Mushroom Mania - The Benefits of Trail Running on Vancouver's North Shore in the Fall

It's fun to run the trails in the winter because it's so invigorating. It's fun to run them in the spring because everything is so fresh and green. Trail running in the summer is awesome because you don't need many clothes. Fall is great because the woods smell like leaves and there's a cool nip in the air. I also love fall for the mushrooms.

Starting in late September and lasting into November, the north shore is ripe with fungus. I swear last weekend I saw chanterelles, boletes, a few puffballs and what may have been a pine mushroom...all during a 90 minute run from my house. Do you know how much people pay for 'shrooms like those at Granville Island or Whole Foods Market? Check it out the next time you are there. Gourmet mushrooms are more expensive than gold!

One time I found some choice cauliflower mushrooms while out on a longer run. I carefully stuffed them in my pack as my buddies watched from a curious distance, fully suspecting me to be secretly paying down the mortgage dealing psylocibes. Unfortunately, mushrooms don't travel well in a backpack. I thought they had fallen out, but they had in fact, turned to a gooey paste. Drag. I imagined the taste of those mushrooms fried in butter and garlic for 3 long hours.

Unless your Grandma or Granddad taught you how to know the good ones from the bad, you ought to be careful with the wild mushrooms you eat. I've never eaten a deadly one and have never found any psilocibes (magic mushrooms), but I have eaten too many good wild ones. One time I swear I found a small garbage bag full of morels. Morels are like delicate little black sponges. Very choice. I invited several friends over and fried them up by the wok-load. Great party...but most of us got the shits. Eat with other food, not just wine. You can always dry them and have at them all year.

Since running with mushrooms is not all that good of an idea, I recommend you treat your run as a reconnaissance mission. Come back later with a picnic basket, a sharp knife and your field guide. Also, run with folks who don't know mushrooms, and don't let on to when you've found a fat patch or they may come back to the patch before you do and they will be eating their steak with portobellos and angels while you make do with white button mushrooms yet again.

By the way, don't do *this* at home, because this particular mushroom looks good, but is not at all good to eat!