|
 Some of these posts are very old and might contain outdated information. You may wish to search for newer posts instead.
|
 ATWAR
Connoisseur
Registered: 01/26/03
Posts: 1,640
Loc: #108768 in line...
|
 Great Smoky mountain adventure... 
#3021788 - 08/19/04 01:30 AM (19 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
Hello all. As promised I have compiled a list of images from my vacation to the Great Smoky Mountains. I had been there when I was younger while on vacation with my family, but this is the first time I have ever searched for mushrooms there. I did not go to collect them to eat, but more to just photograph and study them. I also took a few petri's in case I came across anything I wanted to clone. I had a great time, except for the extreme soaking I got while on a hike when a sudden rainfall hit. I found an extremely diverse mushroom population at different elevations and forest types, far greater than I have ever found in my home state. Unfortunatly I left my tissue samples at the cabin, so my ID's are only macroscopic from memory and pictures, so forgive me if they are not 100% accurate...
 <- The cabin we rented for the week. It was very nice, and reasonably priced considering it was fully furnished including a hot tub and gas grill...
  <- Areas I visited.
Some shots of Gatlinburg and the mountains:
   
Also while I was there I witnessed a flash flood coming down the mountain, I videotaped it 3 times, you can view them here:
Flood 1 Real Media format
Flood 2 Real Media format
The interesting part is that when this happens the people swimming in the river have no idea it is coming. It can be sunny and beautiful at the bottom and pouring rain in the higher elevations with no hint of anything out of the ordinary. The fire department will race to every pull off to tell people to get out of the water, a flood is coming. At the last stop I talked with them a bit and from what I understand many people drown from this each year. If you were to be caught in there and didn't get out fast enough its over for you. There are some pretty massive boulders and rapids in the normal water levels, and when it rises it rises fast. That is no joke, within 30 seconds the water rises about 2-3 feet. If I had continued taping you would see debri start coming as well as a continued rise in level... (sorry about the low quality, I had to reduce the size somehow)
At the sugarlands visitor center they had a small museum, which I was quite surprised to find examples of mushrooms on exhibit. I was only able to find 2 of the 4 mushroom examples here, but I only have photos of one of them. I did not take any pictures of the puffballs, since they are not very interesting to me...
   
One of the hiking trails I went on took me to Laurel falls. This is the lower part of the falls, which I could not really get a good shot of. The upper part of the falls did not come out so well, and there were many people in the way. The remaining part of the trail eventually led me to an old growth forest with huge trees:
  <- this is my kind of place to hunt mushrooms, and was exactly what I was looking for. Well, on with the mushrooms:
  <- The only Amanita ceasarea I found during the entire trip. I left this specimen alone since it was the only one, else I would have dug it up and cut it in half for better illustration.
  <- large and small examples of Amanita Muscaria var. Formosa.
The chanterelles were quite plentiful, especially the cinnabar red chanterelle. I saw more chanterelles than all other species combined. I was quite amazed at the number and frequency that I encountered them, especially in the lower elevations:
  
  
 <- This is the first mushroom I found, right after checking in to the cabin. I found it growing through straw (but not on straw) inside some sort of old building...
 <- These were everywhere...
  <- I found a whole tree covered in these, thought I would snap a shot...
 <- Gross looking things these are...
 
 <- about 20 feet from the sugarlands visitor center on the nature trail I found this cauliflower mushroom.
 <- exactly what I was looking for, a nice turkey tail mushroom...
And after I left the Smokies, I went to Nashville to visit family for a few days. Every time I go there I always spend at least one night at the Opryland Hotel. If you have never been there, I recommend you go, at least for a visit. It is the largest hotel and convention center, and the most impressive hotel I have ever been to. I figured I would post a few images:
The entire inside of the hotel is one huge garden with pathways, streams, waterfalls, and ponds. It is actually divided into 4 parts, each with different walkways and gardens. Below is the largest, the delta. They even have native fish in the rivers and ponds with fountains everywhere. (the last picture is not in the delta, but in the cascades, it is the largest of the waterfalls in the hotel)
  
Here is a shot of the fountain/light show that is pretty cool to watch, especially while under the influence. While I was there I probably watched it over 10 times. In the first picture of the delta you can see the large fountain that spurts up from the middle of these smaller ones. The height of it is very impressive which I was not able to get on film from where I was during the show.
There are a few mushrooms I found which still linger on my mind as to what exactly they are, here are a few of them. I ask if anyone can ID them just from my pictures as I have no idea. Perhaps if I brought them home with me instead of leaving them I would not be in this position. Anyway, I really don't have anything else to go on but these pictures:
The first one was really interesting. They start out pink, then eventually turn a dark purple with a scaled appearance. The pores bruise when scratched like G. appalantum, but I could not find anything like them in any of my books:
   
This is the one I am most interested in knowing what it is. I only found a single specimen of this, and also could not find anything resembeling it in any of my books. It was growing on a very small twig laying on the ground:
 
