With rains from the remnants of Hurricane Rosa and more precipitation forecast for later in the week, there is a potential for burn morels to fruit similarly to what many of us witnessed in the Fall of 2014.

This foray is an opportunity to look for morels (and other fungi) and learn about their potential habitat, indicator species, and favorable conditions. Do not expect to find morels on this foray, because despite the rain it is still unlikely and as of the writing of this no fall burn morels have been found in Arizona. Fall morels tend to only fruit under particular conditions when moisture, temperatures, and soil and vegetation conditions are just right. Of course, we hope that morels are fruiting and that we will find some, but the foray will likely be disappointing to you if finding one or more morels is your expectation.

Despite the very real potential of not finding morels, we still think it is a valuable option to AMS members to go on a foray to learn about where and under what conditions morels grow in northern Arizona. The foray will be limited to 25 participants due to our limited number of foray leads.

Meet-up location will be in Flagstaff at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, October 6. Those coming from Phoenix will likely be given a meet-up location further south at a later time to minimize driving distance. 

This foray will include several hours of driving to get to desirable habitat and will include hiking on steep slopes. It is also likely that there will be rain on Saturday, so make sure to come prepared with food, water, hiking clothes and appropriate shoes, rain gear, and mushroom collecting materials (knife and a bag or basket).

Those who successfully register for this free event will receive an e-mail with meet-up instructions on Friday, the day prior to the foray.

Bonus:The business, Four Sigmatic, will have their Mushroom Mobile in Flagstaff this weekend and want to come to our foray meet-up location (and possibly the foray too). This is a good opportunity to learn about the company and possibly buy some of their mushroom-themed products. For those not able to register for this event, I will be sharing information on the Mushroom Mobile's schedule in the Flagstaff area this weekend.