Foraging for Fungi & Other Fun Stuff

Hi. I hope you have been enjoying the holiday season,
and that it has been full of friends family and loved
ones.

I thought I'd take advantage of a few minutes to share
about the outdoor activities Java and I enjoyed
earlier this month.

Several weeks ago I participated in a mycology class -
For those of you wondering what that is, it's the
study of fungi. The focus of the class was
identifying safe edible wild mushrooms. The
instructor did a nice job of providing the background
on the medical and gastronomical history of wild
mushrooms, and then proceeded to explain the many ways
you will suffer, an alternatively, slow and painful,
or quick and pleasant death from eating the wrong
fungi. With names like Death Angel, Death Cap,
Death's Wings, Blue Ringed Death, and many other
equally disturbing names of toxic mushrooms found in
nature, few of us left confidence in making wild
mushrooms a viable source of nourishment. My take
away was to pack lots of food when backpacking and
leave the shrooms alone!

That same weekend Java and I went for a day hike on an
apparently unnamed trail in the Santa Monica National
Recreation Area. It was a relatively short hike,
about 6 miles with less than 1200 ft of elevation
gain, that took much longer that it should have, had
we not gone off-trail and done some extensive
bush-bashing. After slogging through forehead high
tangles of fragrent white sage, tall grasses, immature
trees, and thorny brushes, I and presumably Java too,
were glad to be back on the trail. Prior to making it
back to the trail head we crossed paths with a pair of
coyotes and a deer; all of which after giving us a
glance bounded away, up the hillside and eventually
disappeared as they blended into the foliage.

Several weekends ago Java and I did a day-hike to
previously unvisited sections of Chesboro Canyon.
This was my first time back to the canyon since fires
tore through it and neighboring canyons several months
ago. Of course, the canyon was remarkably
transformed; instead of finding lush green oak groves,
and rolling amber thickets of billowing dry grasses,
there were stunningly large areas of blacken dead
brush and ash covered barren land. Nevertheless, it
was a great experience.

In all it was an approximately 11 mile hike with more
than a 1000 ft of ascent, that provided beautiful
views of various cloud-filtered, sunlit hills, canyons
and mountains. The remarkable thing about hiking
through the canyon, was not so much appreciating it
for what i found: a bleak landscape; but instead
imagining how nature will eventually rebound, and
reclaim the land to restore it to its former lush and
vibrate condition. It was a remarkably reassuring
feeling that provided a real sense of enjoyment
throughout the hike. That plus we got to see another
coyote - This one was more stubborn that the previous
pair we encountered. This one stood it ground on the
trail, and did not budge until we were within less
than 50 ft from it. Like I said: A nice hike.

A small moment of reflection: I'm suddenly struck
that as the year draws to a close I've had an
incredibly large number of wonderful experience to
reflect on and to be happy about. I hope you find
yourself, in a position to be able to say the same.
I'm loving life, and hope you are too.

I wish you and everyone you care for, a safe and Happy
New Year!

-Manny

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