Chimney Rock State Park Foray – Aug 22, 2010

Foray Leader: Charlotte Caplan
Mycologist: Dr. Coleman McCleneghan

Foray Location: Chimney Rock State Park, the “Great Woodland Adventure Trail” and nearby forest.

Foray Habitat and Weather: The area visited has some of the oldest undisturbed forest in the Park, primarily mixed hardwoods on a gentle to moderate slope. The weather was warm and humid. There had been below average rainfall in the region in the previous few weeks, followed by some heavy showers in the week leading up to the foray.

Summary: Twenty-five members took part in the foray. The program was arranged in advance with the park staff. We arrived in the park around 10:00 AM and forayed from 10:30 to noon. After eating lunch we drove or took the shuttle bus up to the main parking area near the top of the park and started to set out our specimens on tables outside the “birdhouse” – a pleasantly shaded area close to the start of two trails. Other visitors to the park immediately started to gather around and ask questions about our mushrooms. Eventually over 60 species were on the table. Meanwhile Ginger Fisher set up a table
near the park’s Gift Shop with children’s activities: a mushroom quiz and mushrooms specimens to draw and color and to try to identify from the main display.

Large fleshy fungi and favorite edibles were not as plentiful as we had hoped but many smaller species were collected, including some interesting slime molds. Thanks to Coleman’s efforts 50 species were identified seven of which were new to our cumulative species list. The slime molds were identified to genus only but all three genera were first-time collections for the club.

This foray was our first at Chimney Rock – a park which is normally “off-limits” for collecting. The park staff were very pleased with the scientific and educational aspects of our visit and we can count on repeating the foray in future years.

Species Identified: