Wednesday Walk - A New Direction with Mushrooms and Mosses...

We've had really moist conditions this summer - perfect for mushrooms!
The other day I went down one of the back trails and ran across a very interesting mushroom that I had never seen growing in this area before.

New Mushroom Growing in the Forest. Looks Similiar to the Turkey Tail Mushroom

Since it had just rained a bit earlier in the day I decided to grab my camera and head out back of our house through the pine meadow and into the beautiful mixed forest.
To my delight there was a marvelous array of fungal growths, mosses and lichens.
Come journey along with me for a forest walk deep into the woods where the mushrooms grow!

Back Trail Through the Forest

Look what I found when I lifted a leaf by that ringed mushroom - a frog!

There was some very colorful mushrooms growing, popping up all over the place!
Sorry I don't know what kind they are, I'm only familiar with the more common edibles like the boletes which we are finding now but not on this trek.

Pinkish Mushrooms Coming Up Among the Labrador Tea Plants

These pinkish ones were quite common and I found them in different parts of the forest.

Let's have a look...

Pinkish Mushroom Growing By a Tiny Spruce Seedling

A Pair of Pinkish Mushrooms

On last pink mushroom...

Pretty Pink Mushroom

There was some yellow mushrooms too...

Glossy Yellow Mushroom

Yellow Mushroom Growing in the Moss

And red mushrooms...

Red Mushroom Hiding Under the Spruce Bough

Miniature Red Mushroom with Little Brown Mushroom

Pair of Red Mushrooms and Pine Cone

Little Red Mushroom Perched in a Decaying Moss and Lichen Covered Old Stump

There was some wonderful old stumps taking on a lot of character with the mosses and lichens growing on them.
I find it fascinating to study the miniature worlds created in decaying logs and stumps...

Wavy Edge Mushroom Finding a Home in the Moss Within an Old Lichen Covered Fallen Log

Tiny Brown Mushroom at Base of Moss and Lichen Covered Stump

Look at This Moss Covered Stump - It Looks Like a Fairy Home

I found there to be a lot of beauty in the decay of aging fallen trees and stumps.

Trunk Beauty in Different Stages of Decay

Close Up of That Decaying Broken Tree Trunk

Lichen Covered Old Log and Decaying Tree With Squirrel Hide Outs

Close Up of that Decaying Tree with Red Mushroom Which Had Been Nibbled On

Mossy Mound With Holes to Squirrel Stashes

Green Pine Cone Squirrel had Broken Apart on Old Log

Nice Array of Star Shaped Plants on Mossy Stump

Tree Seedling Growing on Old Stump with Fungi that Looks Like Coral at the Base

Close Up of Fungi That Looks Like Coral

Often found on decaying logs or stumps is different fungi and conks that help in the breaking up processes...

Scallop Like Fungi Growing on Old Log

Colorful Conk on Old Tree Stump

Dark Colored Conk on Stump and More Pinkish Colored Mushrooms

With our wet conditions there was even some very interesting fungi popping up right on the trail that was heavily covered in old pine needles and had parts of big old roots from trees growing along the edge of the trail that were partially exposed. These are ones I had never seen before.

Interesting Colony of Brown and White Ruffled Fungi Growing on Forest Floor

Close Up of Brown and White Ruffled Fungi

Colony of Brown Puff Balls Growing on Mossy Old Log

There were many different types of brown mushrooms growing up all over the place, each with their own unique beauty.
It's funny there was a section in my mushroom identifying book that just listed them as little brown mushrooms for they are so common and have different variations.

Interesting Colony of Brown Mushrooms

Little Brown Mushroom Growing in the Reindeer Moss

Brown Mushroom Growing in the Moss by Some Cranberries

Beautiful Brown Mushrooms Growing in the Moss

Brown Mushroom Hiding Under a Small Blueberry Plant

Interesting Colony of Tan Colored Mushrooms

Puff Balls Growing in the Wood Chips

Do you know why they call these round mushrooms puff balls?
When they are fully mature and the inside dry becoming full of spores, if you stomp on them they will puff out like brown smoke. We had great fun doing that at my grampa's farm when we we're little. Some of the puff balls grew quite big there. Some puffballs can be really tasting if you catch them before the insides dry into brown spores. I like to slice the big ones, bread them and fry them. M-m-m! M-m-m!

Returning home we see some tan colored mushrooms just popping out of the ground by the reindeer moss under the pine trees...

Tan Mushrooms Just Popping Up by the Reindeer Moss

Also in the reindeer moss a beautiful blossom.

Fleabane Blossom in the Reindeer Moss

One last display of lichen on the rocks by the walkway leading to the house.

Lichen on the Rocks

I hope you enjoyed the pictures exploring in the back woods, looking for these treasures as much as I did taking them! This is for my #WednesdayWalk , an initiative started by @tattoodjay and also for @riverflows #treasurefinds

All photos are mine taken with my Canon PowerShot A495

Thanks for stopping by!

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