Reno Tahoe 06/25/08

OkeyDokey
6/24
left the house at 2pm and finally got on I205 @ 245pm. made it to a small town called Cottage grove oregon for our first tank of gas $4.26 a gallon here.
7 pm made it to canyonville Ore. and 7 feathers indian casino, ate some food downed some liquids and back on I5 at 10pm. drove untill 2 am when I stopped at the Hwy 89 and 299 junctions rest area and said its time for a nap.

6/25 Wednesday
730am about 5 hours sleep and smoke everywhere, fire fighters, trucks, semis, tankers, bulldozers and so much noise, ugh... if I only knew what was next......

9am Subway Cave
A lava tube created while a fissure or crack in the ground at Pottatoe butte near Mt Lassen pumped many of miles of yards of molten lava into the Hat Creek valley and left behind this awesome formation.
Enter here to subway cave



After entering a look back to see new commers following me



Then the exit amoungst all the break down from a ceiling collaps, making a sky light and a way out.


Just beyond the Hat Creek Valley we encountered more heat more smoke and a pilot car for road repairs near poison lake. Eyes burning, sinuses glogged and we both have headaches.

11am - Made it to Susanville Ca.
Diamond mtn indian casino a hole in the ground place, with maybe 200 slots. will never return here it was so not with the other indians program for a casino. ate some food has some liquids and off - out of Susanville Ca. only to hit not 1 but 2 Hwy paving projects in the desert, temps hovered over 100 and visability was less than 1 mile. UGH UGH




1:15 pm and in Reno
made it and inside air conditioning, the Eldorado casino, 15 floor, room 1508 and a view of the city -well sorta, nothing but smoke smoke and more smoke, the trip was really begining to suck at this point, showered and cooled off, kicked back and atleast 6 mixed drinks before we left the room, visability only got worse and at best i could see 2 miles across Reno, 15 floors up, I was shocked, what no mtns.


Another days view




We hit up the usual casinos along the strip and didnt win much, ate our free buffet, was fine except the meat department sucked the meats were all too dried out, the ham was like rubber and the roast beef was tuff as raw hide, passed on this buffet 2 months ago and now know why - it sucked . . the Eldorado also had us ropoed into doing a treasure hunt, swipe your card and win --- yep all i won was 7 .00001 cent ink pens, joan got 3 of them, most people just ripped up the winning tickets for the junk they were giving away, I later did the same act.


6/26/08 Thursday

Up at 7am - can see orange glow sun poking thru the smoke, ate breakfast in the Eldorado and was a great meal at $3.99, pancake 2 eggs 2 bacons and hashbrowns, the true american breakfast, oh added chocolate milk for 50 cents more....... Mmm
hit the slots and casinos along the strip all day. didnt do much all day but drink and eat and stay inside.


6/27/08 Friday

Now its 11am and need gas to head for Lake Tahoe, saw gas in Reno for $4.09 but got gas in Galena just south of Reno for $4.19 a gallon.
stopped half way up the mtn at galena creek, looked like perfect habbitat for mushrooms and seemed moist in the pine and aspen trees, but no mushrooms, at this time, seems i was too late for them.
also stopped at Tahoe meadows, a beautiful place to hike and do seasonal things, cornered a park worker and drilled them for mushroom info --- got asparagus and pine nut info instead...... Hmmm

OK we moved on to the view point over looking Lake Tahoe took some pics of smoke and headed for the lake its self.




After farting around the wet areas of the woods in the hills of tahoe, we went to find a beach to sunbath and swim at and here is what i headed for, Sand Harbor State Park, costs 8 bucks to get in but well worth it, for beach fun and live music.
The harbor house sells beer and wine for the beach goers and all the snacks for the kiddies, but what got my interests was the champaigne infused slushies for $8.00, strawberry or mango, at near 100 degrees on the beach, this hit the spot baby.





Sand Harbor was just full of people later that day and the sites just kept comming to me.



Finally id had too much sun and needed some shade.



The views around this place is just incredible



Love the rocks



Wanted my private sailboat - maybe next time - anyhow the Hyatt Casino Resort has a nice bitchen catamoran sailboat for their guests .. next time baby






3pm now
time to move on, headed for our room and check in at the Lake Side Inn and Casino, in South lake tahoe in State Line NV.

4pm in our room of 253, nice digs, made a few drinks and headed for their pool and hot tub to wash the sweat off from beach going at sand harbor, spent a few hours doin nothing but swim and sunbath at the pool.
got cleaned up and went for dinner at the Inns resturant, I always have the same thing every time i visit - their Prime Rib special for $10.50
always good and filling with all the works one would expect for a dinner.

After dinner

We headed for Harveys Casino, loads of action here, has the Hard Rock Cafe store and Sammy Hagars cobo wabo bar and the largest poker room for miles
the only winnings i got was here I finally hit 3 red 7s for 450 quarters, about 100 bucks, then I hit another machine that hit 2 tripple diamonds and a single bar for 45 bucks, was a low blow but ill take it.
A Oklahoma couple hit a michine for 12k - 6k in cash and 6k in a check, they gave it all back in the 3 days they stayed..... lol
I gave up, went back to the room and got baked and fell asleep.


6/28/08 - Saturday

up at 730am a lil hung over, had a bloody mary while we waited for a table and ate. Mmm 2 pancakes 2 eggs, 2 bacons a biscut and hashbrowns for $4.99, what a deal. Morning was awesome over the lake and saw a hot air balloon pass over the lake.

Headed for Reno for the BBQ Brews and Blues event the Brew Brothers at the Eldorado sponcers this event every year and is a happenin thing to see, even in smoke and 100 plus degree heat., the place was packed out.



Ok the videos suck but you get the idea, i tried to convey with my cheap unit.



It was an event id attend once again and hope for better cooler conditions, mass crowds, lots of heat and plenty of beer and BBq ribs and chicken, the atmospere was great.

4pm

Back in Tahoe and guess what, Californias fires have smogged in keep tahoe blue and I cant see a damn thing, really sucks to have to put up with such state incompatance
that california cant control.
Talked to 2 forest service workers who told me - as a quote - the State sent billions in fire fighters - portable showers, cook stations, laundry stations and tents to the wrong stagging area, 100 miles from any fire, way to go california.... nothing like johnny on the spot......
Reminded me of our last trip to Reno not 2 months ago for spring break and we couldnt get a parking spot in the parking garages cuz of a tax payer fire fighting convention, that obviously did nothing but waste tax dollars and didnt fight any of the up comming fires, most all the state vehicles were of California orgin and the rest were from other states - I tried to calculate the costs and the resoning for all the waste and not getting a parking spot close to my floor...
My words and the impact - proves to me the total waste of goverment spending at the Silver Legacy casino - What a low blow.



Kind obvious the 100s who attend the fire seminar learned nothing at the casino last spring when I took this photo, what a waste!

Done with my RANT

OK

Rested up in the room got spruced up and hit the local casino, couldnt get on the machines I wanted to play and fittel farted around, I debated on playing this 1 machine and sat at the wrong chair only to see a lady hit it for 3k and she didnt even know what she won or knew how to play that kind of game - I was so pissed off, I left the small amount of cash in the my machine and split for the room to get drunk, didnt care what few dollars I gave away for free to the next person, point was id been playing it for 2 days and they let some idiot win the jackpot on 5 bucks and not betting all the lines - told me it was time to leave and kiss my ass.


June 29, 08 Sunday

Up at 6am and forced to have my breakfast order taken by someone who cant undstand english or speak it -- no BUTTHEAD I want my Hashbrowns Extra crispy, ill repeat it 4 times for you, make sure you get it right. IM half done with my meal - wheres my milk I ordered.......... Grrrrr
So So tired of this anti english speaking nonsence in America, esp in places it is required. so tired of having to repeat myself while placing an order, WHAT , what, What...
Grrrrrr
Cant be America - cuz - It dont sound like America


After the meal
We hit the road and headed for Carson City - Carson $4.11 for gas here.

10:30 am Reno airport on 395 N

makin good time

11:48 Susanville Ca. 98 degrees still full of smoke cant see more than 5 miles anywhere on this hwy.
headache, watery eyes, and sinuses are F'd up for the both of us.
gas here was high at $4.63

2:50 pm we hit I5 - 365 miles to portland

3:15 pm Yreka Ca. gas $4.63 and 99 degrees out. light smoke out

5:00 pm Ashland and Medford Oregon bad bad smoke, visability back down to 2 miles and really really sucks.

7:00 pm cottage Grove Ore. for ice cream cone

9:00 pm I205 at wilsonville Ore.

9:30 pm Home - still 85 out and had rained and thundered, trees down in the street, tree limbs everywhere, all unloaded and done for.....
the trip wasnt near as exciting as I had hoped for.

