Go on a mushroom walk

This kind of mushroom hunting means finding and photographing, not picking: a free half-day in a damp forest with one rule. Look, photograph, and don’t eat. Fall is mushroom season in much of the US, and after a wet few days the forest floor can be full of shapes and colours you’d never notice in summer. You don’t need to know a single species to enjoy it.

Join a guided walk if you can

The best way to start is with someone who knows what they’re looking at. Local nature clubs, mycological societies, parks and nature centres often run guided walks in fall. A guide will show you what to look for, name what you find, and tell you which are common in your area. Search for your local group, or look at what’s on at your nearest park or nature centre. If there’s no walk near you, go with a friend and a field guide, and treat it as a photography walk.

Pick the day

Mushrooms are the fruiting part of a fungus that lives mostly underground. They tend to appear after rain, when the weather is cool and the ground is wet. A good plan is to go a few days after a proper rainfall, rather than in the middle of a dry spell. You’ll often find more in mixed or wooded areas than in open fields, and along logs, stumps, leaf litter and mossy banks.

Times differ between regions and years, so there’s no single date. If you can find a local group or park page, they might post what’s currently up.

What to bring beyond the list

Along with a guide or app and shoes for wet ground, bring:

• Waterproof shoes or boots, and pants you don’t mind getting muddy.
• A rain jacket and warm layers. The forest is damper and colder than it looks.
• A phone with space for photos, and a small flashlight or your phone light for looking underneath.
• A small mirror, if you have one, so you can see the underside of a cap without touching it.
• A notebook, for what you see and where.
• Water and a snack, and a charged phone.

You also need to look after yourself outdoors:

• Use insect repellent, and check for ticks when you get home.
• Where hunting is allowed in fall, wear bright colours such as orange, and stay on marked trails. Check local rules.
• Tell someone where you’re going, and keep to the paths in an unfamiliar place.

How to look when you go mushroom hunting

1. Walk slowly and look down. Scan logs, stumps, the bases of trees and mossy banks, and the ground between the leaves.
2. Look for variety. Shape, colour, size and where it’s growing all matter. You’ll find caps, shelves growing from tree trunks, tiny orange cups, coral-like branches and little puffballs.
3. Notice where it grows. On wood, on soil, near a particular type of tree, or in clusters or alone. Habitat is a big part of identification.
4. Check the underside. Some have gills, some have tiny pores, and some have teeth or are smooth. A small mirror helps.
5. Photograph rather than pick. You’ll see more and leave the forest as you found it.

How to photograph what you find

A good set of photos lets you, or an expert, look at it later:

• The whole mushroom from the top and from the side.
• The underside of the cap, if you can see it without picking it.
• The base of the stem, and whether it sits in soil or wood.
• The surroundings: what tree or log it’s growing from.
• Something for scale, like your hand or a coin.

Don’t flip, dig up or pick mushrooms just to get a better photo. Many parks don’t allow collecting anyway, so check the rules where you’re walking.

The one rule: don’t eat them

Lots of poisonous mushrooms look like the safe kind, and some of the most dangerous look quite plain. Eating the wrong one can cause serious illness or be fatal. A photo, an app or a book isn’t enough on its own, even if you feel certain. Only an experienced person who has examined the actual mushroom can tell you whether it’s safe, and even experts are careful about it.

So on this walk:

• Don’t eat any wild mushroom, raw or cooked.
• Don’t taste or chew one to test it.
• Keep children and dogs from picking them up or eating them.
• If someone has eaten a wild mushroom and isn’t sure what it was, call poison control (1-800-222-1222 in the US) or emergency services straight away, and keep a sample if you can.

Wash your hands after touching any wild fungus.

Use apps and guides well

An ID app or field guide is useful for learning names, patterns and groups. Treat its answer as a starting point, not a verdict. Take the photo, see what the app suggests, and compare with a guide for your region. If it matters, ask a local group. Never use an app to decide what to eat.

Make it a fall morning

Go after rain, wear boots, take a thermos, and find three kinds of mushroom you’ve never noticed before. Afterwards, look the names up and keep your best photo. If you like the forest, add a foliage hike on a sunny day, or go birdwatching on the same trail. Fall gives you a whole forest to look at, and mushrooms make you look down.