Members of the Prairie States Mushroom Club and those interested in learning more about mushrooms took part in a mushroom foray at Palisades Kepler State Park Saturday, Sept. 14.

More than 30 people participated in the foray, led by Clay Packard, which meant multiple groups were formed to traverse the woods.

The group started at Cedar Ridge Trail, but almost immediately were off trail to scout where mushrooms are bound to be found – in the woods surrounding the trails.

As some hunters noted, the recent dry spell in the weather made the hunt a little more challenging, as many of the fungi specimens that were located were drier and less resilient than they would be after a recent rain.

Still, many were still excited about the many different specimens they were finding.

There was Chicken of the Woods. There were honey shrooms.

There were puffballs. Some species of chanterelle. Even some dead man’s fingers.

“I’m just amazed at how many different mushrooms we’re seeing on today’s foray,“ Glen Schwartz, secretary of the Prairie State Mushroom Club said during the hike in Palisades Kepler State Park.

As some, like Jeanne Muellerleile, found honey mushrooms, other hunters were able to highlight how it sometimes grows in proximity to other species of mushrooms that are more deadly. The distinction between the two was in coloring.

Others had help from more seasoned mushroom guides to point out how to identify locations where you might find mushrooms like Chicken of the Woods if they were out foraging at a future location.

Clay Packard, leader of the foray, recommended to anyone possibly foraging for mushrooms for the first time that any mushrooms you consume should also be done with small quantities. Even if a mushroom is not deadly, some of them can have side effects on your digestive tract and better to acclimate your body to them in your diet.

The foray stretched to the nearby campgrounds to the north of the trail before detouring down a dry creek bed back to the start of the Cedar Ridge Trail.

Palisades Kepler State Park was bustling with activity Saturday, explained Friends of the Palisades Kepler State Park president Gail Brown because of the mushroom foray, a Raptology event the Friends group was also hosting, and local Boy and Girl Scouts troops participating in “get into a state park” day.

More than 150 people were involved in activities at the park on that beautiful Saturday, the Friends of the Palisades Kepler State Park highlighted in a post on Facebook Saturday afternoon.