Morels spotted in Taney County

So, I heard the first morels for our area were found in Taney Co Missouri yesterday.  The conditions are right, 70F during the day and 40F at night.  Soil is in the low to mid 50’s.  It’s been raining for a week, warm rain.  Today, the sun came out.

We took a walk down to Bones’ creek looking for signs.  The walk down is quite diverse.  It’s about 3/4 of a mile down to Bones’ Creek and the trail leads thru cedar stands, oak stands, down a fairly steep hillside, thru a cane bottom and out to the creek.  I managed to take a few pictures for you.

 

Lady of the Woods

mossy stump. What character!

Below is Deadman’s Curve.  It’s a quick switchback on the side of a nearly vertical hill side.   The hounds LOVE climbing the hills and bluffs.

The hounds have come a long way.

If you look close at the downhill shot above, you can just see the creek in the upper left corner.

Speaking of the creek, it is flowing pretty good with the recent rains we’ve had.  Last fall when we were down there it was completely dry, nothing but boulders.

I almost forgot, morels!  The whole point 🙂  So, the whole time we were out, we were scanning the ground for the wonderful, coveted fungi.  We didn’t see a single one 😦  We did however see our first Trillium of the year.

Trillium, as their name suggests, always have three leaves and three petals.  They do come in various colors though.  I think this one was going to open and be red/brown however they also come in shades of  white, yellow, and pink.

Trillium are one of the spring signifier plants.  When you see them emerge, you know morels are soon to follow.

After I snapped the photo of the trillium, I looked up and saw a very exciting site.  A hillside of Bloodroot!  I’ve been looking for it and Ginseng since we arrived and I finally found the bloodroot. Still no morels or seng yet though….

Bloodroot is known for the red color of it’s roots and has been used medicinally over the years.  DO NOT INGEST IT!  Seriously, it’s used externally for skin infections and was also used in toothpaste.  Be sure to do your own research  before using it for anything. 

 

Isn’t it beautiful!

 

When we got back to the house I heard that a neighboring Arkansas county had it’s first morel find.  See, it’s time 🙂  Wish us luck on the hunt!

Happy Meandering, Ya’ll 🙂

Advertisement