Berries, Mushrooms & Salmon

Hello again! Yup, still visiting Gramma (at least in Blogger-land)... Today we went out for a hike, which was beary nice. That sign is beary true. Gramma says every year, people need to be rescued from this creek.

It's beary beautiful... and Mama has been coming here since she was knee-high to a grasshopper!

It does look kind of temping for swimming...

But I'll just pose on the rocks.

The water looks so cool and refreshing...

But I think I saw something in that lower pool... did you see it?

I definitely see some shapes in the water! Long torpedo shapes!

Salmon!!! The salmon are here! Ooohhh... can we catch some???  Apparently not... cause no one remembered to bring some string and a safety pin. Sigh... oh, and it's a park. Phooie!

Oh well... so we went for a hike. Gramma is a little slower...

But someone carved a beautiful seat perfect for little bears.

While we're waiting... I looked for some berries. These are bunchberries... not palatable.

These are red huckleberries... not quite ripe. Like blueberries except... red.

Also some kinnikinnick... Also known as... Bearberry!!! Heh-heh... it makes an excellent groundcover.

And here's some false solomon's seal, also not edible. Ah well...

Oh! Some mushrooms!!! They sure are pretty...

Gramma took a look and they had gills and were kind on non-descript... so we left them behind.

But this one... this one is a super-choice, prized mushroom!! The King Bolete... It is pretty easy to identify. It has a spongy underside to the cap and the whitish stem has a basal swelling. Do NOT eat mushrooms if you don't know for sure... fur shure... what they are. There are a few poisonous boletes out there...

We also found some little yellow spongy capped ones... We picked them but they were meh to eat.

This one is a Rusula that is covered with a parasitic fungus which makes the inedible rusula edible... called lobster mushroom. Some people love them but Gramma is not into fishy mushrooms.

Ah-hah... see... spongy cap, swelling at the base. It's a King Bolete but...

It was quite old and full of worms...

Finally... a view!!!

And then down the other side, at the head of the canyon...

If I was a braver bear I might try white-water rafting in a tupperware container down here but... I'm not that brave (or crazy!).

Oh... what have we here...

Mmm....hmmm... do you see? Classic King Bolete shape and it's a young-un...

Beautiful spongy underside and best of all... no worms!! This one is a keeper!

And... because it was right next to the path... we popped a little piece of moss onto the cut-off base. Mushroom pickers have to hide their footprints, you know!

To round it all off... Mama promised me a bear cave!

Oooohhh... do you think there is a bear in there???

Well... I guess if I go in there... it will be a bear cave! It's not beary deep... Mama says it's from the olden days when miners were digging holes around here. What a great outing!