The AMC held its inaugural foray/day long event on October 11, 2009 at the beautiful YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly nestled in the mountains of  nearby Black Mountain.  The facility has 1200 acres of woodland of which we only scratched the service in our search for fungi. 

The weather was cool, with a substantial rainfall days prior to our arrival.

The group of 59 attendees, with two mycologists, Dr. Coleman McCleneghan and Dr. Rytas Vilgalys, and 13 of his students from Duke University gathered at 9:30 and separated into 3 groups to search the woodlands, fields and roadsides, gathering back at noon to transfer our finds to the 4 display tables.   After a varied lunch provided by the B.R. Assembly, the mycologists got down to identifying and explaining the differences between species.

Rytas delivered his power point presentation pointing out the diversity of fungi more specifically in mushrooms, illustrated with photos of the different mushrooms.  He also explained the Tree of Life collaborative effort shared by he &  his students, biologist and nature enthusiasts from around the world.  More information can be found at www.tolweb.org.

The day was ended with  Steve, Toni & Addie Roberts accompanied by Matt, Holly, Andrew entertaining us with their music and vocalizations of  their original mushroom theme songs.  Steve has also wrote & produced a CD titled Mushroom World, that is now in the music library of many of our members.  Steve is the President of the Cumberland Mycological Society.