrooms!

Check out how the adventure went!

Our first stop (~2100 ft.)

Terrain

clearcut mushroom morels Leavenworth WA Washington

Various mushrooms/fungi

tree fungus Leavenworth WA Washington Pretzel bun mushroom Leavenworth WA Washington Little brown mushrooms Leavenworth WA Washington

When coming out to Leavenworth, we weren't sure what elevation we would have the most success, so our strategy was to go to clearcuts we had found on Google Maps, start around 2000 ft. elevation and work our way up. Our first area, was a little lackluster at first, we found a few mushrooms we didn't take the time to identify (the middle one looks like a pretzel bun!) but were really only looking for Morels.

False Morel (Gyromitra esculenta)

False Morel Gyromitra esculenta Leavenworth WA Washington

Our first good sign! At our first stop, after about an 45min of searching, we found our first Gyromitra esculenta. This was an encouraging sign as these often grow in the same areas as morels do, but unfortunetly we only found this one and didn't see any morels in the area. We decided to move up in elevation.

Spot #2 (~2500 ft.)

More unidentified mushrooms/fungi

Little brown mushrooms Leavenworth WA Washington Little brown mushrooms Leavenworth WA Washington

In our next spot, we again ran into some unique mushrooms, but not morels and we were starting to get discouraged until...

Morels!!!!!!

Black Morel Morchella Elata on ground Leavenworth WA Washington White Morel Morchella deliciosa on ground Leavenworth WA Washington

Whoohoo!! We did it! Going to a new area for mushroom hunting can always feel like a gamble since you're really just shooting in the dark, but it is that much more rewarding when it works out. We almost missed this guys but were so happy we found them.

Terrain

Clearcut mushroom morels Leavenworth WA Washington

As you can see from the photo, this area had a bit less vegetation, but clearly still had enough moisture for mushrooms. We found each of the mushrooms in an area that got shade for at least part of the day (Ex: nearby a bush, tree, etc.).

Spot #3 (~3500 ft.)

We came out of the second spot with 5 morels, while we were pretty happy with that, we wanted to find a more fruitful spot. We decided to go up in elevation again and try our luck.

False Morel (Gyromitra esculenta)

False Morel Gyromitra esculenta Leavenworth WA Washington

Immediately upon arriving at our new area, we found a lot of Gyromitra's. I only have this photo but we literally could not step without seeing another one in one section of the area. We knew we were getting close...

More Morels!!!!!!

Black Morel Morchella Elata on ground Leavenworth WA Washington Black Morel Morchella Elata in hand Leavenworth WA Washington Black Morel Morchella Elata in hand Leavenworth WA Washington Black Morel Morchella Elata Bowl weight Leavenworth WA Washington

Success!! In this final area we got most of our haul. At the end of the day we came home with ~3/4 lbs which we were pretty happy about we ended up frying them up when we got home and they were DELICIOUS.

Future Harvesting Prospects

Black Morel Morchella Elata Excited Girl Leavenworth WA Washington

If my wife's enthusiasm is a hint, we were pretty happy and will definitely be coming back. Not only are the mushrooming prospects good but there are also tons of other recreational activities to do in the area. I would definitely recommend making a day or even a weekend out of it!