“Hold on a second,” I call to Ken, pulling my cell phone out of my pants pocket. I tap the camera app with my mitten-thickened finger, but it won’t open. I pull the glove off, lean over, and photograph the Slippery Jack on the trail.
It’s an edible bolete mushroom. It differs from others in this variety because its golden cap is slimy and can cause an upset stomach if the skin isn’t peeled off. Nonetheless, it’s a favorite food of squirrels. Dropped, forgotten mushroom leftovers of this sort are sometimes spotted hanging from tree branches.
It’s a chilly morning despite the sunshine of October. We’ve just started our hike up Lakeview Mountain Trail in Priest Lake, Idaho. I feel a little guilty making Ken stop in the cold, but it is mushroom hunting season, and I want to capture my find.
I was a child the first time I went on a mushroom hunt. I was with my grandparents; it was a fall afternoon in Connecticut sometime in the late 1980’s. I rolled my eyes when my grandfather exclaimed in excitement at the sight of orange, seashell-shaped fungus on a log. I yawned as he cut it away from the wood with a knife, and my grandmother described the soup she would make.
Back then, I’d rather have been doing a thousand other things than walking through the woods looking for fungi.
I look at Ken. “Thanks for waiting,” I say, putting the camera back in my pocket. I pull my hoodie over my ears as we walk on.
The trail is wide, but all up, up, up. I warm. Spot something large and white in the duff. I stop again. Dust it off. Is it the much-desired Matsutake, which can retail from $40 to $60 a pound? It doesn’t smell like dirty socks, so probably not. Might be a poisonous Amanita.
I snap another picture.
Ken gets into it too, pointing at a bouquet-shaped fungus lying among fallen pine needles.
We are delighted with each new mushroom, with its colors and shapes. It is as though we are on an Easter Egg hunt as we trek through the conifer forest, past trees draped with Old Man’s Beard lichen.
After nearly two miles, we reach a sign. Viewpoint and an arrow point right. We head that direction and soon look out over Priest Lake, the Selkirk Mountains, and miles of forest. No roads. No buildings. No cars. Not even a boat.
“I think this might be the trail’s destination,” I say as we turn back, thinking about what I’d read online.
“I think the peak is about another tenth of a mile up,” Ken says.
He’s right. The trees obscure the view here, but I can make out Gunsight Peak and the snow-dusted summit of Mt. Roothaan. I step into the bush, wondering whether another opening lies beyond the treeline ahead.
“Be careful,” Ken calls, then follows me.
I see moose droppings on the ground. Turn around. “There’s no other opening,” I say, glancing again at the distant mountain tops. It’s lovely, but as we descend, the light dimming early with the onset of fall, I know the mushrooms are what made me glad we came.
JUST THE FACTS: Lakeview Mountain Trail, Priest Lake, Idaho
Distance: 4 miles (total out and back)
Estimated Time: ~ 2.5 hours
Elevation Gain: 1407 feet
Key Highlights: View of Priest Lake, the Selkirk Mountains, and miles of green forest. Mushrooms in October, but only pick them if you’re an expert. Limited parking at the trailhead: about 5 spots.
Difficulty: Moderate. An uphill hike, but a clear, wide path. It verges on easy.
Call for Comments: Have you walked the Lakeview Mountain Trail? Are there other hikes in Priest Lake you’d recommend? Share your stories and tips in the comments, or submit to Readers’ Hike.
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That’s a lot of mushrooms. They’re very colourful.
Chimney Rock was a good hike. Can be approached from either side. I did the Priest Lake side.