And finally this little polypore:
As I said I left all my tissue samples and specimens at the cabin (along with prints and notes, I may get the prints and notes back if the owners send them to me as they said they would), so my ID's were a pain in the arse to figure out after I got home. I ended up with over 250 pictures, with half of them of mushrooms. It was hard to decide which ones to post, so I hope you enjoy them. After this trip I definetly plan on another trip next year, next time I won't leave anything behind!
I did come home with 4 out of 4 clones alive and well, all taken in the open air environment of the cabin. All in all it was a very nice trip...
Remember if you go to a state or National park, leave the mushrooms behind for others to find as I did (don't forget to check the laws too). The few I did take were ones that were in abundance, or were way far back on the trails (and I always left solitary specimens). I did not pick any mushrooms for consumption purposes, only for study. Take only pictures, leave only footprints. I am sure you have heard that before...
Enjoy!
Edited by ATWAR (08/19/04 01:40 AM)
|
muse_sick
ĤŌĿŶĞЋ0$Ŧ
Registered: 12/15/03
Posts: 9,399
Loc: Giu La Testa
|
 Re: Great Smoky mountain adventure... [Re: ATWAR]
#3021938 - 08/19/04 02:39 AM (19 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
those are some great pics
the area has def. had a moist time lately, so there has been all sorts of
fungi abloomin...
including some that might surprise you
or that surprised me...
--------------------
|
 billbraski
just some dood.
Registered: 12/16/02
Posts: 238
Loc: the woods behind your hou...
Last seen: 18 years, 3 months
|
Re: Great Smoky mountain adventure... [Re: ATWAR]
#3022344 - 08/19/04 06:47 AM (19 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
those hotel pictures are amazing.
|
Charles
I eat bugs.
Registered: 06/07/00
Posts: 622
Loc: NE Arkansas
|
Re: Great Smoky mountain adventure... [Re: ATWAR]
#3022392 - 08/19/04 07:30 AM (19 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
Excellent post, great little log of your adventure! Thank you for sharing that with us, I'm jealous that I wasn't there with you.
|
Gumby
Fishnologist
Registered: 06/13/01
Posts: 26,656
|
Re: Great Smoky mountain adventure... [Re: ATWAR]
#3022908 - 08/19/04 10:50 AM (19 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
Wow man, amazing post. Awesome finds.
Out of curiosity, did you eat any chanterelles?
|
ATWAR
Connoisseur
Registered: 01/26/03
Posts: 1,640
Loc: #108768 in line...
|
Re: Great Smoky mountain adventure... [Re: Gumby]
#3023604 - 08/19/04 01:14 PM (19 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Gumby said:
Out of curiosity, did you eat any chanterelles?
No. I did not consume any mushrooms while I was there (well, ones I picked in the mountains that is). 
That brings me to another interesting story...
Before I left I had been to my local Chanterelle patch and found little ones everywhere, with a few big ones I did pick and eat. I figured I would let them grow up while I was gone, and pick them when I returned. While I was down there we got absolutely no rain here. I went out to get some more Chanterelles for the table only to discover all of them were brown, shriveled, and full of bugs. It was a sad day for my palate...
Maybe I will get some more before the frost hits...
--------------------
To give is to live...
|
spores
haploid
Registered: 02/18/99
Posts: 2,486
Loc: Washington
|
Re: Great Smoky mountain adventure... [Re: ATWAR]
#3025674 - 08/19/04 08:30 PM (19 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
nice pics and thread
I like those videos of the flash flood, cool stuff 
DH
|
Stymee
From here to reality.
Registered: 03/31/02
Posts: 671
Loc: Seattle, WA 
|
 Re: Great Smoky mountain adventure... [Re: ATWAR]
#3025824 - 08/19/04 09:03 PM (19 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
Excellent photos... How did you defeat the infamous shroomery upload limit?
|
ATWAR
Connoisseur
Registered: 01/26/03
Posts: 1,640
Loc: #108768 in line...
|
Re: Great Smoky mountain adventure... [Re: Stymee]
#3025938 - 08/19/04 09:27 PM (19 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Stymee said:
Excellent photos... How did you defeat the infamous shroomery upload limit?
Thank you. The answer is simple, time (and of course thanks Anno)...
I need a new camera, I was lugging my video camera around the whole place to get the closeups. It was taking up precious space in my backpack that I could have used for more food and water... I hate the 640x480 max resolution, but it does get the job done...
The flood was amazing to watch, it was like a wall of water coming, very fast as well. The ones I posted were later when I had a better surface to rest my camera (and had rocks to illustrate the rise). The first time I stopped it was huge, later on it had gone down a bit and took a bit longer to reach full size (I watched it about 5 times and video taped it 3). I must admit it was one of the coolest things I saw on the trip, besides the bear with cubs that ran right out in front of the car...
|
Gumby
Fishnologist
Registered: 06/13/01
Posts: 26,656
|
Re: Great Smoky mountain adventure... [Re: ATWAR]
#3026075 - 08/19/04 10:00 PM (19 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
Not to veer off topic too much, but did you guys see this story?
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/West/08/18/bear.beer.reut/index.html
The mention of the bear cubs reminded me of it.
|
ATWAR
Connoisseur
Registered: 01/26/03
Posts: 1,640
Loc: #108768 in line...
|
Re: Great Smoky mountain adventure... [Re: Gumby]
#3026104 - 08/19/04 10:07 PM (19 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
That is hilarious.. LOL...
Busch beer sucks, even the bear thinks so...
--------------------
To give is to live...
|
butterflydawn
lucid dreamer
Registered: 01/25/04
Posts: 1,921
Loc: lost at sea
Last seen: 24 days, 18 hours
|
Re: Great Smoky mountain adventure... [Re: ATWAR]
#3026959 - 08/20/04 01:51 AM (19 years, 7 months ago) |
|
|
wicked post
--------------------
lucidal expansion
|
|
Threaded
Previous
Index
Next
Edit 
Reply 
Scorpion77
AbeZard
1 2 all )
georgeM
D_T.eonanacatl
Cactusdan