It’s been really hot lately in our area, so we decided to escape to the high country of southern Colorado in a nice, air-conditioned pickup for the day.
Kelly’s thoughts…
During Covid Rango and I often went north to explore, fish and hunt for mushrooms. A couple years during that time were the best mushroom seasons I’d ever seen with vast numbers of boletes, chanterelles, honey mushrooms, hawkwings, puffballs and many, many others. The last couple years haven’t been so good. But this year seems to be pretty good so far.
Our route took us past Chama and over Cumbres Pass and up the Conejos River. This is a beautiful river with great fishing in its broad meadows. I had hoped to fish, but there were a surprising number of anglers spread out along the river, more than I usually find. So we kept going.
The route keeps going over into the Alamosa River drainage, and eventually north to the South Fork River where Highway 160 goes west over Wolf Creek Pass and down to Pagosa.
Of course, there’s no way I will ever be more specific with you about my secret spot for finding chanterelles! The area was pretty dry and many of the mushrooms were a bit dried out, but we did find a good number of chanterelles. There were a few boletes of a couple different species, and large numbers of other mushrooms, mostly Russula, other gilled mushrooms, small puffballs and a good number of small coral mushrooms.
The high country in the San Juans was really beautiful. We saw quite a few deer including some bucks in velvet and a fawn still in its spots. The dogs had a wonderful time, too. I think we’ll do this route a couple more times this year.
Riki’s thoughts…
Running up to Colorado for the day was exactly what I needed! I found out the day before that I had been assigned a long-term substitute teacher position, which will hopefully synchronize with my student teaching assignment. I needed to report to the school the next day, hitting the ground at break-neck speed. A lovely wandering through the mountains with my soulmate filled my heart. The weather was lovely, the woods were beautiful, and finding the mushrooms was a delight. I am excited to go back as soon as I can get another day off
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