Better luck next time

Mushrooms of the NW

It is always important to be safe while exploring the woods, all to often many get lost and are ill prepared for a crisis in the woods, most lack the skills and usually are not clothed or shoed properly or have food rations for an emergency event that can and will happen if your not ready.
Essentials like water, food, dry clothes will save your life, Don't get a false sense that your cell phone will save you, cuz in most cases in the rugged hills of the Cascades, there isn't any phone reception and most incidences happen far from your car or any road.
On average a dozen or so people parish each year due to the lack of readiness and only a few make it out alive during one of these such events around Oregon and Washington.

Most of these lost people are mushroom pickers who watched the Cash and Treasure show on the Travel channel and saw instant wealth in their eyes - claiming I can do that! - SO SORRY for the Mushroom Fever, Kristen Gum and Chris Matherly have promoted.
Consult a local EXPERT and not some misinformed TV show while foraging for wild mushrooms, only takes one mistake in eating the wrong mushroom and your chances of life is slim.

When in doubt about a mushroom leave it alone and don't eat it, I call these LEAVERITES , leave it right where you found it.

Here are a series of Mushroom pictures, I took, one might experience through the year of a Mushroom season in the Pacific NW that are edible, but dont base your finds off my photos. join a myco club and get connected and educated.



Chicken of the woods - also known as the sulfer shelf mushroom
Laetiporus Conifericola
Grows usually on dead or decaying conifer trees from mid summer to late fall, from the coast to the mountains.
The tender edges are the best meat and taste some what like chicken, hence the name.




Oyster Mushroom - Pleurotus Ostreatus
Usually found on dying or decaying hardwoods, from Spring to late Fall in wet areas, from the coast to the mountains.



Golden Chanterelle - Cantharellus Formosus
Found from July until it snows, from the coast to the mountains under conifer forests. This mushroom is Oregons state Mushroom and is probably the most picked mushroom in the NW in volume poundage. this mushroom averages 2 bucks a pound to the picker.




White Chanterelle - Catharellus Subalbidus
This mushroom is only found at high elevations in the cascade mountains and I prefer it over the goldens by far, it has a shorter season and is found under the conifer forests above 2000 ft in elevation.




Shaggy Mane Mushroom - Coprinus Comatus
Found in the Spring to late Fall in flower bed yards and old logging roads in the mountains.
This mushroom you want to get them young to eat as they age they produce a ink and become not suitable for cooking.




Matsutake Mushroom - Tricholoma Matsutake, also known as the Pine Mushroom or Matsi.
This Mushroom can be found all around the world from Japan, Korea, china, the NW and many other locations under conifers or hardwoods, from the coast to the high mountains. This mushroom has a short growing season and can demand a high price until the market is flooded and the price drops to near free. My most favorite mushroom to eat.




The Morel Mushrooms - Morchella Conica and Elata and many other subspecies go with this one and way to many to list and with some no DNA has identified them yet.
There are about 13 documented species so far, they come in Brown, Blonde, White, Gray, Black and sometimes Green - One must be careful and not pick the False Morels.
All Morels contain a toxin, kinda simular to rocket fuel, so this mushroom can not be eatten raw and must be cooked enough to remove the toxins.
This mushroom can be found under hardwoods, softwoods and in conifer forest, from the ocean to the high mountains - in yards and in forest fire burns, it is a high demand mushroom and can pay a picker up to $20 or more a lb or as low as $2 a lb.






King Boletes - Boletus Edulis
Also known as the CEP or Porcini mushroom
There is a Spring Flush and a Fall Flush on this Mushroom, they grow under conifer forests, from the coast to the mountains and beyond, This mushroom has a sponge like gill that sets it different from other mushroom types like the black and white morels below mixed with the boletes in the basket.




Puffball - Calbovista Subsculpta, grows in ditches along roads and trails




The BearsHead Mushroom - Hericium Americanum, also known as the Lions Mane
A very tasty fungi in it young fruiting stages, found on dying or dead conifers, mostly in the mountains in the Fall.




HedgeHog Mushroom - Hydnum Repandum
choice eatting mushroom found under conifer forests at higher elevations in the Fall




The Lobster Mushroom - Hypomyces Lactifluorum
This mushroom is in fact a parisite and not really a mushroom, it takes over an existing mushroom and parasites it and transforms it into a bright red mushroom, it can and will host off many species of other mushrooms and take its shape from them.
It likes to grown under or near conifer tree needles in the Fall, from the coast to the mountains.



