Mushroom Obsession

was created to help parents get their kids out from behind the screen and into nature to safely explore the mystical and magnificent world of exotic edible mushrooms: how to safely hunt them in the woods, cultivate them in your own back yard, and even how to make them taste magnificent in the kitchen! If you consider yourself "mushroom obsessed," this site is the place for you!

Fall 2025 Mushroom Forays Scheduled

Two hunters and their guide show off their mushroom haul on a rainy Saturday foray in October, 2024.

The mushrooms are popping and Fall forays have begun! The following are scheduled. Forums with partial availability (one to three people) are in italics:

  • Friday afternoon, Sept. 19, 2-3 p.m.
  • Friday afternoon, Oct. 3, 2-4 p.m.
  • Saturday morning, Oct. 4, 10 a.m. – noon
  • Saturday afternoon, Oct. 4, 2-4 p.m.
  • Friday afternoon, Oct. 10, 2-4 p.m.
  • Saturday morning, Oct. 11, 10 a.m. – noon
  • Saturday afternoon, Oct. 11, 2-4 p.m.
  • Friday afternoon, Oct. 17, 2-4 p.m.
  • Saturday morning, Oct. 18, 10 a.m. – noon
  • Saturday afternoon, Oct. 18, 2-4 p.m.

Additional weekday forays might also be possible by special arrangement. Specific foray dates may change due to weather or other considerations.

Forays may include a maximum of five individuals plus a guide from my team. On Saturdays we take a lunch break at basecamp from noon to 2 p.m. and you may join us for this if you wish. (Bring your own food to BBQ and share.)

Basecamp is at the 2,000 to 3,000 foot in altitude level southwest of Mt. Rainier, several miles up Skate Creek Road (southeast of Ashford) on forest service roads in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. If you will reach out to me with any dates you would like to participate, I will reply by email to confirm and provide further instructions.

Foray hiking is in moderately strenuous terrain and may not be suitable for those with mobility difficulties or very young children. We will typically hike about two to three miles during a two-hour foray, with a total elevation gain of 200-300 feet. All participants join at their own risk.

We will provide guidance on positive identification and foray techniques. However, MushroomObsession.com, which has been conducting these free forays in this area for more than 20 years, is a hobby foraging organization and we are not professionals. We advise you to consult a mushroom professional for 100% positive identification of any mushroom before consuming.

Hobby foraging permits are required by the National Forest authorities to be carried on the person of all foragers and can be obtained free of charge online here. (Hobby permits carry a limit of two gallons of mushrooms per person per day.)

To express interest in participating in a specific foray please reach out to us by email here. Thank you!

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Larry Short

Larry Short is an author and novelist with three decades of experience in Christian communications, digital innovation, and nonprofit management. A graduate of Biola University, he created WorldVision.org, won the Evangelical Press Association’s Best Personality Feature of the Year award in 1981, and published his historical fantasy novel, Fountains of the Deep, on Amazon Kindle. He is currently writing Apocalypse, his first science fiction novel. Now that he’s formally retired he spends his time leading ministry directors at his church, feeding his mushroom obsession, working for the local school district part-time, and traveling. He has served as a young adults pastor, elder, prayer ministry coordinator, community groups coordinator, and deacon of welcome and assimilation at an Evangelical Free church in the Northwest, as well as a grandfather, exotic mushroom hunter and hobby cyclist.

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