Mushroom Hunting

Because the weather has been a little rainy the past week, its the perfect temperature for mushrooms to grow! So yesterday we thought we would go mushroom hunting.  Our grandparents have done this for years, and know the edible mushrooms like the back of their hands.

If we go more to the north of the Ardèche, we start to enter the mountain region.  There are several forests in that area, and its the perfect place for mushrooms to grow.  Once we got there, we didn't have high expectations to find anything, but we got lucky and found one or two.  Locals of this area know to get up at 4 or 5 in the morning to get to the forests before anyone else, and have first pick of the mushrooms.  As for us we didn't feel the need to get up at 4 in the morning, so we didn't find that many mushrooms.  We did find a couple of chanterelles and Amanita Muscaria (the famous red and white mushroom).  We were careful not to touch the red mushroom, because those are very poisonous, but it was very interesting to actually see one. 

Although we left with about five edible mushrooms, the outing made for a nice walk through the forest.  We also learned a few things about the different types of mushrooms out there.  On the way back home, we saw some spectacular views, and stopped to take some photos!