All the above pictures I took myself and have enjoyed shareing them with others so they can learn and trek through the woods safely.

Happy Trails

Cash N Treasure - The real Story

At times there is some money to be made foraging for forest fungi, but with popular demand and the influx of undocumented workers flooding the market place with low ball picking skills in organized crews, who strip the forest of all that is marketable in tax free money.
Along with Mushrooms, they take Bear grasses, wild berries, fir cones, tree boughs and native plants stripped from the ground in no regard to the forest faunas future - 90% of this is done illegally with out permits by the organized undocumented nomadic stripper crews, who go from state to state leaving a waste land of forest recovery with poor uneducated harvesting techniques that damage the forests ecosystem, that takes years to recover, very near the same principles as a clear cut would.

The mindless invention - CASH and TREASURES narrated by Kirsten Gum a stupid TV show that airs on the Travel channel and or History channels who portrays wild mushrooms as a gold rush of free money in the woods, just waiting to be plucked for riches -- not the case folks, most of it is lies, she has no clue what she is saying or doing nor has the skills in making a fortune as she claims is possible with any of her travels.

Her one show that aired about Chris Matherley and MORELS, was such a joke, she and Chris made it sound like everyone for months on end were getting $20.00 a LB for their mushrooms or more the entire season. This is completely false info and the market dose not function this way.
When the morels first start popping the price is high and demand is high but as soon as the crews come in... the prices plumet to super lows and jump around at $3.00 to $6.00 a lb. or even lower, hardly worth the gas to look, let alone make that profit, and she insists one can make big CASH profits, very few make it and survive in this market of mushrooms.

Now I hear that they want to do a second series about NW MORELS and expose all our patches to new comers, if there wasn't already enough pressure and trash in the woods ( Beer Cans, Pop Bottles and now the crazed Energy Drink Plastic Bottles and Cans ) ( EveryWhere in the Community patches ) - heres a way to add more insult to the injury for a couple morons fame.

Me on the other hand IM not in it for profit and never have been a commercial picker, I am a recreational picker for food only, as my mother, grand mother and great grandmother taught me to pick berries and wild mushrooms from the forests to help sustain our freezer and dry foods for the colder leaner months when things didn't grow and helped stretch our dollar so our family could eat.
5 generations later I still try to supplement my family's diet and teach my Daughter with this source of forest foods, not as an income but as a staple, and with all the Travel Channels publicity from Chris and Kirsten, I see an influx of uneducated retards wrecking the NW forests.

Obviously Kristen Gum nor Chris Matherly or the travel / History channels watched this video of TC from Canada about his CASH N TREASURE in the Mushroom World.

Video link below
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z0AD6FwW-8

Im sorry but I see this as over exposure of the NW forests and exploiting the ways of the NW people, Through Chris Matherley only to invite 10s of 1000s of new inexperienced pickers who will disrespect the locals and the landscape.

Also

IM still a bit PEEVED from winning Chris Matherleys 2007 photo contest and He FAILED to produce to me all the winnings I was supposed to recieve and did not get, as posted on his website. I got 1/2 the reported treasures.........

NO BIG DEAL !!!!!!

Just dont have room for people who LIE or take advantage of other peoples services and not comply with what they post on their websites as credits earned for a contest.

Hope the other rummors about Chris are not true but my guess is - they are true!

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June 1st Mushroom Hunt

Well headed out and picked up my buddy Steve, from Gresham Oregon and then headed for White Salmon, Washington for the wknd.
Did some preliminary recons over maps and decided to head for mt Hood and hunt shrooms.

A rare white morel in perfect shape




after a hour drive, we hit up the patch we found last weekend to see if it was still producing morels, we had heard Spring
Boletes were popping on both mt adams and mt hood, but I personally was having a tuff time of finding any spring king boletes last week and looked like the same story for this week

Not the case - this time out!
Found another deer skull rack amidst the various mushroom types below.





A shot of wild boletes in habbitat



A nice number 1 young spring bolete



A shot of what to find, black morels mix well with boletes in the same patch.



White morel and young speciments of spring king boletes





Here is 2 of the best speciments i could find, and close together, a white morel and a spring king morel. June 1st 2008


Part of todays take of 150 morels and 20 spring king boletes.
Was a good day of hunting in the sun and playing in the woods, the rewards were very worthy of my efforts, many old flag boletes and many old morels were left behind to repropagate the forest for another future generation of fruiting.
Off to dream about more patches and fun along the trails.